Diffusion Case

John M. Koller asks this question on page 344: "...how can genuine perceptions be distinguished from perceptual mistakes?" According to Nyaya philosophy, and Koller's subsequent interpretation of it, real knowledge, and the means by which one has acquired it, is broken down into four categories that may help in acknowledging true understanding. These categories are perception, inference, analogy, and testimony. (Koller, pg. 344) Perception is the focus of this question.

Koller illuminates the two different kinds of sensory perceptions in Nyaya teachings, and suggests that it is formed by the distinct application of two sensory conditions called determinate and indeterminate perceptions. Indeterminate perception is defined as "the contact of the sense with the object" (Koller, pg. 344). That is to say that the mind has not distinguished anything except initial contact and is therefore nothing until it has been 'determined' to be something. Koller suggests that this, according to Nyaya philosophy, is the basic form of sensory experience, and is the key to investigating the perceptions of the mind; particularly when trying to gain understanding and knowledge from the object being observed.

But this is not the answer. Koller also suggests that to truly distinguish between genuine Nyaya perceptions and perceptual mistakes is to correspond that determinate perception to something relevant For instance, looking at ten pounds of flour will not make that substance any closer to snow, however, testing if the flour melts in warm temperatures may help in determining the true identity of the substance. Nyaya tradition asserts that practical verifications of perceived objects must correspond to reality if one is to find true knowledge.