---
type: Concept
bundle: nyaya-vaisheshika
bundle_version: 0.9.0
id: samanya-vishesha
title: Sāmānya / Viśeṣa
iast: Sāmānya / Viśeṣa
devanagari: सामान्य / विशेष
description: 'Universal and ultimate particularity: sāmānya, the real repeatable universal that inheres in many individuals (cowness in cows), and viśeṣa, the ultimate differentiator individuating each eternal atom and self; realist universals, with viśeṣa the school''s namesake; NOT nominalist class-labels, NOT Platonic transcendent Forms, NOT mere resemblance.'
darshana:
- Vaiśeṣika
text_source: Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 1.2.3-6
tags:
- samanya
- vishesha
- universal
- particular
- vaisheshika
not:
- term: nominalist class-names (universals as just words)
  why: 'Vaiśeṣika is a realist about universals: sāmānya is a real entity, one and eternal, genuinely present in each of its many instances, which is why they truly share a nature and are called by one name. The name follows the real universal; it does not replace it. Nominalism is the position Vaiśeṣika argues against.'
  instead: Define sāmānya as a real, one-over-many universal inhering in its instances, and viśeṣa as the ultimate particularity that makes each eternal, otherwise-indistinguishable substance (each atom, each self) the unique individual it is.
- term: Platonic transcendent Forms
  why: Sāmānya is not a Form in a separate intelligible realm. The universal inheres, via samavāya, in its very instances here; it has no existence apart from being instantiated. It is realism about universals without a second world.
- term: specific difference (the differentia of a species)
  why: Viśeṣa is not the genus-species differentia of logic. It is the ultimate particularity that individuates the eternal simple substances, which have no parts to tell them apart, so that two otherwise identical atoms are still two. It answers 'what makes these numerically distinct?', not 'what kind is this?'
related:
- /concepts/saptapadartha.md
- /concepts/dravya.md
- /concepts/samavaya.md
- /concepts/paramanu.md
timestamp: '2026-07-02'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Sāmānya / Viśeṣa -- सामान्य / विशेष

**Not:** nominal class-names, Platonic Forms, specific difference

## What It Actually Means

Sāmānya and viśeṣa are the fourth and fifth Vaiśeṣika categories, and together they fix the school's realism about kinds and individuals. Sāmānya is the universal: a single, eternal entity that inheres in many particulars and grounds their genuinely shared nature, cowness really present in each cow, so that our classing them together tracks something real, not a mere convention of language. Viśeṣa, particularity, from which the school takes its name, is the opposite pole: the ultimate individuator that distinguishes the eternal partless substances (the atoms, the selves, ether, time, space, mind) from one another. Two atoms of earth are qualitatively identical and have no parts to differ in, yet they are two; what makes them two is each one's viśeṣa. Between them, sāmānya and viśeṣa let Vaiśeṣika be a full realist: the world contains both real repeatable natures and irreducibly distinct individuals, without collapsing kinds into names or individuals into instances of a Form.

## Audience Metaphor

Sāmānya is the shared template that is genuinely present in every stamped coin, so 'these are all the same coin-type' states a fact, not a habit of speech. Viśeṣa is the invisible serial number on two otherwise identical mint-fresh coins that have no scratch to tell them apart, yet are still two. Vaiśeṣika insists both are real: the repeatable pattern and the bare thisness. Neither is just a label we find convenient.

## Citations

1. Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 1.2.3-6 -- see [references/vaisheshika-sutra.md](../references/vaisheshika-sutra.md)
2. Praśastapāda, Padārthadharmasaṃgraha, on sāmānya and viśeṣa -- see [references/padarthadharmasamgraha.md](../references/padarthadharmasamgraha.md)
3. Udayana, Kiraṇāvalī (on the categories) -- see [references/nyayakusumanjali.md](../references/nyayakusumanjali.md)
