Padārtha

 is a Sanskrit word for "categories" in Vaisheshika and Nyaya schools of Indian philosophy.

Etymology
The term is a portmanteau of, "word" and , "meaning" or "referent", and so the term  indicates "the meaning or referent of words".

Philosophical significance
Almost all of India's philosophical systems accept liberation as life's ultimate goal; it is the summum bonum. Each philosophy prescribes the means to that end independently. According to Aksapada Gautama, liberation can be attained by true knowledge of the categories or padārthas. According to the Vaisheshika school, all things that exist, which can be conceptualized, and that can be named are padārthas, the objects of experience.

Vaisheshika
According to Vaisheshika, padārtha or objects of experience can be divided as and. The bhāva padārthas are of six types, while non-existence was added later. These are:


 * (substance) an entity having guna and karma
 * (quality), the substrate of substance, devoid of action
 * (activity), transient and dynamic, i.e., upward movement, downward movement, contraction, expansion, and locomotion
 * (generality), the classicism of the substances i.e. papa, apara, parapara
 * (particularity)
 * (inherence)

Later Vaiśeṣikas such as Śrīdhara, Udayana and Śivāditya added, non-existence.

Nyaya
Nyāya metaphysics recognizes sixteen s, the second of which, called, includes the six (or seven) categories of the Vaiśeṣika school. They are:


 * 1) (valid means of knowledge),
 * 2) (objects of valid knowledge),
 * 3) (doubt),
 * 4) (aim),
 * 5) (example),
 * 6) (conclusion),
 * 7) (members of syllogism),
 * 8) (hypothetical reasoning),
 * 9) (settlement),
 * 10) (discussion),
 * 11) (wrangling),
 * 12) (cavilling),
 * 13) (fallacy),
 * 14) (quibbling),
 * 15) (sophisticated refutation)
 * 16) (point of defeat)

Western philosophy
s are distinct from the categories of Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel. According to Aristotle, categories are logical classification of predicates; Kant states that categories are only patterns of understanding, while Hegel’s categories are dynamic stages in the development of thought. The Vaiśeṣika categories are a metaphysical classification of all knowable objects.

Aristotle accepts ten categories:


 * Substance
 * Quality
 * Quantity
 * Relation
 * Place
 * Time
 * Posture
 * Property
 * Activity
 * Passivity

The Vaiśeṣikas instead place the concepts of time and place under substance; relation under quality; inherence, quantity and property under quality. Passivity is considered the opposite of activity. Akṣapāda Gautama enumerates sixteen s.