Why didn't the Nyaya recognize the mind-body problem?

Abstract

Although I contend that the spatiality of the Nyaaya soul goes a long way in explaining why the Nyaaya did not recognize a mind-body interaction problem, I have argued here that there does seem to be an interaction problem nevertheless. I make this claim because what seems to be doing the causal work in mind-body interactions are tropes of the soul. Because these tropes lack any spatial extension, it is hard to see how they can be causally efficacious, particularly if effects need to be spatially contiguous with their causes. In the end, I conclude that the Nyaaya soul, if it is construed along the lines of a classical field as portrayed in modern physical theory, is no more or less problematic, ontologically speaking, than such a field, save for the fact that a mathematical description has not been given for it.