Neither one nor many

The 'neither one nor many' argument (Wylie: gcig du 'bral ba'i gtan tshigs) is an argument employed by different philosophers and spiritual traditions for various reasons. The argument and its permutations and antecedents, particularly the "problem of the One and the Many" as charted by McEvilley (2002: pp. 23–66) in his magnum opus, has an ancient pedigree in the lineages of both Indian philosophy and Greek philosophy. McEvilley (2002) also provides strongly persuasive arguments inferring the mutual influence and mutual iteration of the ancient Indian and Greek philosophical traditions but proffers patently inconclusive and undemonstrable evidence, the perennial bugbear of historical inquiry. The argument is a factor in the algorithmic function of the Catuskoti. In its Buddhist employ, the argument is one of a suite of arguments within the purview of Pramana and Indian logic to demonstrate and test various doctrines. Different authorities and sources provide different enumerations of these said arguments; Khenpo Yonten Gyamtso lists them thus:

The Padmakara Translation Group (2005: p. 39) convey the uniqueness of the Madhyamākalaṃkāra of Śāntarakṣita in Buddhist literature in its focused, dedicated and protracted employ of the "neither one nor many" argument:

The Madhyamakalankara invokes the argument of "neither one nor many" more intensively (throughout sixty-two of its ninety-seven stanzas) than any other text in Buddhist literature. This argument is one of a series of proofs used to demonstrate that phenomena are without real existence.

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