Vaiśeṣika identifies six categories it calls padārtha (word), guna (qualities), karma (activities), sāmānya (universal), viśeṣa (individual), and samavāya (inherence) as the essential ingredients of reality. In this course, we will discuss how these six categories initially form the basis of semanticism (when we treat them as six distinct categories) and then personalism (when we treat them as facets of a person). In that process, we will discover many synergies between Vaiśeṣika and the other five systems of Vedic philosophy.