Compendium of Jainism

SR No.: 001202
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T K Tukol, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Prasaranga Karnatak University Dharwar
Publication Year: 1980
Total Pages: 352
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Philosophy
File Size: 17 MB

Page 329

ANEKANTAVADA-SYADVADA
317
to complete uncertainty. Hence any logical system which allows of conclusions intermediate between certainty and uncertainty should interest scientists. The earliest such system know to me is Syādvāda.36 He has worked out the seven alternatives by mathematical formulae. He gives an example where the saptabhanginaya is actually applied in scientific research which he suspects was not far from what was in Bhadrabāhu's mind." In the study of the physiology of the sense organs it is important to determine a threshold. For example, a light cannot be seen below a certain intensity, or a solution of substance which is tasted as bitter when concentrated cannot be distinguished from water when it is diluted. Some experimenters order their subjects to say “yes” or “no" to to the question “Is this illuminated ?" or "Is this bitter ?" If the experimenter is interested in the psychology of perception he will permit the subject also to answer "it is uncertain", or some equaivalent phrase.37 He agrees that in view of Mahalanobis that the saptabhanginaya foreshadows modern statitistical theory is correct. 38
These views make it clear that the human mind comprehends the coniplexity of entire existence, but not fully, nor can the human speech express it adeqately. Therefore all statements can be true only in so far as they go, that is, in so far as the speaker's view-point is concerned. It is the indadequacy of human understanding that renders the different points of view possible and reasonable.
The aim of Syādvāda happily corresponds with the scope of philosophy in modern thought. Syādváda aims to unify, coordinate, harmonise and synthesise the individual points a practical whole.39 The conceptions of the various philosophers as we have them are diverse and the grounds on which they are sought to be explained are numerous. None of them can be accepted as wholly true or rejected as wholly false. True knowledge, which philosophy aims at, is the knowledge of a whole, a culminating synthesis after every avenue of analysis is exhausted. The function of Nayavāda is almost the same; so far as the underlying idea is concerned, it is that of various special