Some Problems in Jaina Psychology

SR No.: 001260
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T G Kalghatgi
Publisher: Karnatak University Dharwar
Publication Year: 1961
Total Pages: 205
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Philosophy
File Size: 13 MB

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SOME PROBLEMS IN JAINA PSYCHOLOGY
On, it was seen
life.
Pri undamental.
of sense perception in the Nyāya Sūtra. The five types of sense perception are based on the special characteristics of knowledge, (buddhi laksana), visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactual. The senses consist of elements endowed with a special quality, and so they are able to perceive the respective objects and not themselves. For instance, the eye sees the external object and not itself.22 In sense perception, it was seen in the last chapter, the sense of touch is fundamental. Similarly, the sense of sight is vital for human life. Price says that the experiences of seeing and touching are primary, other modes of sense experiences, like hearing and smelling, are only auxiliary. 'If we possessed them but did not possess either sight or touch we should have no belief about the material world at all, and should lack even the very conception of it'.23 It was also seen in the last chapter that, according to the Jainas, the sense of sight is of a fundamentally different nature, in that the other sense organs are based on the contact of the sense organs with the object, while the sense of sight does not need any contact with the object.
The nature of sense perception will now be analysed. The task here is to give a psychological analysis of the experience, if possible. It may aptly be said that the Jaina analysis of sense perception has a great psychological significance, although perception was a logical and metaphysical problem for the Jainas as for other Indian philosophers. In fact, even in the West, philosophers were first busy with the logical and the metaphysical analysis of the problem of perception, but with the advancement of psychology as a sceience, philosophers have realized that perception is more a problem for psychology. Bertrand Russell says that, the problem of perception has troubled philosophers from a very early date. My own belief is that the problem is scientific, not philosophical, or, rather, no longer philosophical'.24
Conditions of Perception
Sense organs are a condition of sense perception. Indriyas are the instruments by which we get sensory experience. The senses are the marks of the self, and they afford proof of the existence of the self. The senses are instruments like the carpenter's axe, by which experience is obtained by the self.25 The contact of the sense organs with the object is a condition of perception as mentioned by the Naiyāyikas, 26 although, according to the Jainas, such a contact is not necessary in the
22 Nyāya Sūtra, III. 1. 68-69. 23 Price (H. H.): Perception, Ch. I. p. 4. 24 What is mind? Article by B. Russell in the Journal of Philosophy, Vol. LV. No. 1,
p. 9. Jan. 2, 1958. 25 Pramānamimāṁsā, 21 and commentary. 26 Nyāya Sūtra, III. I. 68-69. Indriyārtha-sannikarşam.