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COMMENTS ON THE BOOK ENTITLED “SCIENTIFIC SECRETS OF JAINISM”
by Muni Nandighoshvijay This book gives some fundamental ideas in modern science and mathematics, side by side with the ideas in Jain philosophy. I am not familiar with Jain philosophy, except that I am aware that this philosophy has a rich tradition of high level thinking about nature and life.
The scientific topics covered in the book include such subjects as Special Theory of Relativity, Wave-Particle Durability in Quantum Mechanics, Doppler Effect, Black Holes, etc. There is also a mathematical discussion of the fundamental number "T". The way this book is organised, one finds alongside the scientific concepts, some information about notions from Jain philosophy
There is one school of thought in India which argues that whatever western science is discovering today was already known to the eastern thinkers long ago. The attitude in this book is not of this kind. Instead the author has argued that Jain thinking has been more mature, more comprehensive and more satisfying than what science has to offer.
By training, I am a scientist and I have been impressed by the pragmatic attitude of science where no claim is made to the ultimate truth and all accepted research and theories are based on factual confirmation. It is, therefore, difficult for me to accept the alternatives provided here through the medium of philosophy, although I am willing to grant that somebody who is more advanced in philosophy than I am will be better able to appreciate the philosophical arguments advanced in this book.
Nevertheless, I think it is an interesting combination of modern science and ancient Jain philosophy and the reader will find it of interest to think over the matters presented here.
J. V. Narlikar
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