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The Doctrine of Syādvāda or The Jaina Dialectic :: 53
He says: "If Jainism stops short with plurality which is at best a relative and partial truth, and does not ask whether there is any higher truth pointing to a one which particularizes itself in the objects of the world, connected with one another vitally, essentially and immanently, it throws overboard its own logic and exalts a relative truth into an absolute one." As has been pointed out in the previous chapter, plurality and unity upon which the critic centres his attention, are the traits of reality concomitantly connected with each other. If so, the aspect of unity can never be neglected but it again constitutes only an aspect of reality, and hence gives rise to another partial comprehension. What the critic expected to be the most exalted truth of the absolute comes out, on the ground of Jaina logic, to be another partial comprehension which was never dismissed by the Jaina.
The Jaina Dialectic and the So-called Absolute Views
The anekanta philosophy adheres to no form of ekanta or absolutism. For the Jaina ekānta finds a meaning only within a reference-system, and there is nothing like an absolute view in Jaina philosophy. Dr. S. Mookerjee remarks: "The non-absolute is constituted of absolutes as its elements, and as such would not be possible if there were no absolutes. As the tree disappears if the branches and members are taken out, the non-absolute would similarly vanish if the absolute elements are not there." The distinction of unity and difference, one and many, existence and non-existence are all relative, while reality includes them all as merely part characteristics. Discussing Lenin's view of absolute and relative truths it is said: "He recognizes the presence of relative elements in the process of knowledge and explains that the distinction between relative and absolute truths is itself a relative one...absolute truth results from the sum
1. Radhakrishhan: Indian Philosophy, vol. 1, p. 305 2. S. Mookerjee: The Jaina Philosophy of Non-absolutism, p. 171
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| SR No. | 001617 |
| Book Title | Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | S C Jain |
| Publisher | Bharatiya Gyanpith |
| Publication Year | 1978 |
| Total Pages | 272 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, Epistemology, Nyay, & Spiritual |
| File Size | 16 MB |