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322 Anekāntavāda and Syādvāda
no system of logic is possible and the Jainas have recognised this fact by treating inference without reference to “Syāt.
To sum up, Syādvāda is primarily an ontological theory and its impact would be felt only among rival ontological theories. It seeks to answer a question concerning the nature of reality and in this process it succeeds only in giving us a tool whereby we can confirm the anekānta-theory.
It would be wrong to see into it a system of multivalued logic. A Syāt-statement is value-neutral and it lacks in any tool that can be used to eliminate a non-Syāt statement. A S-statement is all inclusive and there is no way of constructing a system of logic taking it as a base. Therefore those who take pride in stating that Syādvāda is an Indian version of multi-valued logic are misguided.
