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Syādvāda and Relativity 359
And he was quite logical in holding such a belief in the existence of reality as it is thought and not as it is observed, because, as the author has pointed out,according to Dr. Radhakrishnan, the theory of relativity cannot be logically sustained without the hypothesis of an absolute.
This brings us to the famous controversy between Einstein and Bohr. The author of this article has quoted Bohr in the last para of his article. But this quotation is from an argument by Bohr against Einstein's philosophy. According to Einstein, we are only spectators in the great drama of existence and it is our endeavour to describe unequivocally the acts of this drama. According to Bohr, we are both spectators and actors in the sense that our very act of observation influences the drama of existence. The phenomena of the quantum world are so delicate and fine that our instruments of observation would interfere with the phenomena during our very act of observation and thus we would be observing the phenomena as disturbed by our observation. In this sense Bohr describes us as both spectators and actors. Against this Einstein believes that our instruments of observation may not be sharp enough today, but he has faith that some day these instruments will be made sharp enough so as not to disturb the observation of the delicate quantum phenomena. But then Bohr argues that the mathematics, which the modern quantum theory is using, actually puts a limit to the fineness of our instruments of observation and so the controversy continues.
It should, however, be noted that Bohr's ideas cannot be regarded as being on the lines of Syädvāda because of the following basic difference between the two:
According to Syādvāda, there is no uncertainty whatsoever about the various judgements by different observers (This article). But Bohr's ideas are pivoted round an uncertainty principle introduced in modern science by the basic limitation in the fineness of our instruments of observations.
This, in brief, will indicate the position of the two principal schools of scientific philosophy vis-a-vis Syādväda.]
It would be really interesting to observe the similarities between two theories--one of which has been very recently enunciated in the West and the other, a theory which was promulgated centuries ago in the East. There are noticeable similarities in these doctrines which flourish in two different parts of the globe.
The Theory of Relativity, first put forth by the famous scientist
| SR No. | 002012 |
| Book Title | Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Shreechand Rampuriya, Ashwini Kumar, T M Dak, Anil Dutt Mishra |
| Publisher | Jain Vishva Bharati |
| Publication Year | 1996 |
| Total Pages | 400 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, Philosophy, Religion, & Nyay |
| File Size | 23 MB |