Jaina Epistemology

SR No.: 006738
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Indra Chandra Shastri
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 1990
Total Pages: 516
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

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Epistemology of Jainas
tjes of being brother, husband or son are as objective as those of being jar etc. Just as, we call a thing 'jar' in relation to a particular form etc., similarly, we call a person brother who stands in a particular relation to the other person Both connotations depend on the popular conventions. There is no ground in viewing one as objective and the other as subjective.
The Jaina and Different forms of Objectivism With a view to have a clear vision of the Jaina position we can further compare it with the three trends of the objectivism prevalent in the western philosophy. The Jaina and Primitive Objectivism
The inethod of primitive objectivism conceives of every object of experience as existing, and as existing independent of the fact that it is experienced. Just as a chajr can stand in relation of nearness to a table without depending in any way for its cxistence upon that relation, so from this most extreme of the realistic standpoint any object can stand in relation of being known by someone without being in any way affected thereby. Things are apart from us just as what they seem when experienced by us. This appears to be the standpoint of the child and the savage. It does not make any distinction between the events that appear in dreams and illusions, and the events that figure in waking life as common to many individuals. The illusory objects, instead of being regarded as mental or subjective, are considered by primitive realism to be merely queer and unreliable physical existents. The child does not think of dreamland as a place within his head, but, as a remote and fantastic realm, some how cut off from the world of waking life. And as it is with the dreamland of the child, so it is with the ghostland of the savage, which is populated in large measure with the products of his dreams, fancies and tribal legends.
The Jaina does not admit physical existence of the world of dreams as it appears. Nevertheless, the constituents of the dreamland are as physical as those of the waking world.