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Anekāntavāda
Hemachandra Jain
The foundation of Jaina philosophy is the conception of reality, which is manifold or infinite-fold hence highly complex and pluralistic in character. It is why the Jainism is also called the philosophy of Anekānta or Anekantavāda. “Aneka 'means many, fantaʼmeans aspects or qualities and ‘vāda' means ism or theory. Anekāntavāda is also termed as the philosophy of non-absolutism (because it is opposed to absolute monism (Ekāntavāda) and nihilism, (sūnyāvāda), as the theory of relative pluralism, the theory of relativity, the theory of realism (yathārthavāda) and the theory of co-existence.
Each object has many facets as well as qualities. Only a dispassionate study based on rational analysis and sympathetic examination can help mutual understanding and a happy reconciliation even in the face of severe antagonism. Hence the Tīrtharikaras declared"If one sticks only to one of the many aspects of the thing, ignoring and rejecting all the others, he can never realise the truth. It is therefore, essential to comprehend fully the Anekānta (logic) as qualified by the termsyāt'. Anekāntavāda is closely associated with Syādvāda, which is the theory of conditional predication and is based on the “Saptabhangi-naya" (Seven modes of predication).
The term 'syāt is most significant. It means in a way’, from a certain point of view ‘also' or not-absolutely'. Thus Syädvāda is the method of expressing multifariousness of object. Anekānta is expressible and Syadváda is expressions. Since many qualities of an object
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