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ABSTRACT
The ontological section (Pt. I) of this study begins with a search for a balanced view of reality in which the elements of identity (abheda) and difference (bheda) would find their due place. The search results in the formulation of a scheme involving five possible approaches to the problem of reality. Four of them, viz., reality is (i) mere identity, (ii) mere difference, (iii) identity-in-difference in which identity predominates, and (iv) identity-in-difference in which difference predominates, are examined with various illustrations and found wanting as adequate explanations of our total ontological experience. The last approach, (v) a coordinate view of identity-in-difference, put forward by the Jaina thinkers, is found to meet the requirements of a satisfactory explanation. This view is, then, further examined and the validity of its approach confirmed from the philosophical views of Kumārila Bhaṭṭa, Immanuel Kant, and A. N. Whitehead.
Next, certain flaws (doṣas), alleged to exist in the Jaina view, are enumerated, analysed and refuted individually. The critics' unfamiliarity with, or misapprehension of, the nature and significance of negation in the Jaina view of reality is shown to be at the back of their objections. Another misapprehension on the part of certain critics takes, it is pointed out, the form of confusing the Jaina view with a 'mixed' theory (miśravāda) in which identity and difference remain extrane
