________________
IV
Anekānta in the Philosophy of the West
4.1 Relativity of Language and Anekānta
A thing has innumerable number of characteristics. Every object possesses innumerable positive and negative characters. It is not possible for an ordinary person to know all of them. We know only some qualities of the substance. To know all the aspects of substance is to become omniscient. We are all imperfect human beings; we cannot comprehend an object in its totality and our view of it is limited. Human knowledge at its best is after all partial knowledge and it is not free from error and illusion. To view a thing not only from a single point of view; but to examine it from all possible points of view is the real meaning of the doctrine of anekāntavāda.
Anekānta is a scientific analysis of the many sidedness of truth and its multiple dimensions and perspectives.'Anekānta' means multi-sided views. 'Syādvād' is composed of two words - 'syāt' means from a certain point of view or from a certain angle of vision and the word 'vāda' denotes the system of thought. Emphasizing the limits of ordinary knowledge, Jain philosophy presents the theory that truth is relative to the perspective (naya) from which it is known. Furthermore, because reality is many sided and our knowledge is true only from a limited perspective. So all knowledge claims are only relative. In simple terminology, it can be said that anekānta teaches, the process of formation of holistic outlook and syādvāda acts as the medium of exchange of the viewpoints and expression of intended meaning. The anekāntic perspective of
