Book Title: Applied Philosophy of Anekanta
Author(s): Shashiprajna Samni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati Institute

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 149
________________ cruel. The two words are rolled in one. One is revolving around the center of the word and other remains in the margin. . Rejecting this Structuralist view, Jacque Derrida says that a word includes its other within its meaning. He refers to Plato's use of the word pharmokon, which means medicine as well as poison. Thus the word contains opposites as its meaning. This idea of Derrida applies in general in his theory of words and meanings. One can say that the sentence, ghata asti nāsti ca, reflects this idea, if taken in terms of philosophy of language. The point I want to make is that today's cultural problem of the “other” can be seen in this light. Infact the other or others are not that “other” sealed off against each other. Anekāntavāda, then, said this long long ago before Derrida. Western thought, says Derrida, has always been structured in terms of dichotomies or polarities ;good vs.evil, being vs. nothingness, truth vs. error, identity vs. difference, mind vs. matter, presence vs. absence.... The second term in each pair is considered as ...opposed in their meanings ,but are arranged in the hierarchical order which gives the first term priority, in both the temporal and the qualitative sense of the word.? Bad and good , men and women both are complementary (one that complete the other), not antonyms. "The same view is accepted in Jainism, no Reality is self-complete by itself, it achieves its completeness because of 'the other’. The moment one privileges one attribute, falls in fallacy. It falls in the category of pseudonaya(durnaya) as per jain view, on account of its being absolutistic in character. Without lie, you can't say truth, in Jacques Derrida. Dissemination. op.cit., p. 103. 2 Jacques Derrida.Dissemination. Trans. With an Introduction and Additional Notes by Barbara Johnson. London: Continuum, 2005, Intro-viii. 3 Ācārya Mahāprajña. Anekānta Hein Tisra Netra.Ladnun: Jain Vishva Bharati, 1982, p. 4. * Ācārya Mahāprajña. New Dimensions In Jaina Logic. Ladnun: Jain Vishva Bharati, 1984, p. 63. 126

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220