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DIFFERENCE AND IDENTITY
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a cause and its effect the suggestion has been made that the substanceaspect of an empirical phenomenon also represents the aspect of 'cause' while its mode-aspect also the aspect of 'effect', (ii) in the case of the relation between a thing and its quality the suggestion has been made that the substance-aspect of an empirical phenomenon also represents the aspect of thing' while its mode-aspect also the aspect of quality', and (iii) in the case of the relation between a thing's universal features and its particular features the suggestion has been made that the substance-aspect of an empirical phenomenon also represents the aspect of 'a thing's universal features' while its mode-aspect also the aspect of 'a thing's particular features'. This possession of a universal mode of ontological explanation is a particularly strong point of the Jaina, just as the possession of a somewhat different but equally universal mode of ontological explanation is a particularly strong point of the empiricist Buddhist; (the lack of such a universal mode of ontological explanation is one great weakness of the otherwise powerful NyāyaVaiseșika system while the possession of it serves no worthwhile purpose in the case of the transcendentalist systems). However, that only means that 'substance' and 'mode' are but two precisely defined concepts in terms of which the Jaina offers his ontological explanations and not hat there can be no other such concepts in terms of which one might choose to offer one's ontological explanations.
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