Bhagavana Mahavira and his Relevance in Modern Times

Author(s): Narendra Bhanavat, Prem Suman Jain, V P Bhatt
Publisher: Akhil Bharat Varshiya Sadhumargi Jain Sangh

Page 49

ANEKANTAVADA AND BERTRAND RUSSELL'S DOCTRINE OF
PERSPECTIVES
P. K. Mathur
The Jaina philosophy is through and through realistic. It represents a consistent form of realism at its best in the history of Indian philosophy. Realism is a prominent trend in contemporary Western philosophy also. It has emerged as a reaction against the idealistic philosophy of the Hegelian Absolute which swayed the minds of many a great thinkers of the West for quite a long time. The recent growth of scientific realism too has had great impact on the growth of philosophical realism in our times. In view of this, the study of Jainism seems to be more relevant in the context of presentday thinking.
Bertrand Russell--one of the greatest scientific thinkers of our times-has also advocated realism in one form or another throughout his long and chequered philosophical career. It is exceedingly surprising to note that in regard to the problem of our knowledge of the physical world there is some striking resemblance between his view and that of the Jaina thinkers. There is nothing on record to evince the influence of Jainism on Russell. It is a strange coincidence that the two view points are similar in certain respects which should be of special interest to the student of comparative philosophy.
Both Russell and the Jainas believe that the world is objectively real and that Reality is manifold. Reality, according to Binism, does not consist merely of the multiplicity or diversity of