Book Title: Comparative Study Of Jaina Theories Of Reality And Knowledge
Author(s): Y J Padmarajaiah
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

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Page 313
________________ CHAPTER IX 293 some kind of objectivity at the so-called empirical level of existence (vyāvahärikasatta). But he does so only as a mere 'epistemic' phenomenon which is not of the substance of the real in a straightforward way. His grand tour de force only proves the obstinacy of objectivity, which cannot be explained away even by his logical genius. Hence the term 'objective' in the so-called Objective Idealism is a misnomer. It attributes 'objectivism' to a philosophy of objectless reality. Further, the mental realm, the realm of souls which are the centres of experience, should and does command its legitimate place and importance in any reasonable scheme of reality, but the total mentalization of the objective world by the schools of idealism imports into their scheme a kind of anthropomorphism. Had it not been for this Alexander would not have proclaimed his mission to "de-anthropomorphise” philosophy. Despite its length his statement on this question bears reproducing here. Writing under "The Spirit of Realism” he observes : "The temper of realism is to de-anthropomorphise : to order man and mind to their proper place among the world of finite things; on the one hand to divest physical things of the colouring which they have received from the vanity or arrogance of mind, and on the other to assign them along with minds their due measure of self-existence. But so deeply is the self-flattering habit of supposing that mind, in its distinctive character of mind, is in special sense the superior of physical things, so that in the absence of mind there would be no physical existence at all, that Realism in questioning its prerogative appears to

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