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The Syadvada System of Predication
By J. B. S. Haldane
The search for truth by the scientific method does not lead to complete certainty. Still less does it lead to complete uncertainty. Hence any logical system which allows of conclusions intermediate between certainty and uncertainty should interest scientists. The earliest such system known to me is the Syadvāda system of the Jaina philosopher Bhadrabahu (?433-357 B.C.). Mahalanobis (1954) has commented on it. A central feature of this system is the saptabhanginaya or list of seven types of predication. These are as follows.
(1) syādasti (2) syātnāsti
(3) syadasti nasti ca.
(4) syadavaktavyah.
(5) syadasti ca avaktavyasca.
(6) syātnāsti ca avaktavyasca.
(7) syadasti nasti ca avaktavyasca.
May be it is. May be it is not.
May be it is and is not. May be it is indeterminate May be it is and is indeterminate.
May be it is not and is indeterminate.
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May be it is, is not, and is indeterminate
Mahalanobis illustrated this from the throw of a coin, and held that it could serve as a foundation for statistics. However I wish to show that it arises naturally in simpler cases, including simple cases where the affirmative predication asti would be "This is hot", or "This is a man".
In any such case an uncertain judgement is usually somewhat quantitative, as in "I think this is a man, though it may be a statue." I therefore begin with a very abstract field, that of algebra. Here we may be certain of our answer. If x+2=3, then x=1. But if x2-3x+2=0, then x=1 or 2. We cannot say that the probability that x=1 is greater than, less than, or equal to the probability that x=2. Further data may lead to either of these judgements. Five hundred years ago one might perhaps have spoken of indeter
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