________________
126 First Steps to Jainism
yet relatively changing which has a flavour of statistical reasoning. "A real changes every moment and at the same continues" is a view which is somewhat sympathetic to the underlying idea of stochastic processes.
6.5. Fifthly, a most important feature of Jaina logic is its insistence on the impossibility of absolutely certain predication and its emphasis on non-absolutist and relativist predication. In syādväda, the qualification "syat", that is, "may be" or "perhaps" must be attached to every predication without any exception. All predication, according to syädvāda, thus has a margin of uncertainty which is somewhat similar to the concept of "uncertain inference" in modern statistical theory. The Jaina view, however, is essentially qualitative in this matter (while the great characteristic of modern statistical theory is its insistence on the possibility and significance of determining the margin of uncertainty in a meaningful way). The rejection of absolutely certain predication naturally leads Jaina philosophy continually to emphasize the inadequacy of "pure" or "formal" logic, and hence to stress the need of making inferences on the basis of data supplied by experience.
6.6. I should also like to point out that the Jaina view of causality as "a relation of determination" based on the observation of "concomitance in agreement and in difference" has dual reference to an internal condition "in the developed state of our mind" (which would seem to correspond to the state of organized knowledge in any given context) and also to an external condition based on "the repeated observation of the sequence of the two events" which is suggestive of a statistical approach.
6.7. Finally, I should draw attention to the realist and pluralist views of Jaina philosophy and the continuing emphasis on the multiform and infinitely diversified aspects of reality which amounts to the acceptance of an "open" view of the universe with scope for unending change and discovery. For reasons explained above, it seems to me that the ancient Indian-Jaina philosophy has certain interesting resemblances to the probabilistic and statistical view of reality in modern times.
References
Das Gupta, S. (1922): A History of Indian Philosophy, 1, Cambridge University Press.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
