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The philosophical roots of the doctrine of Anekantavāda can be traced backed to a very ancient theory called vibhajyavāda. It is an indirect method of answering metaphysical questions through analysis and classification of the senses of words contained in those questions. It is a method of breaking up the whole questions into parts and seeking answer to all of them, thereby to the whole questions. Vibhajyavāda however takes into consideration the relativity of each part to the whole and looks at each part independently.
The method of Anekāntavāda is to analyze the different senses of, and thereby clarify the ambiguity contained in those predicate - expressions. Further, the possible alternatives are accepted with proper qualifications and conditionalization. Thus, it is a view that adopts nondogmatic and exploratory approach to philosophical and metaphysical questions. It is a method of partial acceptance of both the extremes. In this, the seemingly contradictory predictions are not rejected, but are accepted with qualifications, and the apparent contradiction is avoided by bringing out the different senses in which these predictions could be used. This is how it cannot be, strictly speaking, the acceptance of a real contradiction, as there is no contradiction at all! To give an example, the world from the point of view of continuity, may be called eternal, but from the point of view of change of its states, it is noneternal. Thus, the world can be regarded as both eternal and non-eternal without being contradictory. Thus, Anekāntavāda is a method of synthesis and toleration. The essence of Anekāntavāda lies in exposing and making explicit the standpoints of different philosophical schools and the existence of opposites at the same time in the same entity or environment.
Anekāntavāda and Tolerance: The dictionary meaning of 'Tolerance exposes the negative aspect of acceptance in a dominant manner. If tolerance is taken to mean 'ability or capacity to tolerate', it will point to toleration out of compulsion, out of helplessness or out of dire need of survival, for example, tolerating the baddies in the classroom or undisciplined behavior or even the notorious people in the society. It may even indicate the attitude of treating the other person with condemnation or the attitude of superiority complex and treating other as inferior, e.g. rich people tolerating poor people, scholars in the class tolerating the mediocre students, powerful nations tolerating weak, underdeveloped countries etc. However the doctrine of Anekāntavāda is based on the definition of reality as existent (substance is the indication of existent, existent is with origination, destruction and permanence and substance is with attributes and modes). Thus Anekāntavāda is a philosophy of intermixture and tolerance
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