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PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE
Generally, philosophy and science belong to different fields of study. Philosophy is born out of thinking and science is born out of experience. Different types of literature describing and discussing these two seemingly different activities have, therefore, emerged. But inspite of this distinction, these are two related activities and the literature discussing their relation has also emerged. This collection of articles of Muni Nandighoshavijayji belongs to this type of literature.
Proficient in the Jain philosophical tradition, the Rev. Muni is no doubt a learned exponent of the reflective spiritual tradition. It is indeed a fact of gratification that he has made tremendous efforts to understand the empirical scientific tradition and it was my privilege to see him absorbed in studying it. The author of this collection of articles is thus proficient in former tradition and well acquainted with the progress in the latter tradition. It will, therefore, be very interesting to know his thoughts on relation between these two traditions.
Science is no doubt empirical knowledge but its basic principles are based on reflection. But these principles are accepted as scientific only after they have passed through the test of experiments. It is, therefore, clear that concentration on the basic principles of modern science is a prerequisite for a discussion of relation between philosophy and science.
This collection of articles discusses the following principles of science.
(1) Concepts of time and its units.
(2) Origin and development of the universe.
(3) Darwin's theory of evolution.
(4) Units of time and their relativity.
(5) The Atomic theory of construction of material objects, and (6) Energy, the corpuscular theory and the wave theory of light.
The basic scientific introduction of each topic is followed by a detailed discussion of its description according to the Jain philosophical tradition. After awakening the reader's interest in both traditions, the author attempts to compare them.
