Jain Moral Doctrine

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

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JAIN MORAL DOCTRINE
tion or inhibition of conative tendencies. At any rate, we are told that the sense of moral value is determined in terms of desire and that the strength of this desire is measured by the amount of pleasure that results.
The doctrine that pleasure involved in an act is the ultimate measure or standard of the moral value of an act, has had an important place in the history of the ethical doctrines. It is generally known as Hedonism and is prominently associated with Aristippus of Cyrene-according to whom, the moral worth of an act is judged by its tendency to increase pleasure and diminish pain. A similar doctrine is attributed to the Çārvākaś of India, whose main theme was: “So long as one lives, he should live pleasurably”. It is clear, however, that pleasure which generally signifies momentary sense feelings of pleasure cannot be looked upon as the exclusive motive for actions. Epicurus, who was the most important of the systematisers of Hedonism, admitted nevertheless that not momentary feelings of sense but a happy life and a mind free from disturbance and care, was the goal of all human actions. It is said that according to Epicurus, the affairs of a state are disturbers of this happy life and that for this reason, he advises one's withdrawal from them. Of course, he laid down the attainment of pleasure as the goal of the human life but took care in stating 'we cannot live a life of pleasure which is not also a life of prudence, honour and justice'. In modern times, Hedonism appears in two aspects which are scarcely reconcilable with each other. According to 'egoistic' Hedonism, an agent's own greatest pleasure is the goal. The other form of Hedonism is qualitative and universalistic and is maintained by J. S. Mill and others. This form of Hedonism has been called 'utilitarianism', which makes two important departures from the original and the crudest form of the hedonistic individualism. The utilitarians point out firstly that while the attainment of pleasure is the end of all moral activities, permanent sources of interest are to be preferred to the disconnected pleasures. A distinction of kind or quality is thus introduced in the notion of pleasure and intellectual pleasures are expressly recognised as of higher value than the pleasures of sense, inspite of any quantitative worth in the latter in the form of fruitfulness or superior intensity. The other departure of the 'universalistic' Hedonism from the track of orthodox Hedonism is the acceptance of the greatest pleasure for the greatest number, including all sentient beings, as the moral goal, in the place of an individual's attainment of his own pleasure. The doctrine of 'utilitarianism' in this its latter aspect is emphasised by Sidgwick: "Bv utilitarianism is here meant the ethical theory that the conduct
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