Jain Philosophy and Modern Science

Author(s): Nagrajmuni
Publisher: Anuvrat Samiti

Page 24

JAIN PHILOSOPHY & MODERN SCIENCE proved by science is rejected as blind faith and superstition But science is not contented with its present knowledge about things At times it so happens that the scientists who take pleasure in exposing the blind faith of the people are themselves exposed by their own dogmatism The example of meteors is a glaring one in this context The following quotation on page 705 of the book "Soura Pariwar" (Round the Solar System) under the Chapter "Blind faith of the : Scientists”, will illustrate the point"It is not true that only the people have blind faith. Sometimes scientists believe in blind faith while the people are on the right path In the medieval ages in Europe, as science progressed day by day, the scientists began to believe very srongly that meteors could not fall from the sky. They further believed that meteors have never fallen from the sky before. Those who said that they have seen meteros falling from the sky were labelled as people with blind faith Those who wrote that they had personally witnessed such incidents were laughed at”.
Olivier in his book 'Meteors' writes "Now we are coming to the second half of the 18th Century In the previous century meteors had fallen many a times Those who had seen them had written their descriptions. Even though concrete proofs were given, many leading scientists branded them as acts of foolishness and partiality These scientists were no doubt considering themselves as leaders and most modern and other people also cnsidered them as such Everyone