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custodian of clarity, certainty and unambiguity in the field of philosophy. It is by no means the doctrine of doubt and uncertainty.
Although an existence is possessed of infinite attribute yet the knowledge of it is not a simple affair. The question is what is it to know a thing ? and how many propositions are requisite to express the content of knowledge ? The conviction of the Jaina is that seven distinct propositions, neither more or less, are needed to express the content of knowledge in regard to an existent. The significant point to be noted here is that each proposition is not the result of mere subjective necessity but is traceable to an objective situation which actually possesses attributes as an ontological truth. All this implies that since the existents or their characteristics are infinite in number, seven propositions can be expressed with reference to each. Consequently, there will be infinitely seven-fold propositions without any inconsistency.
Let us now illustrate the doctrine of seven-fold propositions by taking an example of the attribute existence or permanence or oneness etc. in respect of pen.
1. The first proposition is : Syāt pen exists. This means that the existence of pen is contextual, the context being its own Dravya (substance), Kșetra (Space), Kāla (time) and Bhāva (State). It is by virtue of this context that the pen derives its individuality and becomes meaningful. In fact this context is interwoven into the constitution of the pen itself, so it can not. be separated from the object. This proposition controverts the possibility of unqualified existence of a thing without the consideration of substance, space, time and state.
2. The second proposition is : Syāt pen does not exist. The proposition does not, as it seems, negate the existence of pen referred to in the first proposition, but it states the nonexistence of pen in respect of other Dravya, Kșetra, Kāla, and Bhāva. Thus it strengthens the first proposition rather than cancels it. The pen is pen only because it is not pen. In other
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