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Jaina Perspective in Philosophy and Religion
In complete judgement "we use only word that describes one characteristic of that object, and hold the remaining characters to be identical with it."1 On the other hand, in Incomplete Judgement ( Naya ) we speak of truth as relative to our standpoints, hence a partial knowledge. “Hence the non-absolute is constituted of absolutes as its elements and as such would not be possible if there were no absolute.”2
(4) Is Conditional Judgement Unconditional - We have seen that every judgement is true but conditionally or relatively. But the statement that 'all propositions are conditional cannot be a sweeping remark, for then it will mean that "all statements including even the statement that all statements are conditional' would be conditional.” But the Jainas insist that all propositions except the proposition of its own system have, relative truth. They say that all seven alternatives are true and so their seven-fold conditioned predication is an all comprehensive categorical statement. True, they treat the alternatives only as alternatives, and not as disjunctives in which, alternatives are mutually exclusive, they are nevertheless making a categorical judgement. Does this mean that their doctrine is the doctrine of relativity of knowledge but not of relativity of truth? Yes, the Jainas do hold that their own system is absolutely true. But if knowledge is relative, our knowledge of reality also can have only relative truth.
So we come to this statement that 'every statement is conditional may in sense be taken as unconditional. This is unconditionality in conditionality, or absolutism in nonabsolutism. When the Jainas say that 'every thing is conditional, they are unconditional to this extent that 'every thing
1. Mehta, M. L. : Outlines of Jainu Philosophy ( 1954 ),
p. 123. 2. Mookerjee, S. : The Jaina Philosophy of Non-absolutism
(1944), p. 171.
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