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Chapter Nine
AN EXAMINATION OF BRAHMA-SŪTRA
( 11. 2. 33 ) ( From the Jaina Standpoint ) Aphorism & Contradiction - The aphorism? under examination seems to be an innocent statement about the Law of Contradiction. However, the purpose of this aphorism is to examine the Jaina logic of seven paralogisms, which is declared to be a wrong theory on the ground of the impossibility of the presence of contradictory qualities in one and the same substance.
However, I think that many of the misgivings could have been avoided had there been a sincere effort to understand the Jaina point-of-view more sympathetically by trying to realise the importance of what is called, 'universe of discourse'. For, even the Law of contradiction means that two contradictory terms B and not B cannot both be true at the same time of one and the same thing A. In other words, two contradictory propositions can not both be true, i. e. one must be false. A man can not at the same time, be alive' and 'dead'. This means that the products of thought should be free from inconsistency and Contradiction, i. e. , valid in Hamilton's sense. However, Mill goes ahead and holds that it must also be true, i. e., agree with the reality of things. It means that "before dealing with a judgement or reasoning expressed in language, the import of its terms should be fully understood, in
1. 'Not in one substance because of the impossibilty', Brah
ma-sūtra, II. 2, 33. 2. Hamilton, ‘Lectures', Vol. III, pp. 25-26. 3. Mill, J. S. : Examination of Hamilton's Philosophy, 4th
edition, p. 564, p. 470.
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