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Jaina Perspective in Philosophy and Religion
Besides, contemporary thinkers confuse the pragmatic? and pluralistic but realistic attitude of Syadváda with the same pragmatic and pluralistic but idealistic views of Messrs William James, Schiller, Dewey etc. One should remember that even Jaina metaphysics accept Vedic realism and even in the Upanişads we have pluralistic trends. In the Upanişads also we have the glimpses of how the reality reveals itself in different ways at different stages of knowledge.3 However, Syadváda is probably due to the Jainast and so it cannot be traced to the Vedas and Upanişads though the Jainas believe that their fundamental creed can be traced back even before the Veda.5
Then another case of confusion in comparing6 Syadváda with the subjectivistic relativism of the Sophist, with the objective Relativism or Relative Absolutism? like Whitehead, Bodin. However there is no similarity with Eienstien's relativity except in the most general attitude. To some extent we may find its parallel in old Pyrrohoneanism in the west. The Upanişadic Neti, Neti, the Advaita doctrine of the world as Anirvacya, the yoga doctrine of Pradhana as Nihsattvaknirasat-Nihsadasat and the Śūnyavādin's doctrine of the self
1. D. M. Datta : Indian Philosophy, p. 97. 2. ( a ) zrfeTaifaTafea arealfa arffa treatfa arga: 1
चलस्थिरो भयामवैशवृणोव्येव वालिशः ।। माण्डूक्योपनिषद्, ४-३३ (b) "Tapi Afast aga aafra", maa, T4# 54 I (c) '' ETUIT OfThifa7", *1##077
(d) " facutT:", 1997 TIETTI 3. S. Radhakrishnan : History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. I,
p. 299. 4. Kalidas Bhattacharya : His letter to me. 5. Sir Ashutosh Com. Volume III, Article of Dr. P. C.
Bagchi. 6. D. M. Datta : Indian Philosophy. 7. K. Bhattacharya : His letter to me.
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