Book Title: Jaina Philosophy
Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Previous | Next

Page 153
________________ 140 JAINA PHILOSOPHY : AN INTRODUCTION the primal perceptual cognition unconfirmed by repeated experience. Since such cognition has not as yet been ascertained to stand in unfailing correspondence with the object, its validity is determined (1) by a subsequent confirmatory cognition of the same object, or (2) by a cognition of its pragmatic consequences, or (3) by the cognition of an object invariably or universally concomitant with it. This establishes the fact that validity is determined by other means. It is called extrinsic validity. Classification of the Means of Valid Knowledge : The means of valid knowledge are of two kinds. Is this two-fold classification to be understood in the terms of what has been propounded by the Buddhists, viz., perception and inference' or in a different way? The Jaina classification is certainly different. Their two kinds are known as direct and indirect.? From the practical point of view they are called perceptual and non-perceptual. According to the Cārvāka, there is no other means of knowledge than perception (pratyaksa or ct knowledge). In order to refute his view, it is said that there is means of valid knowledge other than perception and it is proved by the determination of the validity and invalidity of knowledge, by the knowledge of other men's thoughts, and by negation." The realisation of the distinction between valid and invalid cognitions, of another man's thought, and the negation of what transcends sense-intuition are not possible without the help of other means of valid knowledge such as inference. Furthermore, the validity of even perceptual cognition can be established only on the evidence of its unfailing correspondence with the fact. Why should the Cārvāka not acknowledge the validity of non-perceptual cognitions, arising 1. Pratyaksamanumānam ca --- Nyāya-bindu, 1.3. 2. Pramānam dvidha. Pratyaksam paroksaṁ ca - Pramāna mimāmsā, I. 1. 9-10. 3. Ibid., 1. 1.11. Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328