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The Jaina Philosophy of Non-Absolutism
Relation then cannot be denied an objective status without involving consequences which we cannot acquiesce in. The problem how does relation happen to the terms can be determined by appeal to experience alone. Take for instance the case of solution of a powder in water. Here the parts of powder and the parts of water interpenetrate and we get practically an indistinguishable whole. In the case of conjunction of two fingers it is partial. The Jaina does not as a matter of fact believe in the existence of simples, which have no aspects, qualitative or quantitative. A real is the identity of an infinite plurality of aspects and modes, and we have seen how the Jaina solves the problem of incompatibility. A real is a unity and diversity in one, and the relation involved is neither one of absolute identity nor one of absolute otherness, but something different from them both. It is sui generis, which does not permit of being determined by absolute criteria. The parts or modes or aspects are neither different nor identical with the unity to which they belong. The relation inside the unity is also sui generis. The validity of such a relation cannot be called in question on the ground that it refuses to be determined in terms of identity or of otherness, because it is as ultimate and simple as identity and otherness are. If identity satisfies a logical necessity, so also should this unique relation. Each is unique and ultimate and there is no reason to condemn it as appearance when it is equally a given fact with identity or otherness. If, on the other hand, we are to rely upon the evidence of experience as the ultimate source of knowledge of the nature of reality and we feel the necessity of checking the results of discursive thought by reference to the verdict of experience, we shall be compelled to come to the conclusion that neither absolute identity nor absolute otherness has any reality beyond abstractions of thought. So far as reals are perceived and thought, they do not afford warrant for supposing identity or otherness to be veridical relations. Absolute identity is only an abstraction as ideal as Euclid's point and line are. But whereas Euclid's points and lines are useful fictions, the concepts of absolute identity and absolute otherness have been a fruitful source of confusion and acrimonious controversies which prevented philosophers from coming to an agreement where it was possible.
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