________________
The Logical Background of Jaina Philosophy
here, it is but a construction and development of the Jaina logical standpoint. But the deduction is so obvious that there would be little room for doubting its fidelity to the Jaina point of view. It may be looked upon as a development necessitated by the demands of modern thought, and it is hoped that it will help the understanding of the Jaina metaphysical position, as interpreted in the following chapters.
Now, the Laws of Thought are formulated as follows: (1) The Law of Identity - "Whatever is, is" (2) The Law of Contradiction - "Nothing can both be and not be" and (3) The Law of Excluded Middle -- "Everything must either be or not be." These principles are undoubtedly true and are intuitively perceived. But the abstract formulation proves inadequate to deal with actual data with their infinite complexity, unless the laws are qualified by necessary reservations. The Jaina does not believe in the a priori validity of these laws and he thinks that these laws of thought are derived from the fund of experience, which is the ultimate source of knowledge and the final court of appeal in a dispute about the nature of things. Now the nature of things is believed to be dynamic in character from the observation of the data of experience, and these laws, the Jaina would insist, should be in consonance with the concept of change and all that it implies. The abstract formula of identity "A is A” is bound to suffer from the defects of symbolism, which seems to lay stress on the static character of things. But nothing is static according to the Jaina and so the symbolic representation does not give any insight into the nature of reality as it is. The point will be made clear if we substitute a concrete substance for the symbol A, say, a pen. The proposition will then be "A pen is a pen." But a pen, being a real, is constantly undergoing change, and change means that the changing substance is becoming different at every stage of change. So a pen at a particular moment is not absolutely the same pen at the next moment. It was fresh and new when it was turned out of the factory and with the efflux of time and the wear and tear of constant use it will lose its freshness as it continues in its career. The same pen was new at one time and becomes old at another time. The new and the old pen are not absolutely the same entity. But they are not, on the
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
