________________
216
Jaina View of Life
of the environment, at the same time shaping the other selves. Man cannot be separated from nature. He is a part and parcel of the interacting forces in nature. In this sense, individual men including the heaven born prophets are products of environment and social heritage. They also contribute to the development of the social life. This universe is a vale of soul making'. There is a cosmic purpose in the incessant struggle of the individuals in this world. The purpose, as translated in human efforts, is the perfection of men.
We have seen that for the attainment of this end we need not depend on higher entity called God. Efforts of individual men are more important than the forces that work outside man. This brings us to the problem of the human ideals,
4. As a social being, development of man depends on the ends that he places before himself and the means used for the attainment of those ends. The Greeks, as also the Vedic Āryans, were full of zeal for life and its beauties. The consummation of life's end was to perfect life. Truth, beauty and goodness were the highest human values. Subjectivism of Protagoras would have led him to ethical relativism. What is good for one man may not be the same for the other. But Protagoras was a teacher of virtues and was accepted as a wise man. Still the earlier Sophists expressed nihilistic views. Polus, a disciple of Gorgias, admired political power in a tyrant, though evil it may be. Thrasymachus sneered at conventional justice as mere obedience to the wishes of those in power. The tyrant is the happiest man.18 So was the philosopher Nietzsche fascinated by power. He preached the philosophy of power. There were others, like Aristippus, who aimed at pleasures as the highest end in life. Pleasure was to be sought by the Cārvākas in ancient Indian thought. Greatest happiness of the greatest number was a modified version of this end.
However from pleasure to virtue is a long way. Socratic formula that virtue is knowledge expressed the basic insight into
18. Plato : Republic 346-355, C.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
