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Philosophy As Criticism-II
59
point of view) there is an act of denial (of other viewpoints). The corrective applied by Jainism is that by a conditional affirmation, the other viewpoint could also bc accomodatcd not in a condescending manner but in a genuinely-fell, constructively thought-out positivelyoriented, effort at comprehending the nature of Reality from many different perspectives which coalesce. This has resulted in prefixing the expression "May be" to the several propositions.
It seems therefore that the qualifying prefix is suggestive of the Jaina view that even when one viewpoint is put forward, asserted or accepted, it should not shut out the possibility of other views being put forward, other standpoints being asserted or olher perspectives being conceded. The qualified statement ("May be, is", "May be, is not", etc.) brings to the fore, alternative possibilitics; il suggests unequivocally that other standpoints are possible. Furthermore, the qualified acceptance (or denial) which the prefix of "May be" indicates is neither absolutely false nor totally true. Though acceptance of the validity of the proposition is indicated, what is not suggested is its total validity, just as the rejection of the soundness of the proposition is only on the count that an unconditional acceptance of validity might distort the nature of Reality. Dasgupta succinctly brings out the conditional affirmation aspect of the theory (explained above) thus :
Infinite number of affirmations may be made of things from infinite points of view. Affirmations or judgments according to any naya or standpoint cannot therefore be absolute, for even contrary affirmations of the very... same things may be held to be true from other points of view. The truth of each affirmation is thus only conditional, and inconccivable from the absolute point of view. To guarantee correctness therefore each affirmation should be preceded by the phrase syāt (may be). This will indicate that thc affirmation is only relative, made somchow, from some point of view, and under some reservations and not in any sense absolute. There is no judgment which is absolutely true, and no judgment which is absolutcly falsc. All judgments are true
in some sense and falsc in another."
Passing on to a specific consideration of the seven propositions then, the following points emerge :
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