________________
Refutation of Western Materialism on the
Basis of Jaina Philosophy
Muni Mahendra Kumar B.Sc. (Hons) Materialism is found expounded in the Western philosophy right from the period of the ancient Greek philosophers upto the present age. Here we do not intend to go into discussion of its historical evolution and the minor differences in its various forms. We shall only try to discuss it in general and compare it with the Jaina view.
Definition of Matter :--Lenin gives the following difinition of matter : "We ask; is a man given objective reality when he sees something red or feels something hard etc. or not ?... If you hold that it is given, a philosophical concept is needed for this objective reality, and this concept has been worked out long, long ago. This concept is matter. Matter is a philosophical category designating the objective reality which is given to man by his sensations, and which is copied, photographed and reflected by our sensations, while existing independently of them. This definition of matter comes very close to the Jaina definition of pudgala viz. "pudgala is that which possessess in itself the qualities of touch, taste, odour and colour." Even though the Jaina philosophy denies the possibility of perception of the ultimate atoms (parmāņu) of matter through sensory means, it accepts the quality of mūrtatoa, being objectively existent even in a paramānu. Also both the materialism and the Jaina philosophy recognise matter as an objective reality. In the words of Lenin,"...the sole property of matter, with whose recognition Philosophical Materialism is bound up, is the property of being an objective reality, of existing outside our mind. 3
Reality of Soul :- Whereas materialism and the Jaina philosophy hold similar views regarding the reality of matter, they differ from each other regarding the reality of soul. According to the Jaina metaphysical veiw, all the five astikayas including soul are ultimate realities, whereas according to materialism, only the matter is the ultimate reality, while reality of soul is denied. There is, however, a difference between the old materialism and the modern dialectical or scientific materialism. Whereas the former considers soul or consciousness to be identical with matter, 4 the latter holds an opposite view. Dialectical materialism as well as epiphenomenalison consider mind to be different from matter; all the same mind is not attributed a status of an ultimate reality. In contrast to this, the Jaina philosophy asserts an independent existence of soul.
Refutation of Materialism :-There are three important arguments adduced in proof of materialism :
(i) The Methodological Argument, (ii) The Mechanical Argument, (iii) The Cosmological Argument 5 We shall try to examine critically these arguments one by one,
- 176 -
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
