________________
116
Multi-dimensional Application of Anekāntavāda
which had canonised its general forms in the Aristotelian logic. The contemporary mathematical and symbolic logic is certainly very different from its classical predecessor, but they share the radical opposition to dialectical logic. Dialectical logic undoes the abstractions of formal logic and transcendental philosophy, but it also denies the concreteness of immediate experience. When experience provides the basis of logic, logical truth becomes historical truth. Instead of twovalued formalistic logic, we have today multi-valued logic, which can pave the way for a conception of multi-dimensional reality and also a multi-dimensional personality.
Conclusion:
The one-dimensional society alters the relation between the rational and the irrational. The formerly antagonistic realms merge on technical and political ground-magic and science, life and death, joy and misery.
A man who has a sense of presence in the world as a real, alive and whole, as differentiated from the rest of the world so that his identity and autonomy are never in question has inner consistency, substantiality, genuineness and worth. The one-dimensional thinking is uncritical and conformist acceptance of existing structures, norms and behaviours. One must assert his individuality and personal freedom against the technologized status quo. Uncritical thinking derives its beliefs, norms, and values from existing thought and social practices, while critical thought seks alternative modes of thought and behaviour from which it creates a standpoint of critique. One-dimensional man is bound to be uncritical, rigid and un-catholic, where as multidimensionality is a creative principle and source of individual liberation and society's development. One dimensionality is a mechanics of conformity. Social change cannot be understood within the social and natural totality of human life. Man has many roles to play mostly at the same time. As a father he has to be a benefactor and disciplinarian. As a husband, he has to be loyal and considerate to his wife, as a citizen he has to serve his community and the country.
Only a man who is wholly of the present can say something important about the present-day world, and only he who has the most
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
