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Multi-dimensional Application of Anekantavāda
(7) Syādasti nāsti avaktavya (a combination of the third and fourth
forms of judgement).
This sevenfold system of predication is called the Saptabhangi ( literally, the seven-fold), and stands in the same relation to philosophy as grammar does to speech. (1) Naigamābhāsa, the fallacy of the Naigama naya, consists in
making an actual division in thought between the general and special properties of things, as for instance to speak of the existence and consciousness of a soul as if they were two separate things. Sangrahābhāsa occurs when we describe the general properties of a thing as constituting it solely. For instance it is incorrect to maintain that a tree can be constituted by the general qualities common to all trees, since an actual tree will have to be a particular
kind of tree, and not the idea of tree-ness in general. (3) Vyavaharābhāsa consists in making wrong divisions of'species. (4) Rjusūtrābhāsa arises when we deny the permanence of things
altogether. Those philosophers who hold that there is no “being” but only“ becoming” in the world have fallen into this kind of error. Sabdābhāsa occurs when we deal with words without regards to their number, gender, tense, etc. For instance, to take the Hebrew Etohim, which is pluralistic in form, as representing one individual being would be an error of the Sabdābhāsa type. Sambhirūdhābhāsa lies in treating apparently synonymous words, which possess nice distinctions of meaning as if they all meant exactly the same thing. Pride and conceit may be taken to be fairly good instance of words which, if take to mean exactly the same mental trait, would give rise to fallacy. Evaṁbhūtābhāsa lies in asserting that the existence of a thing depend on its performance of the particular function with reference to which alone it has been described, as for instance to say that a devotee is non-existent because he is no longer engaged in
(5)
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