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Chapter - 8
ANEKĀNTAVĀDA AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION*
The discussions of this seminar include about two and half-dozen aspects covering nearly all fields of human activities and behaviours. They have wider perspectives for consideration than the earlier seminar held Ahmedabad at 1993. This indicates the wide field of application of this principle which was developed originally on philosophical basis in early days. Sthānārga? has mentioned sixteen diverse pairs of topics, while L.C. Jaino has added some more topics of physical science where this principle could be currently applied. However, it is just surprising very few researches (4 up to 1993) have been done on this topic and not a single paper by Jains was presented in Parliament of World Religions, 1993 on its value in conflict resolution (out of 15).' Further, few papers were presented on this topic in IV ICPNA, 1999° presuming Anekānta and non-violence as the two facets of the same coin. This fact indicates how insensitive we are towards our theories and promotion of their non-individual and wider applications. This also suggests that many of our principles have been taken either as philosophical or scholarly. For example, some scholars have called this principles as an 'academic scandal' or 'anarchy of knowledge'. Many in the past and current have criticized it tooth and nail, per chance due to misunderstanding. We must be thankful to Mahatma Gandhi and, later, others who have widened the scope of non-violence with Anekānta forming its mental construct to win national freedom and to induce many national and international organizations throughout the world for global peace and welfare with specific objectives (UNO, NAM, WTO etc).
: 'Paper read at the conference on Non-violence and Human Values, Baroda, 2002
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