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THE PROBLEM OF NEGATION
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our knowledge. Negative judgements assert the non-existence of an object which is the object of cognition. The nonexistence depends for its cognition on the positive counterentity. Existence and non-existence are the two categories and these two parts of reality correspond to their respective cognitions. In other words, non-existence or negation is cognized in the negative judgement. 2. Idealism : Idealists, on the other hand, do not accept a negative entity. They rather conceive a negative judgement as an affirmative assertion.
If we examine history of philosophy, we find that the fact of negation is recognized by almost all the philosophers in some form or the other. Plato understood negation not as ‘non-being- but as difference'. This concept perhaps comes close to Jaina concept of negation that without difference one thing cannot be distinguished from the other. Aristotle conceived negation in the logical sense, according to which negation is a denial of affirmation. Modern logic defines negation in terms of truth values. Negative statement is of the form ‘no-p' which is true or false depending upon the truth-value of an affirmative proposition. But still knowledge of a negative proposition presupposes a direct experience of negation. “Thus, Russell was led to believe that there must be some negative basic propositions'.' According to Russell, “a basic proposition is that which arises on occasion of perception, which is the evidance for its truth and it has a form such that no two propositions having this form can be mutually inconsistent if derived from different percepts”.2.
According to Hegelian logicians, “negative statements are significant in so far as they presuppose a corresponding attribution of a contrary or even contradictory property. There
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