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THE PROBLEM OF NEGATION
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also contains certain novel features.
According to Jainism, negation is an essential aspect of reality. Every existent is dialectical in nature. It involves both positive and negative characteristics. Each thing is also not every other thing. In Jainism, negation is not real by itself but it is an element of the nature of a real. It is not real by itself, i. e. substantive in itself, but is of the nature of an adjective to a thing. It is the Jaina view that a thing is many-sided. It is existent as well as non-existent. This assertion is not selfcontradictory as a thing is not existent in the very respects in which it is non-existent. The peculiar Jaina concept is that a thing is non-existent with respect to the nature of other things. If this is not granted, the conclusion would be that a thing has the nature of all things which is absurd. Pluralistic realism of Jaina asserts that it is because of negation in this sense that a thing is exclusive in the sense of different. Again it is not that this kind of negation has no real content in the sense that it simply implies affirmation with respect to its own nature. But negation cannot be the same thing as affirmation and negation undoubtedly points to a real aspect of a thing. If we do not admit the reality of negation then negation of the nature of other things in the thing would be impossible. In accordance with the principle of double negation, "the nature of a thing is the negation of the negation of itself"." Negation is an essential aspect of reality. Negation consists in otherness. It is the principle of difference and a thing is described as identityin-difference. Jaina dialecticians do not say that positive element is identical with its negative element. This will lead to identification of the two-existence and non-existence. It will in fact negate all distinction between positive and negative and ultimately will negate all existence. Reality becomes fictitious if negation is identified with position. This is exactly the
