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NYĀYA AND JAINA EPISTEMOLOGY
of Syādvāda. The seven modes of Syādvāda express partial truths and it is said, that they are the collection of arbitrary half truths. As it is put “the jaina philosophy of relativity which can be characterised as refreshingly modern or a happy blend of naturalistic and spiritualistic, realistic and idealistic tendencies.....On close scrutiny, it fails to satisfy some of the deepest metaphysical and religious aspirations of mankind. Its fascination is the fascination of eclecticism....a philosophy of compromise”. 13
This charge is also not well-founded. The Jaina philosophers point out that the theories of the other systems of philosophy present partial views of the reality and they find their reconciliation in Syādvāda. Though it is true that Syādvāda incorporates the truth of all systems, it is not just the arbitrary collection of different truths. It is philosophy of reconciliation based on relativity and not eclectical synthesis as absolutists maintain. It is not just the collection of partial truths but is the true way of understanding real nature of a
thing.
It is, thus, clear that all these objections against Anekāntavāda are based on misconceptions and misunderstanding. Jainas prefer to take a more realistic attitude and face the facts as they are. The critics fail to appreciate the intellectual approach on which the doctrine is based. The Jaina view is neither scepticism nor agnosticism but is standpointism, relativism based on realism. It brings out the relative character of the judgement arising out of the very nature of the object of knowledge. Because of this noncommital attitude, Jaina logic is saved from extremism, dogmatism and fanaticism. Criticisms by various scholars reveal that they have not been able to grasp the significance
