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Pluralistic Realism
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is to show how differently the same object can be viewed by different individuals. However, these different aspects are only partially true and since they are only partially true, they are not capable of being wholly true. They, however, cannot be rejected as wholly untrue also. These different aspects can be illustrated by the reactions of some blind persons who were asked to go to an elephant and give its description after touching and feeling it. One who touched its legs described it as like a pillar, one who touched its ears described it like a winnowing fan, one who touched the tail, described it like a rope and so on. Each one was right from his own standpoint because he could experience only a particular limb of the elephant and not the whole elephant. Each one of them was however, wrong because his description did not conform to the reality which the elephant possessed. This reality could be comprehended only by one who could see the whole.
The Jainas, therefore, hold that the Cárvākas, Nyāya-Vaiseşikas, Vedāntins, Sankhyas and Buddhists apprehend reality partially neglecting other aspects of its and consider their own view-points as absolutely true and thus commit different types of fallacies pointed above. Utility of Naya Theory
The utility of the theory of Nayas lies in its analytical approach and the consequential approach of a rational unification of the manifold revealed by this analysis. The task of this rational unification is done by the theory of Syadváda. As Pt. Dalasukha Malavania?, an esteemed Jaina Scholar puts it, “Acarya Siddhasena has said that there are as many view points ( Nayas ) as there are statements and there are as many philosophies as there are statements. Enlarging this pronouncement of the Acārya, Jinabhadra makes it clear that all philosophies taken collectively constitute Jainism. Contradiction seems to be existing in the mutually exclusive statements so long as they are not harmonized and integrated with each 1. Jainism ( Some Essays ), pp. 134-135.
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