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डॉ सागरमल जैन : व्यक्तित्व एवं कृतित्व different individuals of a class. (nahi deśakālayoḥ vyāptir bhāvānam iha vidyate/pramana Vārtika).
The following is how Jainathinkers refute Exclusion theory:
(1) The object/meaning ofaword is universal which is not mere exclusion or mentalfigment but real. Though universal is not physically separate from individuals in which it is embeded, yet it is real. Universal is positive generic features found in individuals of a class. These features are not absolutely different from individuals of which they are features. Thus Jainas do not endorese the Nyāya-Vaisesika position that universal is absolutely different from individual in which it inheres. Nor do they tolerate the Buddhist position that universal is not real because its nature is mere exclusion.
(2) If the object/meaning of a word is mere exclusion and notsomething real, then there will remain no ground forthe truth or falsity of a statement, because truth or falsity of a statement depends on the attainment or otherwise of the denoted real thing.
(3) If the function of a word is only to exclude the other/opposite, then this function will be of the nature of negation only. But negation always implies affirmation. Without affirmation there can never be negation, and viceversa Negation is impossible without the acceptance of affirmation as its basis. That is, the function of a word can never be negation alone but is always both negation and affirmation, negation of the nature of other/opposite things and affirmation of the thing's positive nature.
(4) Exclusion of non-cows is not possible without the knowledge of non-cow. But the knowledge of non-cow is not possible without the knowledge of cow. Knowledge of non-cow depends on that of cow, and the knowledge of cow depends on that of non-cow. Thus Exclusion theory is vitiated by the logical defect of mutual dependence (anyonyāśraya).
(5) Again, exclusion of the opposite turns out to be an affirmation of the positive. Forinstance, negation (i.e. exclusion) of non-cows, being of the nature of two negations, necessarily proves its own nature of affirmation.
Now we consider sphota theory. The upholders of this theory are grammarians. Their position is as follows: That from which meaning is manifested is sphota. It is not a word made up of letters. It is different from such word. It is called sphotaor word-sphota. It is an eternal entity which is made manifest when on this or that occasion an appropriate sound is made. It is not something audible, for what is found heard is not sphota itself but the sound that makes this sphotamanifest. A word made up of letters orasentence made up of such words cannot serve as the instrument of verbal cognition because it is impossible for man to cognise aword as a whole orasentence as a whole. This has led to the positing of corresponding eternal impartite sabda-sphota and Väkya-sphota. The letters supposed to compose aword, since they are uttered one after another, are never present together, and so it is impossible for them to be perceived together. So, it becomes necessary to maintain that the instrument of verbal cognition is not a word made up of letters but sphotawhich is impartite, eternal, orderless and inaudible. It is true that verbal cognition nevertakes place unless letters are uttered, but it should be borne in mind that the letters are required not because they are the instrument of verbal cognition but because they make manifestthe eternal sphotawhich is actually such instrument.
Dr. Jain presents two main points of Jaina refutation of the grammarian's Sphotatheory. They are as follows:
(1) The grammarian's stand that a word as a whole can never be grasped is untenable and unsound. A word as a whole can be grasped. The procedure as to how a word as a whole is grasped letter by letter is as follows. There is first grasped the first letter and this grasping produces a mental impression, then is grasped the second letter and this grasping produces a mental impression stronger than the first, and thus proceeding there is lastly grasped the last letter and this grasping produces a mental impression strongest of all; now this last mental impression produces a memory
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