Saptbhanginaya

Author(s): Kannomal
Publisher: Atmanand Jain Pustak Pracharak Mandal

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'perhaps' etc. If you ask whether a thing exists, the answer would be 'maybe' it exists, that is it exists from some particular point of view. This statement naturally leads one to think that it does not exist from some other point of view. The adoption of such an attitude in looking at things is called Syâdvâda or Pluralism. Its synonym is ‘Anekântvâda', that is looking at a thing from a variety of view points. The word 'ant' in 'Anekântvâda' signifies determining or judging of a thing definitely. To say definitely that a thing is real or to say that a thing is unreal, in other words, looking at a thing from only one point of view and then attempting to determine its nature definitely is called Ekântvâda or monistic argument. To consider a thing real from some particular point of view; to consider it unreal from some other point of view, or to consider it both real and unreal from a third point of view is Anekântvâda or Pluralistic argument.
The Syâdvâda philosophers in conformity with this pluralistic doctrine, recognize every thing to be eternal or non-eternal or having innumerable properties. This method undertakes to look at a thing in all its aspects and relations