Science And Jain Philosophy

Author(s): Raksha J Shah, Abhijit Muni, Pooja Banthia
Publisher: International Conference on Science and Jain Philosophy

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SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY DR. R. RASTURIRANGAN k.rangan@nic.in
(Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Padma Shree awards, is a past member of Rajya Sabha and Former Chairman ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space, Government of India (1994 to 2003). He is an M.Sc. (Physics), Ph.D. and has Honorary Doctorates of 16 Universities to his credit. He initiated several space missions of ISRO including Indian Remote sensing satellites, Astronomy missions and Indian Moon mission.)
Let me begin this address with a simple question, what is Science? Science is the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observations and experiments, basically aiming to find the truth of the existence of the Universe and its constituents. The second entity, religion can be defined as faith or belief and the rituals followed in worshipping God. It is interesting to note that this conference seeks to explore how science and religion should blend, keeping philosophy at the helm and aim to have a progressive society or smart society.
Is religion different from philosophy can be a question which ponders in the minds of common man. Religion and philosophy are different, but they are related. Religion is generally considered to be composed of a set of morals, rules, principles, and ethics that serve to guide one's way of living. This means practicing something with faith. Philosophy, on the other hand, is a bigger domain of disciplinethattackles many concepts like metaphysics, the search for the ultimate truth, knowledge, values, reason and life itself. Aim of the philosophy is to attain wisdom. So, any philosophy whether Greek, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist or Jain will lead towards attaining wisdom, but the paths taken will differ depending on the ideologies of each one of them.
Greek Philosophy had its beginning in 6th Century BC and this is the most ancient philosophy. Greek philosophy not only included scientific thought, but it also is said to have inspired world-historical decisions with their own thinking and decided the path of modern civilization with the creation of science. Hans-Georg Gadamer, a German philosopher, in his attempt to find certain points of conflicts between ancient Greek philosophy and modern science observed 'enduring relevance of ancient thought to modern science. He felt that, Greek philosophy gives access to a way of integrating the empirical sciences with the praxis of social life.
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India has seen many schools of philosophical thought and they were formalized between 1000 BCE to the early centuries of the Common Era. Hindu philosophy, Buddhist philosophy and Jain philosophy were the important ones which are sustained and still practiced.
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