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JAIN LOGIC
9.1 INTRODUCTION
THE JAIN BELIEF is that the purer the soul, the higher is its knowledge, perception, bliss and energy. Only omniscience can perceive the entire truth of reality or the nine reals. However, we are left with the other four types of knowledge, namely through mind and senses, scriptures (the highest authority in the field!), clairvoyance and mind-reading. As in science, one either açcepts the assertions as theories established by the authorities in the field (which we mostly do), or one verifies every assertion for oneself (which we are rarely able to do). However, there should be some plausible principles which one can adopt for any enquiry undertaken. Further, there is always room for some improvement. We give details of a few main principles of Jain logic which allow conclusions to be drawn when the types of questions asked do not lead to complete certainty or complete uncertainty. Note that the present theories in Particle Physics (see Ch.10) rely heavily on such a principle
9.2 SYLLOGISM
We will first consider the Jain syllogism. A medium' syllogism of Jain consists of five propositions. For example,
1. Tom died, Dick died and so did Harry. 2. Tom, Dick and Harry are truly universal types of men. 3. Therefore, all men die. 4. John is a man.
5. Therefore, John will die. The last three terms of the medium syllogism can, of course, be recognised as the Aristotelian syllogism which would be:
Man is mortal. John is a man.
Therefore, John is mortal. The medium syllogism clearly combines inductive and deductive methods of reasoning. In fact, it reflects the main stages of scientific/ statistical thinking. The first two terms can be thought of
