Society Epistemology And Logic In Indian Tradition

Author(s): Dharmchand Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharati Academy

Page 95

Jaina Epistemology and Logic: Development and Doctrines
[Part I of this article gives an account of the historical development of the Jaina logic and epistemology and Parts II deals with the contributions of Jaina philosophers regarding epistemological doctrines.]
PART - I A BRIEF SURVEY OF LITERARY CONTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF JAINA EPISTEMOLOGY AND
LOGIC Epistemology : Theory of knowledge
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy which deals with origination of knowledge, its nature, sources and validity etc. and logic is a core area of epistemology which deals with valid arguments and inference for others and the concepts of consistency, inconsistency, truth and falsity. The term epistemology encompasses mainly two dimensions of philosophy, i.e. Jñānamīmāmsā and Pramāņa mīmāmsā. To some extent, both the dimensions are intermingled. Pramāņa is not absolutely different from knowledge or cognition. Particularly in Jaina tradition, pramāņa is always accepted as a kind of cognition or knowledge. Hence, all the descriptions made in Jaina canons regarding knowledge come under the scope of pramāņa. When we discuss pramāņa, we have to resort to the theory of knowledge.