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On the Identity of the Liberated Jīva in Jainism
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perfectly coherent to differentiate jīvas based on their past histories.
So our second objection, that if identity depends solely on intrinsic properties then, despite our ability to differentiate jīvas based on their form or location, we cannot differentiate the identities of jīvas upon liberation, there is a solution. The solution to this problem is, rather ironically, a solution put forward in Leibniz's philosophy. If all external relations are understood as necessary internal relations, then the solutions presented above work. If the form and/or history of jīvas are different and also intrinsic properties, then liberated jīvas are not identical. This, however, yields for the Jaina philosopher the same philosophical issues that Leibnizian philosophy faces. Leibniz solves this problem with an appeal to a creator God that is necessarily independent of the world, a position that Jains would surely take issue with.32
Jaina philosophers, so long as they adhere to Leibniz's law and also maintain that internal properties are what matter for identity, must solve this philosophical issue. The only other option for the Jaina philosopher is to disregard accidental properties and/or reject Leibniz's law.
Now, the project I have undertaken here is by no means complete. I have merely sketched a few problems with the identity of jīvas leaving much more to be done. For example the identity of the mundane jīva has been largely ignored, as well as a discussion on the acceptability of utilizing Leibnizian monads as a comparison with jīvas. Also some more discussion of anekāntavāda might help clarify how jīvas can be understood both as singular and as multiple. My humble contribution with this paper has been to demonstrate to the confused student of Jainism that the Jaina ontology of the self is coherent. As a second contribution, this project also acts as an impetus for Jaina philosophy to reconcile the issue I have raised above with the ultimate identity of the jīva.
