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Structure of the Soul and Extension :: 145
but what he means is the space-occupation of the smallest possible magnitude. Inextension as an antithesis of extension will mean the non-existence of a substance. According to the Jaina no substance is without extension; it can, at most, be unextended in the above sense.
Extension in Case of Attributes
A substance is a unity of its attributes and modes. The constituents in a substance can be analysed and conceived as abstracted from their subtratum When matter with its attributes is considered as a substance, extension becomes one of its necessary accompaniments. When the attributes are considered in abstraction from the substance, the idea of extension loses its consistency. We can say that a piece of red cloth is four inches in length; but the statement that red as abstracted from cloth possesses a length becomes meaningless. Similarly in case of the soul, the substance responsible for the generation of consciousness is extended, while consciousness as abstracted from the substance of the soul refuses to enter into any spatial relation. We cannot say that a thought is to the right or to the left of some other entity, but the soul whose thought is meant can be characterized by such spatial relations. In this connection G.F. Stout remarks: “I would rather say that thinking and willing as such do not themselves enter into spatial relations, and I would say the same of perception and appetite, and of desiring and imagining. Subjective processes including all forms and processes of feeling, attention and conation are not themselves extended, do not occupy places, do not stand in relation of position, distance and direction relatively to each other or anything else”l The abstractive process of thinking has a similar effect both on the soul and matter. It is only in a derivative sense that a quality can be said to be extended
1. G.F. Stout: Mind and Matter, p. 158
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