Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism

Author(s): S C Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 55

The Doctrine of Syādvāda or The Jaina Dialectic :: 51
completely, and remains true to all eternity, it is the whole truth about a part of the matter.” It means that objects admit of relativity but their knowledge cannot be said to be relative. Such knowledge must comprehend only a part or an aspect of the objects governed by a particular system of reference. So its validity must hold good in that particular system. When the validity of a comprehension depends upon some conditions, we cannot say that it is absolutely true, unless the limited context it taken to be absolute. When we think that 2 + 2 = 4, we unwittingly take the necessary context for granted i.e. the first 2, the second 2 and the 4 are taken in the same context. If the first 2 stands for days, the second 2 for weeks and the 4 for months, the given equation will come out to be false. If the equation is held to be absolutely true, the aforesaid specification of the terms in the equation must not have any bearing on it.
Bradley on Partial Truths
Supporting the truth of partial comprehension Bradley has rightly observed: “To gain truth the conditions of the predicate ‘must be stated ideally and must be included within the subject. This is the goal of ideal truth, a goal at which truth never arrives completely; and hence every truth, so long as this end is not attained, remains more or less untrue... Every partial judgement therefore is partly true and opposite also has truth. This of course does not mean that any given truth is merely false, and, of course, also, it does not mean that the opposite of any given truth is more true than itself.”? If propositions are made without specifying the necessary contexts, they admit of their own truth as well as the truth of their opposites. As we cannot hold that such prepositions are absolutely true or absolutely false, they must be held to be only partially true. When the
1. Joachim: Nature of Truth, p. 87 2. Bradley: Essays on Truth and Reality, p.232