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AN ANALYSIS OF "SYAT' IN SYĀDVĀDA
M. P. Marathe
Many scholars have acknowledged the importance of the role that Syādrā da or Saptabharigi plays in the exposition and explanation of the central tenet of the Jaina Philosophy. In the elaboration of the doctrine of Syādvāda the expression “syāt' is rendered by such corresponding cxpressions as “possibly', 'may be', 'it is possible that', 'perbaps' etc. The point such renderings and their explanations bring to the focus is solely that consideration of some kind of possibility or some kind of modal predicate is involved in the doctrine. But, unfortunately, hardly any effort is made to analyse and explain the kind of possibility that is involved. It is the object of this paper to focus attention on this issue. The entire paper falls into four main sections : the first deals with the brief statement of the various kinds or possibilities which western philosophical and logical discussions have brought to the fore; the second attempts to offer interpretation of 'syāt'; the third focusses on the question of the kind of possibility or possibilities that such an interpretation of 'syat' embraces and the final section discusses some of the important consequences this explanation leads to.
Presented in the Seminar on Jaina Logic and Philosophy" (Poona University, 1975), published in the Indian Philosophical Quarterly (April, 1978)
