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Jaina Logic & Epistemology
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J. B. S. Haldane has made, in this paper, an elaborate and critical analysis of the sevenfold predication of the Jainas with reference to the statistical study of the physiological problems of sense organs. He shows that he has come to conclusions similar to those of Bhadrabahu. And he says, 'No doubt we reached it by different methods, Bhadrabahu by meditation, I, by thinking about the results of concrete experiments on animals'. It is unrealistic to pretend that ancient philosophers anticipated all modern intellectual developments. And I believe that we, today, can do more honour to their memories by thinking for ourselves, as they did, than by devoting our lives to commentaries on them. But if we do so, it is our duty to point out cases where it turns out that our own thought has run parallel to theirs.
Professor N. Umakantha, Department of Physics, Karnatak University, Dharwar, has prepared a paper on the epistemological significance of Syadvada with special reference to the theory of probability. In that paper he has made use of a new concept “Represental” in addition to the particular denoting an individual and the universal connoting the universal signifying the particulars of the same class. Man is a universal. Mr. Smith is a particular. “Our main point is that in statistical analysis (and in the theory of probability) we need a new kind of abstraction which we call “represental". With reference to vision, for instance, Man has different possible states of vision. A particular man, Mr. Jones, for instance, has only one of these states of vision at any time. In between these there is an intermediate level of cognition of which we are not interested in which particular man has which state of vision but only in the number of men having different states of vision. This is statistical analysis. Prof. Umakantha considers that with the concept of the represental' whose epistemological status is in between a particular and the universal Syadvada becomes the foundation of epistemology.
The synoptic presentation of reality by Syadvada gives a true picture of reality in all its aspects and that is the essence of the Jaina outlook, which helps to remove the intellectual cobwebs arising out of ekanta. The Syadvada of the Jainas affirms that a thing is never destroyed; and that which is not, never comes into
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