________________
102
THE JAINA PHILOSOPHY
external world
"The agreement of these considerations with experience together with Planck's determination of the true molecular size from the law of radiation (for high temperatures) convinced the sceptics, who were quite numerous at that time (Ostwald, Mach) of the reality of atoms The antipathy of these scholars towards atomic theory can indubitably be traced back to their positivistic philosophical attitude This is an interesting example of the fact that even scholars of audacious spirit and fine instinct can be obstructed in the interpretation of facts by philosophical prejudices
وود
The dialetical materialism also very strongly refutes the doctrine of idealism saying 'the new physics strayed into idealism by ignorance Denying the properties of matter they ended in denying matter itself ie the objective reality of the physical world Insisting on the approximate and relative character of our knowledge they ended in denying the existence of object independent of the mind It supports and corroborates the realist view saying the concept of matter epistemologically implies nothing but objective reality existing independently of the human mind Electrons ether etc exist as objective realities just as nature existed prior to man and organic matter The absence of any other kind of mass in the electron except electromagnetic mass, the fact that the mechanical laws of motion are confined only to a single sphere of natural phenomena and are subordinated to the more profound laws of electromagnetic phenomena corroborate the objective existence of matter The electron is to the atom as a full stop is to the size of a building 200 ft long 100 ft broad and
9 Albert Einstein Philosopher-Scientist
