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Nayas-Ways of Approach and Observation*
The Jaina philosopher has made some astonishingly original contributions in the field of logic and epistemology, which have not been properly assessed and appreciated by the rival schools of 'Indian thought. Among those I here propose to deal with a problem which has living interest not only for the professional philosophers, but also for practical men of the world. The problem will have interest for journalists, politicians and administrators who have to arrive at a decision and chalk out a line of action in the midst of conflicting views and demands actuated by diverse interests and inclinations. This problem is called Nayas-ways of approach and observation. Even when a problem is a self-identical singular question of fact or act, persons of different interests and inclinations are bound to study it in different lights, and each will claim the infallibility and imperative necessity of his point of view. It is not necessary that all of them should be erroneous or misdirected. It is quite possible that there is truth in each of these conflicting presentations. It is a question of paramount importance that these different views and conflicting assertions and truth-claims should be assessed at their real worth and assigned their proper value in an impartial estimation of the situation confronting a thinker.
The Jaina philosopher asserts that each fact, however trivial it may appear, can be thoroughly understood in the context of the entire reality and only in the light of its inter-connections with the rest of reality. A real thing is possessed of an infinite number of aspects and attributes, which can be thoroughly comprehended only by a person who is directly acquainted with the whole order of
*
-Nathmal Tatia
This article was first published in The Philosophical Quarterly Vol. XXV. No. 3, October, 1952.
तुलसी प्रज्ञा अंक 123
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