Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 1

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 130

NAYAS
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not borrowed. Inherence is ontologically a unitary fact which maintains its identity in spite of its incidence in an indefinite number of entities. Again a universal cannot have another universal. Though substanceuniversal, quality-universal and action-universal are all called universal, yet they have not any super-universal inherent in them. The universal per se exists as a unique entity and the postulation of a superuniversal to bring the different universals under one class would lead to a regressus ad infinitum, since the unifying super-universal being a universal per se will require another higher universal to bring it into line with other universals. But though existence makes the individuals participating in it existent, the existence pertaining to the three latter categories namely, simanya, višeşa and samavā ya is rather a reflex of the coincidence of existence with the latter. To cite concrete instances, the existence-universal exists in the first three categories in which the other universals substance-hood, quality-hood and action-hood also inhere. The co-inherence of the substance-universal, quality-universal and the action-universal along with existence in their specific loci confer objective existence on those universals without entailing any additional relation,
We are not pursuing the problem further and our interest is to demonstrate the attitude of these realistic philosophers towards reality. The vision ranges from the highest universal-existence to the lowest possible universal in respect of denotation. It then comes down to unique individuals and particulars which have no truck with universal. So its approach is purely synthetic, synthetic-cum-analytic and purely analytic. The first purely synthetic approach results in existenceuniversal which has no specific particular attached to it; the second method, synthetic-cum-analytic gives rise to substance-hood, qualityhood and action-hood of which the first universal unifies the infinite number of substances and differentiates them from other universals. Substance-universal is different from quality-universal, and they differentiate their substrates from those of the other types. Furthermore a man is a substance, a cow is a substance, a horse is a substance and each of them possesses specific universal, namely, man-universal, cow-universal, horse-universal and so on. In this way the syntheticcum-analytic method of approach results in discovering so many universals. Ultimately the philosophers of the school come down to višeșas, the differentiating properties of eternal substances. Atoms of earth are members of one and the same class and their earthiness distinguishes them from water-atoms, air-atoms, fire-atoms and the like. But what will distinguish the atoms of the same class from one another? They possess the same universal and similar qualities. So these cannot serve as the distinguishing properties. But earth-atom number one is