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Chapter 4.5 JAIN LOGIC, PSYCHOLOGY AND THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
The art of reasoning, commonly known as logic, may be defined as the methodology I of intellectual (including empirical) examination of objective or intuitive reality. It is
also the study of necessity, possibility and a method of deduction predicated upon syllogisms. Logic makes philosophy reasonable and rational. All physical and metaphysical objects and concepts such as the soul, the universe, karma, God, or Reality, whether objective or subjective, need to be comprehended by logic. There are branches, or sub-disciplines, of logic: epistemology (dealing with 'organs' of knowledge or pramaanas) and ontology (dealing with objective and subjective existence). As a result of its basis in logic, Jainism is regarded as highly scientific, subjecting all its concepts to critical evaluation. In the past, Jain teachers were required to be good logicians in order to win followers among a religious population of considerable sophistication.
Logic makes the complex phenomenon of human existence understandable through reason, evidence, and inference. Critical and unbiased examination of all viewpoints is the only objective assurance of truth. Jain logic is based on this consideration which justifies a wide scope of thinking, reflection, attitude and cognition. Anekaantavaada or 'relative pluralism', and syaadavaada or 'relativism' are the bases of Jain logic.
Jain logic has passed through various phases of development, of which the last three historical phases are: • The period of creative logic' (fifth to eighth century CE) • The period of 'real logic' (eighth to twelfth century CE) • The period of 'new logic' (twelfth to eighteenth century CE)
Logic, or reason, began to be very important in Jain philosophy from the earliest period. Knowledge contained in the canon was always accepted as 'true'. Reason (hetu) is mentioned in the Jain scriptures in the sense of reasoned scriptural knowledge. Logic and reason were present in other philosophical schools in ancient India, and the Jain philosophers were compelled, in an age of sophisticated intellectual argument, to be masters of logic in order to win religious disputes.
In Jain canonical literature, faith dominates over reason: spiritual development over knowledge of the 'real entities'. In the period of creative knowledge, both Samantabhadra and Siddhasen (independently) defined knowledge as a means to ascertain 'real entities and a method for establishing their validity. The creative logicians depended solely on reason rather than scriptural authority. Although Siddhasen's philosophical teachings indicate a few objects beyond logic, the starting point for his discourse was the theory of relativism' (syaadavaada) and 'viewpointism' (nayavaada), which was also developed by Samantabhadra.
During this period of creative logic', Akalanka (often called the father of Jain logic') in the seventh century, and Haribhadra in the eighth, wrote extensively on logic. They gave a sound logical footing to the theory of knowledge and its sources, 'relative pluralism', and 'relativism and its seven-fold predications'.
During the period of 'real logic', modifications to these concepts were made in the light of contemporary thinking. The understanding of 'logical validity' (pramaana)
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