Jain Philosophy [Part II]

Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies is a 28-volume project by a team of international scholars led by Prof. Karl Potter (General editor), which aims to make available the contents of Indian philosophical texts in a more accessible way than was possible. This book attempts to give a comprehensive summary of all current knowledge regarding each system of classical Indian philosophy. Each volume contains an extended analytical essay, summaries of all extant works, a Bibliography, as well as a Glossary. There are many volumes that include NyayaVaisesika’s, Samkhya’s, Yoga, Purvamimamsa and other Vedanta systems, as well as certain philosophically significant sects of Saivism, Vaisnavism and Jain philosophy. This series has published 14 volumes. This Volume is a continuation of Volume Ten, which covers Jaina philosophy at the end the tenth-century. It contains 355 works by 99 Jain philosophers who lived between 1300 and 1000 A.D. It includes summaries of many of the works of many famous Jaina authors. The article by Piotr Balcerowicz on the Jaina theory or perspective (naya), that introduces this Volume, shows how one of the most important and fascinating Jaina contributions to Indian philosophical heritage (anekantavada) is without doubt the theory and multiple aspects of reality (anekantavada). It is divided into four viewpoints (niksepa and nyasa), sevenfold modal description, syadvada, and the doctrine and sevenfold method of valid conditionally valid predictions. The idea that a single sentence can be true or false is a Jaina concept that has caused so much controversy.