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Jaina's View of Reality
According to Vadi Devasuri's Pramana-Tattvalokālam kara, (3 loc cit) the above seven predications can be interpreted as follows:
The first predication consist of an affirmative statement. This may mean that an object exists in some respects. The expression 'in some respects' is to be taken in the context of various factors like space, time, substance and mode. For instance, the substance of an object X could be related to the material of which it is made. The space relates to the spatial location of X. The time of existence of X is the present time at which it exists. The mode of X descrites its configuration.
Let us represent, the first affirmative predication by a proposition P which takes a truth value T.
The second predication consists of a negative statement that 'in some respects' an object X is non-existent. Here the word 'may be' (syad) or 'in some respects' is crucial in respect of assigning the truth-value to this predication. The elucidate that the object X may not exist with reference to either space, time, substance or mode we note that on account of restrain called diametrical connective(*) i.e. in some respects'. We shall consider the connective of negation (1) as a 'complete' negation and not as a 'dimetrical' negation in the sense of Reichenbach. Let us represent the second predication by the proposition P which takes the truth value, I, as shown by the following truth-table
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P
T
I
9
F
(Reichenbach 4 loc cit) Truth Table No. I
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1P
I
I
T
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