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NYAYA AND JAINA EPISTEMOLOGY
which are the aspects of an object of knowledge.
Nyāya view of universals as separate entities resembles Plato's view of Ideas as universals, while, Jaina view which is a moderate kind of realism; seems to resemble Aristotle's doctrine that universal exists concretely only as an element of the individual object. It has objective reality but not a separate existence like ideas of Plato. Realists like Russell are committed to defend reality of universals because knowledge would be impossible without them. But the notion of universal has undergone development in recent times. Even Russell recognizes similarity as the universal and advocates Resemblance theory of universal. The same truth is admitted by Jainas when they recognize real existence of similarity among the individuals of the same class. In Indian philosophy, Ramanuja's position comes close to this view. It is clear that Jaina view avoids most of the difficulties of extremistic theories and presents a balanced view of universals. It is this view which explains human knowledge satisfactorily.
Annotations : 1. Chatterjee, S. : The Nyāya Theory of Knowledge, p. 166. 2. Mishra, Arjuna : An article on 'Universals in Nyāya-Vaigeșika
Philosophy—Indian Philosophical Quarterly, July, 1979, Vol. VI,
No. 4, p. 649. 3. Sinha, J. : Indian Psychology, p. 173.
