Beyond Binary Thinking: How Jain Anekāntavāda Challenges Modern Polarization and Dogmatism

Harendra Nath Barman

Beyond Binary Thinking: How Jain Anekāntavāda Challenges Modern Polarization and Dogmatism

Author(s)	Harendra Nath Barman
Country	India
Abstract	The atmosphere today in most of the so-called societies is marked by polarization of positions, extreme right and left ideologies, disintegration of societies, and the rise of digital “echo chambers” in which binary thinking has become the norm. These circumstances can foster reactive behavior, bigotry, and opposition to other perspectives that can negatively impact conversation and deliberation around democracy. To tackle these challenges, the relevance of the Jain philosophical concept of Anekāntavāda as an alternative epistemology that would assist in dealing with the dogmatic thinking and polarization in modern times has been explored. Previous studies that explore Anekāntavāda focus mainly on religion, philosophy, pluralism and interfaith dialogues; few studies have explored the ways in which Anekāntavāda could help address the understanding of current socio-political conflicts, and the communication environment of digital media. The research design for this study is qualitative research in conceptual and comparative methodology following the philosophical analysis, hermeneutic interpretation and critical analysis of interdisciplinary literature on Jain philosophy, polarization in politics, epistemic humility and democratic discourse. The writer presents a systematic analysis of the basic tenets, relation, and comparison of Anekāntavāda, Syādvāda and Nayavāda with that of binary thinking which is used in current day’s discussions. The analysis reveals that Anekāntavāda refutes absolutist statements of truths by address the partial and conditional nature of human knowledge, thus cultivating intellectual humility, perspective-taking and open-mindedness about different truths. From these observations, the present study proposes an Anekantic Model of Dialogue involving two components: recognition of partial knowledge and acceptance of various points of view, as well as reflective engagement and collaborative understanding. The results suggest that the tenets of Anekāntavāda is a philosophical tool that can contribute to attaining a degree of polarization reduction, increase the deliberation of democratic processes and create a more conducive positive space between polarized ideologies. The study presents an old epistemology of Jainism in combination with today's social and political issues to offer a new interdisciplinary thinking regarding the reconceptualization of dialogue, tolerance and co-existence in polarized societies.
Keywords	Anekāntavāda, Jain Philosophy, Polarization, Dogmatism, Epistemic Humility, Deliberative Democracy, Dialogue Ethics, Pluralism.
Published In	Volume 2, Issue 5, September-October 2020
Published On	2020-10-17

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Beyond Binary Thinking: How Jain Anekāntavāda Challenges Modern Polarization and Dogmatism

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