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School · 599 BCE–527 BCE

Jain philosophy

Jain philosophy is South Asian debates on nonviolence, karma, plural perspectives, knowledge, and liberation.

Shared questions

  • How can one make responsible claims when reality has many interrelated aspects?

Internal disagreements

  • How far perspectival qualification limits assertion without collapsing into scepticism or relativism.

Key texts

  • Ācārāṅga Sūtra — One of the oldest Śvetāmbara canonical texts, transmitted orally and redacted centuries after Mahāvīra.
  • Tattvārthasūtra — Umāsvāti's summary is accepted by both Śvetāmbara and Digambara traditions, which read it differently.