Still, the impasse that Logical Positivism
has reached is unfortunate, because:
i)
The doctrine of Logical Positivism has led to dogmatism and
intolerance; so that metaphysical question are dismissed as unworthy of
attention of sensible men. Theories like the veridical principle, the
emotive theory of ethics and logical construction are simply announced as
if they formed a part of revelation denied to other philosophers except
Hume.
ii)
Sense experience, as the criterion of truth, has led to solipsism,
as it did in the case f the sophists and Hume. Sense experience is private
and cannot be communicated. The more radical among them, like Carnap and
Neurath, were hence led to physicalism, which is nearer to behaviors in
psychology.
iii)
For logical positivists, as for other empiricists, sense experience
is the only criterion knowledge. Modern psychical Research, n the other
hand, affirms the possibility of extra- sensory experiences. In addition
there are certain other experienced, like the speculation, moral and
aesthetic.
The problem of supersensuous emixperience
is not new to us in India. All schools of Indian philosophy, except the
carvakas and Mimamsakas, believe in it. Supersensuous experience
transcends the categories of time, space ad causality; � Our sense organs
are narrowly specialised to serve biological and practical ends. In the
face of these facts, it would be narrow and fanatical to insist on sensory
experience and the veification principle as the only criteria of
knowledge. Like the men chained against the walls of the cave in The
Republic. The empiricists refuse to see beyond what they would like to
affirm.
iv)
Moreover, for the Logical Positivists the veification principle has
been a dogma and a commandment. But the principle of veification is not a
self- evident statement, nor is it capable philosophy is itself based on a
metaphysic. Certain presuppositions about the universe.
v)
Nevertheless, the effects of Logical Positivism have been serious.
It has engendered a nagative climate of opinion, and was likely to shatter
the old beliefs in the social, moral and religious spheres with nothing
else to fill the gap except, analysis of propositions. Its has produced a
� waste land� of mind of which T.S.Eliot�s poem is at once description
and, by implication, a denunciation.
3.
A survey of the course of philosophy in the past shows that
philosophy continually faced this impasse. The a priori deductive method
took us the lion�s den. At the height of its speculation, it built super �
structures of philosophy were led t solipsism and to the feverish denial
of metaphysics,
To save philosophy from this impasse, we
have to adopt a synoptic view towards the problems of philosophy. We
should realise that reality is complex and life is a many-coloured dome.
Idealism was unable to see the wood. While empiricism could not see the
wood in the trees. These were two ways of approaching the problem; but
they are not the only ways, nor were the approaches absolute. This is the
synoptic outlook. In this sense, philosophy is to see life steadily and
see it whole. Broad says � If we do not look at the world synoptically we
shall have a very narrow view of it.� He thinks that a purely critical
philosophy is arid and rigid.�
The Jaina view of anekanta comes
nearer to this approach. Anekanta consists in a many-sided approach to the
study of problem. Intellectual tolerance is the foundation nonviolent
attitude. It emphasizes the many � sidedness of truth. Reality can be
looked at from various angles.
Whitehead�s fundamental attitude in
philosophy is essentially the same as the anekanta view of life. Whitehead
defined speculative philosophy as the endeavour to frame a coherent,
logical, necessary system of general ideas in terms of which every element
of our experience can be interpreted.
We have to note that the function of
philosophy is not merely an academic pursuit of reality. It is a way of
life, philosophy has had the dual purpose of revealing truth and
increasing virtue. Philosophers have sought to provide a principal to live
by and purposes to live for. For this practical end, philosophers have
striven to achieve a synoptic view of the universe. The consciousness of
the finiteness of our being makes us yearn for the beyond, in the spirit
of the Upanisads from the unreal to the real, from dakness to light, and
from death to eternal life.
For this, we have to look to the
spiritual experience of the great seers. Broad says there is one thing
which speculative philosophy must take into most serious consideration and
that is the religious and mystical experience of minkind. It is they who
are in constant touch with the innermost depth of life and to them we are
to look for guidance. Such �enlightened ones� or �sages� are the first-
hand exponents of philosophy.
