Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study represents a detailed inquiry into the rhetoric of Jainism, an understudied religious-philosophical tradition that arose among Hinduism and Buddhism on the Indian subcontinent. Exploring the unique use of pluralism in Jaina authors such as Mahāvīra and Haribhadra, I advance the concept of engaged rhetorical pluralism to account for the argumentative use of pluralism to promote Jaina views. This concept is linked to Jainism’s theory of multiperspectivism (anekāntavāda) as an orientation toward one’s rhetorical activities in contexts of disagreement. Highlighting the controversies surrounding the relationship between Jaina tolerance and intellectual nonviolence, this study uses the concept of anekāntavāda to ground a pluralism of often contradictory critical claims made by those studying rhetorical phenomena from other cultures. Thus, anekāntavāda both describes the engaged pluralism evident in important Jaina rhetors and serves as a source of methodological guidance for scholars involved in comparative rhetoric and its inevitable situations of interpretative disagreement.

Journal
Advances in the History of Rhetoric
Published
2014-07-03
DOI
10.1080/15362426.2014.933721
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  1. Philosophy & Rhetoric
  2. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  3. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  4. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Also cites 7 works outside this index ↓
  1. Jaina Logic and the Philosophical Basis of Pluralism
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  2. Pathos Reconsidered From the Perspective of Classical Chinese Rhetorical Theories
    Quarterly Journal of Speech  
  3. Jain Lives of Haribhadra: An Inquiry into the Sources and Logic of the Legends
    Journal of Indian Philosophy  
  4. “The Religious Function of Jaina Philosophy: Anekāntavāda Reconsidered.”
    Religion  
  5. Jaina Logic: A Contemporary Perspective
    History and Philosophy of Logic  
  6. Narrative as Argument in Indian Philosophy: The Astāvakra Gītā as Multivalent Narrative
    Philosophy and Rhetoric  
  7. Buddhist Influences on Teaching and Scholarship
    Journal of Communication and Religion  
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