Jiva

MIND, MATTER AND GOD : JIVA, JADA AND ISVARA
M.M.NINAN
Ernst Mach (1838 – 1916) the Austrian-Czech physicist and philosopher was probably
the first scientist to present this argument.
For Mach, theories are provisional; they are based on analogies that are temporary
substitutes for direct sensations. Theories are valuable only as they lead us to
descriptions of observed phenomena, and as they enable us to make scientific
predictions. Also, in Mach's view a mathematical demonstration of a physical or
scientific point cannot be any more convincing than a conclusion based on observation.
Some quotations from Mach's writings will illustrate his philosophy. "The economical
nature of physical inquiry," Kockelmans, J. 1968. Philosophy of Science: The Historical
Background. Transaction Publishers, 1999.
“The goal which it [physical science] has set itself is the simplest and most economical
abstract expression of facts.
“When the human mind, with its limited powers, attempts to mirror in itself the rich life of
the world, of which it itself is only a small part, and which it can never hope to exhaust, it
has every reason for proceeding economically.
“In reality, the law always contains less than the fact itself, because it does not
reproduce the fact as a whole but only in that aspect of it which is important for us, the
rest being intentionally or from necessity omitted.
“In mentally separating a body from the changeable environment in which it moves,
what we really do is to extricate a group of sensations on which our thoughts are
fastened and which is of relatively greater stability than the others, from the stream of all
our sensations.
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