Prof. Muni Mahendra Kumar
Whereas materialism and the Jain philosophy hold similar views regarding the reality of matter, they differ from each other regarding the reality of soul. According to the Jain metaphysical view, all the five astikāyas including soul are ultimate realities, whereas according materialism, only the matter is the ultimate reality while reality of soul is denied. There is, however, a difference between the old materialism and the modern dialectical or scientific materialism. Whereas the former considers soul or consciousness to be identical with matter[1], the latter holds an opposite view. We have already discussed how the dialectical materialism distinguishes between mind and matter.[2] Dialectical materialism as well as epiphenomenalism, as we have seen, consider mind to be different from matter; all the same mind is not attributed a status of an ultimate reality. In contrast to this, the Jain philosophy asserts an independent existence of soul.
Democritus, for instance, believed that the soul is produced by atoms of special type. They were believed to be the finest, smoothest and most nimble atoms. When such atoms exist in isolation or are mixed together in small quantities, the soul-atoms are insensible; when they are joined together in larger masses, they acquire the faculty of sensation. (Cf. Philosophy - An Introduction by Archie J. Bahm, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1964, p.192).
