Jaina seven-valued logic

Traditionally, in the Jaina and other Indian literature dealing with topics in Jain philosophy, this system of argumentation is referred to as Saptabhangivada or Syadvada.

Samantabhadra (about 600 CE) gave a full exposition of the seven parts of Syadvada or Saptabhanginyaya in his Aptamimamsa.

[1] The interpretation of Saptabhangivada as a seven-valued logic was attempted by Harvard University philosophy professor George Bosworth Burch (1902–1973) in a paper published in International Philosophical Quarterly in the year 1964.

[1][3] The Saptabhangivada, the seven predicate theory may be summarized as follows:[4] The seven predicate theory consists in the use of seven claims about sentences, each preceded by "arguably" or "conditionally" (syat), concerning a single object and its particular properties, composed of assertions and denials, either simultaneously or successively, and without contradiction.

These are combined to produce four more truth values, namely, tf, tu, fu, and tfu (Three-valued logic).

Consider a situation in which a globally inconsistent set of propositions, the totality of philosophical discourse, is divided into sub-sets, each of which is internally consistent.

Each such consistent sub-set of a globally inconsistent discourse, is what the Jainas call a "standpoint" (naya).