ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a summary of why the Jain version of environmental philosophy should be of far wider interest and why the case study of Jain communities is relevant to current debates within environmentalism. The philosophy of the Jains is its starting point and the case is made for it as a useful and timely non-Western contribution to environmental thought, offering an intellectually coherent critique of the current model of apparently limitless economic expansion. In the chapter, ideas originating in Jain Dharma are critically evaluated. The chapter then examines their effectiveness through (for example) specific case studies of businesses or non-governmental organisations (NGOs). When one considers whether the philosophical aspect of Jain Dharma 'qualifies' as environmental philosophy, he/she come nearest to a satisfactory answer by using the qualified logic of Syadvada: 'it is and it is not'. Viewed from one angle, Jainism is about as far from the concerns of ecological thinkers and campaigners as it is possible to be.
