Logic, Language and Reality

This is a book on Indian philosophy. Its aim is to combine the discipline of philosophy with that of philological research. It is not, however, concerned primarily with historical research. The book deals with the problems of Indian philosophy-problems which are necessarily philosophical, in the sense of being logical, epistemological, ontological and soteriological. All the problems discussed here are interconnected in some way or other, and it is reasonable to expect that a systematic account of classical Indian philosophy will emerge from a discussion of such topics. The book is meant for philosophers along with those interested in Sanskrit, Indian Studies and what may be called a global approach to the study of philosophy. The author has begun with the logical theories of ancient and medieval India. Here 'Logic' is used to mean the study of inference-patterns, rubs of debate, points of controversy, sophistical arguments, etc. Problems of inference lead to the discussion of philosophical logic.

Historically, the early Nyaya in India was succeeded by what we call Navya-nyaya in the 12th-13th century A.D. Philosophers of this period were involved in the discussion of such problems as empty terms, reference failure, double negation, con-comitance, definition, classification and essences. All these issues constitute the second chapter here. Logical theories of the above kind developed in the background of a theory of knowledge. Medieval philosophers of India (of such schools as Nyaya, Buddhist, Jaina and Mimamsaka) had made extensive study of it in the third chapter. The problem of knowledge leads to the question of what is known. Chapter four deals with ontological problems. In the last chapter, the author deals with the interrelation of grammar and philosophy in India. This is a significant character of classical Indian philosophy. He has tried to give some examples to show how the insights of the grammarians were combined with the problems of the philosophy of language.

The word 'philosophy' as well as the conjuring expression 'Indian philosophy' has meant different things to different people-endeavours and activities, old and new, grave and frivolous, edifying and banal, esoteric and exoteric. In this book, the author has chosen deliberately a very dominant trend of the classical (Sanskrit) philosophical literature as his subject of study. The age of the material used here demands both philological scholarship and philosophical amplification. Classical pramana-sastras usually deal with the theory of knowledge, the nature of inference and language, and the related questions of ontology and semantics. Several important concepts and theories have been singled out for critical analysis and clarification in modern terms so that the results may be intelligible to modern students of both Sanskrit and philosophy. It is hoped that such attempt will kindle the enthusiasm of young scholars in the field and inspire them to proceed in this comparatively new area of research and explore into further and more interesting possibilities.