Language, Meaning, and Use in Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Mukula's Fundamentals of the Communicative Function

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This introduction brings to life the main themes in Indian philosophy of language by using an accessible translation of an Indian classical text to provide an entry into the world of Indian linguistic theories. Malcolm Keating draws on Mukulas Fundamentals of the Communicative Function to show the ability of language to convey a wide range of meanings and introduce ideas about testimony, pragmatics, and religious implications. Along with a complete translation of this foundational text, Keating also provides: - Clear explanations of themes such as reference, figuration and sentence meaning - Commentary illuminating connections between Mukula and contemporary philosophy - Romanized text of the Sanskrit - A glossary of terms and annotated bibliography - A chronology of important figures and dates By complementing a historically-informed introduction with a focused study of an influential primary text, Keating responds to the need for a reliable guide to better understand theories of language and related issues in Indian philosophy.

Reviews

The brilliance of Dr Keatings work lies in the fact that his book, at present the only book length exposition of Bhatts life and work, is accessible to the lay reader interested in linguistics and philosophy, despite the extremely complex subject matter it deals with. * Swarajya *
In this superb volume, Malcolm Keating has given us a clear window into classical indian theories of figurative speech and the philosophy of language. He shows us that and how sophisticated Indian debates regarding figurative speech can inform contemporary theories of meaning as well. This is a philosophically and philologically precise monograph that should be read not only by anyone interested in Indian literary theory and Indian philosophy of language, but by anybody who cares about meaning and metaphor, and how cross-cultural philosophy can improve our understanding of these phenomena. -- Jay L Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities, Smith College and the Harvard Divinity School, USA
Language, Meaning, and Use in Indian Philosophy is a wonderfully clear introduction to and translation of Mukula Bhaas work on poetics and linguistic philosophy. Malcolm Keating has translated this work with non-Sanskritists in mind, and this book will be of great use not only to specialists in Indian philosophy, but also to readers interested in issues in comparative aesthetics and linguistics. In the final sections of the book, Keating skillfully draws on contemporary theories of semantics and metaphor to show how Mukulas approach can enrich and broaden our discussions of how language generates meaning. -- Andrew J. Nicholson, Associate Professor, Stony Brook University, USA

Author Bio

Malcolm Keating is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS College, Singapore.