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The Birth of ‘Meaning’

A Systemic Genealogy of Indian Semantics

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The Birth of Meaning in Hindu Thought

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 102))

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Abstract

Etymology and semantics in India emerged, if not as linguistic disciplines then, in any case, as discernible fields of intellectual activity a propos of language, long before logic was formed. In this respect, the situation was just the inverse of that in Greece. Aristotelian logic imparted its influence to grammatical categories. In the Stoics’ tradition, logic was given obvious preference to their linguistic doctrines. Both of these facts, undoubtedly, predetermined the fates of grammar for centuries. Up to the beginning of the 20th century, and particularly with the influence of the Port-Royal logic, grammar was not a science of language as a specific object of studies, but a normative knowledge based on axioms and ways of predication of various subjects and relations. These axioms were idealized in the form of grammatical categories which were called the ‘parts of speech’. In fact, the mathematical method, through the mediation of logic, usurped the matter of language.

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  1. Center for Philosophy of Science, Boston University, USA

    Robert S. Cohen

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  1. David B. Zilberman
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  1. Center for Philosophy of Science, Boston University, USA

    Robert S. Cohen

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Zilberman, D.B., Cohen, R.S. (1988). The Birth of ‘Meaning’. In: Cohen, R.S. (eds) The Birth of Meaning in Hindu Thought. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 102. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1431-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1431-5_2

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