Abstract
In Chapter 1 we saw how Rāmānuja sought to establish that language in general and scripture in particular are intrinsically fact-assertive and not essentially prescriptive only, as the Prābhākaras maintained. This means that the sacred texts, as pramānic, are able to convey veridical information about their chief object and man’s final end (not determinable from any other pramāna)-the ultimate reality, Brahman. But veridical information about Brahman is not easily extracted from the scriptures: they have to be interpreted correctly. We can understand how Rāmānuja went about this only after saying much more about his understanding of (1) the general relation between language and reality, and (2) the predication of terms, especially in its theological context. In other words, in this chapter we shall focus chiefly on the way language works to yield (especially divine) information for Rāmānuja; in the process we shall get an idea of what Brahman was for him. Further, if Rāmānuja’s chief opponent as to the fact-assertive nature of language was the Prābhākara, once this issue was settled the main rival position he faced regarding scriptural teaching about Brahman, within the Vedāntic camp and in terms of which he articulated his own view, was the increasingly influential one of Advaita. The Advaitic stance clearly derived from Śamkara, but by Rāmānuja’s time (over 200 years after the master Advaitin’s death) it had been developed in important respects by Śamkara’s various followers. Thus as the discussion proceeds we shall have to keep one eye, as did Rāmānuja, on the Śamkarite, if not always on Śamkara’s pûrvapaksa (rival position).
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© 1986 Julius J. Lipner
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Lipner, J.J. (1986). Predication and Meaning. In: The Face Of Truth. Library of Philosophy and Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07915-5_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07915-5_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-07917-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-07915-5
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