Anekanta : Philosophy of Co-existence: 06.04 The Doctrine of Nayas - Verbal Viewpoint

Verbal Viewpoint

The word is a powerful medium of our daily life, social and intellectual, which was invested with the power of expressing its meaning (idea or thing) by man himself. The word has also an intrinsic power of expression of its own. It travels from the mouth of the speaker to the ears of the listeners to reveal its meaning. Such revelation or expression is possible also by physical gestures. But the clarity of words is not possible in those gestures or other kinds of symbols. This is why that language is requisitioned for conveying meanings. Our ideas arise from language, and language in its turn makes those ideas capable of deep thinking in philosophy, logic and science. This is indeed the reason why the verbal viewpoint, which is mainly concerned with the philosophy of word, meaning and propositions, occupies an important position in the doctrine of nayas. In grammar the difference of tense, case-endings etc. do not entail the difference of the referent, but this is not accepted to be so by the verbal standpoint, which claims that the difference in the tense and case-endings of a word necessarily implies difference in the nature of the referent.