Nyaya Theory of Knowledge

SR No.: 011115
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S C Chateerjee
Publisher: University of Calcutta
Publication Year: 1939
Total Pages: 440
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 38 MB

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word means all the three, namely, the individual, the confi guration, and the generality. It cannot be said that a word directly means the universal and indirectly the individual, for it has only one primary meaning. The universal, the individual and the form enter into the full meaning of a word which does not exclusively mean any of them. All the three factors are present in the meaning of a word in the same way, though with different degrees of prominence. Hence if in actual usage we do find only one factor to be evident, that is not because the other two are absent but because we are not interested in them for the nonce. When we are interested in the difference or distinction of one thing from others, what we do is to emphasise its individuality in the meaning of the word used for it, e g. when we say that cow is standing.' But when we want to stress the unity or similarity of things, we give prominence to the generality as a factor in the meaning of the word used, e g. when we say 'the cow is eternal.' Thus the old Naiyayikas conclude that every word means the universal, the individual and some particular form, and that one of these is predominant, while the rest are subservient factors in the meaning of a word. 2 Among the mode.n Naiyayikas, however, some hold that a word means an individual as characterised by the universal (jātıvısıṣtavyaktı), while others maintain that it means an individual as qualified by both the universal and the configuration (jatyākṛtivisiṣṭavyaktı). It follows from this that there are three aspects in the meaning of a word, namely, a pictorial, a denotative and a connotative. A word calls up the form, denotes the individual, and connotes the genus or
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OF WORDS
1 Vide NS & NB, 22 62-63
8 Vide NB, 22 63
3 Vide Dinakari on Siddhantamuktavali, 81
4 Vide SM, 81, Sabdaśakti-prakasha, 19 Cf L. S Stebbing, Modern Introduction to Logic, p 500 "The demonstrative symbol means its denotation, ie, it stands for the object denoted, whereas the descriptive phrase means the properties and not the objects (if any) denoted "
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