Jaina Philosophy of Language

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 80

(54) : Jaina Philosophy of Language word gives the meaning of the whole sentence i.e. 'Bring the bricks' or 'Bring the stones.' But when the same word 'brick' or 'stone'is pronunciated by a policeman at the sight of dispute with the students or during a riot, then it means 'Hit with brick or stone' or 'They are hitting with bricks or stones'. Thus the denotation of word and sentences are determined by the condition or the circumstance in which that words or sentence is spoken. Jainācāryas introduced the doctrine of Nikṣepa (positing) and Naya (viewpoint) so that the listener could understand the intention of speaker or the readers could understand the intention of the author, Denotation of word (vācyārtha)- universal or particular?
There has been a dispute regarding the denotation of word, whether it is universal (sāmānya) or particular (viseșa). The fundamental question is that the word denotes universal or particular. The Mimämsakas maintain that the subject of the word is universal!. The particular (individual) cannot be the subject of the word as individuals are many but they are denoted by one word viz. cow, man, women, etc. Let us take one example of man. Men are numerous but the word 'man', by which the whole class is denoted, is one. Thus by word we take generality. A question can be raised here that the words, which are proper (vyaktivācaka), how their denotation (vācyārtha) can be universal or general? Here the advocates of universality may argue that the proper nouns also denote universality because whom they denote are general and not the particular, i.e. the person denoted by the word 'Sagarmal' is not that which is changing every moment but that which is intertwined in all-changing individuals.
Contrary to this contention of Mīmāmsakas, the Buddhists negate the existence of the universal (sāmānya). They regard the universal as an intellectual fiction. The Buddhists hold that the function of a word is ‘anyāpoha' (elimination of all other than the object of the experience i.e. a negative apprehension or Anya-vyāvstti i.e. negation of all the other things of the world. The Buddhists call a word as 'apoha,' because it excludes (apoha) the idea, which is different from its own (Svākāra). There is thus no real counter part of a word. Now, when the word negates or excludes every thing then its denotation will be none other than