Language, Reality, and Analysis

The author applies the methods of latest linguistic analysis to the Indian theories of reality and the relation between language and reality. Special attention is given to the Advaita Vedanta and the Buddhist theories. The proper methods of philosophy, according to the author, is the logical analysis of language. In these essays he shows how this method is fruitfully employed in Vedanta and Buddhist philosophies. He also shows how the key Advaita concepts of avidya and adhyasa are results of logical analysis of ordinary propositional forms of cognitions, and not metaphysical theses about a transcendent reality.Of the eight essays collected in this volume five deal with Advaita Vedanta three of which directly interpret Samkara, the two others interpret the great Advaita philosopher Vidyaranya. There is also an essay on the logical basis of the Buddhist apoha theory. The concluding essay on 'Spirit, Machine and Man' argues against the two extreme conceptions of man: materialistic and idealistic, and argues for the priority of a concept of person.