Language, Meaning, and Use in Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Mukula's Fundamentals of the Communicative Function [Hardcover]

This introduction brings to life the main themes in Indian philosophy of language by using an accessible translation of an Indian classical text to provide an entry into the world of Indian linguistic theories.

Malcolm Keating draws on Mukula'sFundamentals of the Communicative Functionto show the ability of language to convey a wide range of meanings and introduce ideas about testimony, pragmatics, and religious implications. Along with a complete translation of this foundational text, Keating also provides:
- Clear explanations of themes such as reference, figuration and sentence meaning
- Commentary illuminating connections between Mukula and contemporary philosophy
- Romanized text of the Sanskrit
- A glossary of terms and annotated bibliography
- A chronology of important figures and dates

By complementing a historically-informed introduction with a focused study of an influential primary text, Keating responds to the need for a reliable guide to better understand theories of language and related issues in Indian philosophy.

The brilliance of Dr Keating's work lies in the fact that his book, at present the only book length exposition of Bhatt's life and work, is accessible to the lay reader interested in linguistics and philosophy, despite the extremely complex subject matter it deals with. Swarajya

In this superb volume, Malcolm Keating has given us a clear window into classical indian theories of figurative speech and the philosophy of language. He shows us that and how sophisticated Indian debates regarding figurative speech can inform contemporary theories of meaning as well. This is a philosophically and philologically precise monograph that should be read not only by anyone interested in Indian literary theory and Indian philosophy of language, but by anybody whlS