Language and Reality

For a number of centuries Indian philosophers of all persuasions were convinced that there was a particularly close connection between language and reality, also, or even primarily, between sentences and the situations they describe. This shared conviction was responsible for a perceived problem. Different currents in Indian philosophy can be understood as different attempts to solve this problem; these include the satkāryavāda of the Sāṃkhyas, the anekāntavāda of the Jainas, the śūnyavāda of the Buddhists, and many others. By bringing to light the shared problem underlying almost all schools of Indian philosophy, this book shows the interconnectedness of currents that had hitherto been thought of as quite independent of each other.

Johannes Bronkhorst is professor of Sanskrit and Indian studies at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) since 1987. Doctorates: Pune (India, 1979), Leiden (Netherlands, 1980). Recent books: Greater Magadha (2007), Buddhist Teaching in India (2009), Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism (2011).