Some remarks on a problem in Madhyamaka philosophy of language
This paper attempts to dissolve an apparent difficulty arising in the philosophy of language as discussed by the Indian Buddhist Madhyamaka school. On the one hand Madhyamaka seems to be claiming that every entity is fundamentally linguistic in nature, on the other hand it also asserts that language...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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John Wiley & Sons Ltd
2018
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| _version_ | 1797050737465753600 |
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| author | Westerhoff, J |
| author_facet | Westerhoff, J |
| author_sort | Westerhoff, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This paper attempts to dissolve an apparent difficulty arising in the philosophy of language as discussed by the Indian Buddhist Madhyamaka school. On the one hand Madhyamaka seems to be claiming that every entity is fundamentally linguistic in nature, on the other hand it also asserts that language does not exist. I argue that the difficulty is to be dissolved by distinguishing two different senses of language appealed to by the Mādhyamikas. They argue that one specific understanding of language is deficient (and that therefore language thus understood does not exist), but this is not the same sense of language according to which everything is linguistic in nature. The apparent contradiction is thereby resolved. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:09:37Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:028fc540-0be7-4054-911b-5d8e8c7c504d |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:09:37Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | John Wiley & Sons Ltd |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:028fc540-0be7-4054-911b-5d8e8c7c504d2022-03-26T08:41:23ZSome remarks on a problem in Madhyamaka philosophy of languageJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:028fc540-0be7-4054-911b-5d8e8c7c504dEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordJohn Wiley & Sons Ltd2018Westerhoff, JThis paper attempts to dissolve an apparent difficulty arising in the philosophy of language as discussed by the Indian Buddhist Madhyamaka school. On the one hand Madhyamaka seems to be claiming that every entity is fundamentally linguistic in nature, on the other hand it also asserts that language does not exist. I argue that the difficulty is to be dissolved by distinguishing two different senses of language appealed to by the Mādhyamikas. They argue that one specific understanding of language is deficient (and that therefore language thus understood does not exist), but this is not the same sense of language according to which everything is linguistic in nature. The apparent contradiction is thereby resolved. |
| spellingShingle | Westerhoff, J Some remarks on a problem in Madhyamaka philosophy of language |
| title | Some remarks on a problem in Madhyamaka philosophy of language |
| title_full | Some remarks on a problem in Madhyamaka philosophy of language |
| title_fullStr | Some remarks on a problem in Madhyamaka philosophy of language |
| title_full_unstemmed | Some remarks on a problem in Madhyamaka philosophy of language |
| title_short | Some remarks on a problem in Madhyamaka philosophy of language |
| title_sort | some remarks on a problem in madhyamaka philosophy of language |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT westerhoffj someremarksonaprobleminmadhyamakaphilosophyoflanguage |