Eastern Philosophy by Ram-Prasad Chakravarthi

Author:Ram-Prasad, Chakravarthi [Ram-Prasad, Chakravarthi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780226026
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Published: 2013-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

5

Language

For our purpose of gaining an overview of the place of language in Asian philosophies, we should start by recognizing two ways of thinking of the function and importance of language. One is that language is the representation in our consciousness of the world and the things in it. On this conception, language is taken to somehow ‘capture’ (or, to use a different metaphor, ‘map’) the structure of the world. Language refers to the world by picking out things in it. In short, linguistic expressions (words, phrases or sentences) designate one or more things or states of affairs in the world. Or rather, they seek to do so, such that they can express the ‘truth’ of the matter. This conception of language is based on a theory of reference: language somehow refers to the world (truthfully – that is, as it really is). This view of language can be designated language-as-reference.

The other way of treating language is to take it as the means by which we make our way through the world. Here, the purpose of language is not to grasp the world as it is, but to grasp how to act in it. Language is important because it is the medium through which commands and guidance can be conveyed and accepted. In such a conception of language, the important thing is that it articulates human action, rather than that it conveys truths. This is the view of language-as-guide.

Of course, both these conceptions are part of any account of the evolution of language. But in different philosophical cultures different stresses are placed upon these conceptions. Chinese philosophy almost entirely interests itself with the efficacy of language in organizing and moderating human society; language-as-guide dominates Chinese thinking, although there are interesting challenges to this domination in the classical period. Indian philosophy eventually comes to be wholeheartedly engaged in the search for semantic truth – the way in which linguistic expressions are used accurately about the world. But there is also a line of thought that asserts the importance of language-as-guide (albeit in a very different way from how we find it presupposed in China).

Language as guiding force: the doctrine of the rectification of names

The concept of the ‘rectification of names’ eventually becomes the single most significant issue in Chinese philosophy of language. Although he mentions the concept only once, Confucius, as ever, sets the discussion in motion. His disciple Zilu asks him what he would do if he were asked to administer or govern (zheng) a state. Confucius says, much to the other’s puzzlement, that he would rectify (zheng, with a different character-graph) names (ming). Without names being rectified, Confucius goes on to say, a series of unravellings will occur: language will not function smoothly, social actions will be unsuccessful, ritual and music will not last, punishments will be wrongly meted out, and people will not know what to do with themselves. Clearly, names have to be used correctly, and the role of the ruler is to rectify their misuse; otherwise, chaos will follow.

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