Essay name: The Nyaya theory of Knowledge
Author:
Satischandra Chatterjee
Affiliation: University of Calcutta / Department of Philosophy
This essay studies the Nyaya theory of Knowledge and examines the contributions of the this system to Indian and Western philosophy, specifically focusing on its epistemology. Nyaya represents a realist approach, providing a critical evaluation of knowledge.
Page 342 of: The Nyaya theory of Knowledge
342 (of 404)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
OF WORDS 327 animal. Or, we may know the meaning of a word from its
context, as when the chair' means the chairman' in a
mecting. Or, we may know it from a given explanation, as
when we understand a word from any of its synonyms. Finally,
we may know the meaning of a word from its application in
connection with a familiar word, as when we understand the
meaning of the word pika from the sentence the pika is cry-
ing cuckoo on this tree.
> 1
That there are so many different ways of knowing the
meanings of words proves that the relation between words and
their meanings is not a natural but a conventional relation. If
there were a fixed natural relation between a word and its
meaning as between fire and burning, then the word should
have always coexisted with the object signified by it and we
should have known their relation simply by perception. But
a word does not coexist with the object denoted by it. The
word fire does not coexist with the object 'fire' and produce
any burning sensation in us when we utter the word. Nor do
we perceive the relation between a word and its meaning in
the same way that we perceive the relation between fire and
burning. Further, the conventional character of the relation
between words and their meanings is evidenced by the different
meanings in which the same word is used by different people.
The variation in the meanings of words cannot be explained
on the hypothesis of a natural relation between words and their
meanings. It appears also in the use of different words to
mean the same thing, e.g. aqua, water, jala. The convention
(samaya) that such and such words should mean such and such.
objects is established by God where the relation between words
and their meanings is a fixed and eternal relation called sakti
or denotation. It is established by human beings living in a
society where the relation between them is a changeable rela-
tion called paribh膩峁Ｄ� or lak峁峁嚹�.鈥�
1 'Saktigraha峁� vy膩kara峁噊pam膩na,' etc., SM., pp. 359-72. Cf. Sabda艣akti-
prak膩艣ik膩, 20.
2 Vide NB., 2. 1. 54 & 55; Sabda艥akti-pruk膩艣ik膩, ibid.
