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A R I N D A M C H A K R A B A R T I

S E N T E N C E - H O L I S M , C O N T E X T - P R I N C I P L E A N DC O N N E C T E D - D E S I G N A T I O N ANVITABHIDH,4NA:

T H R E E D O C T R IN E S O R O N E ?

Frege's context principle was first formulated in the introduction to his'Foundations of Arithmetic' as a prohibitive principle of meaninganalysis: "Never to ask for the meaning of a word in isolation but onlyin the context of a proposition". Later on in the same book there arealso positive formulations of the same principle and since thenWittgenstein and other philosophers have made the positive formmore famous:

It is only in the context of a sentence that a word has meaning.Now, because this principle was propounded by Frege at a period

when he had not yet made any distinction between meaning as senseand meaning as reference, one does not know whether he wouldintend it as a principle about sense or as one about reference. Oragain some interpreters have thought that after Frege arrived at thedistinction between sense and reference he actually gave up thecontext principle and attached more importance to the compositionprinciple that the sense and reference of a sentence were whollydetermined respectively by the sense and reference of the constituentwords.

Looking at Frege's slogan as such we tend to mix up the followingthree positions as virtually saying the same thing or following fromeach other:1. The sentence is the smallest unit of meaning in language rather

than the word. (The Akhahda-pa~a of Bhartrhari or the Sentence-holism of Quine and many Western Philosophers of language.)

2. Instead of designating individual entities first singly, and then theirconnection being made, each word in a sentence designates aconnected complex. (The Anvitdbhidhdna or Connected Designa-tion theory of the Prabh~tkaras).

3. A word has meaning only in the nexus of a sentence.The main point that I wish to make in this paper is that, the history ofJournal of Indian Philosophy 1 7 : 3 7 - - 4 1 , 1 9 8 9 . 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands'.

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3 8 A R I N D A M C H A K R A B A R T Ip h i l o s o p h y a p a r t , t h e s e t h r e e d o c t r i n e s a r e l o g ic a l ly q u i t e i n d e p e n d e n to f e a c h o t h e r. O n e c a n b e a S e n t e n c e - H o l i s t w i t h o u t b e i ng a n a d h e r -e n t o f t h e C o n t e x t p r i n c i p l e o r Anvitdbhidhdnavdda, o n e c a n b e a nAnvitdbhidhdnavddin w i t h o u t b e in g a S e n t e n c e - H o l i st o r a n u p h o l d e ro f t h e C o n t e x t p r i n c ip l e a n d o n e c a n s u p p o r t t h e C o n t e x t p r in c i p lew i t h o u t a g r e e i n g w i t h e i t h e r t h e S e n t e n c e - H o l i s t o r t h e Anvi td-bhidhdnavddin.

T a k e t h e s e n t e n c e :G a n g e s h a t e a c h e s.

T h e h a r d - c o r e S e n t e n c e - h o l i st w il l s a y th a t i n th i s s e n t e n c e ' t e a c h e s 'h a s a s l i t t l e i n d e p e n d e n t m e a n i n g a s ' e a c h ' i n ' t e a c h e s ' , o r ' G a n g ' i n' G a n g e s h a ' . T h a t is to s a y t h a t i n d i v id u a l w o r d s i n a s e n t e n c e c a r r y a sl it tl e m e a n i n g a s l e t te r s i n a w o r d . T h e f a c t th a t G r a m m a r i a n s s ti lld i s se c t s e n t e n c e s i n t o w o r d s is e x p l a i n e d a s Apoddhdra or a r t i f i c i a lp o s t m o r t e m a n a ly s is w i t h o u t a n y real c o m p o s i t e n e s s t o b e t h e r e b yr e v e a l e d .

T h i s v i e w m i g h t l o o k v e r y m u c h l i k e t h e C o n t e x t p r i n c i p l e , b u t i fw e t h i n k c a r e f u l l y i t is a c t u a l ly q u i te i n c o m p a t i b l e w i th t h e C o n t e x tp r i n c i p l e . T h e C o n t e x t p r i n c i p l e d o e s a d m i t t h a t inside the sententialcontext t h e i n d i v i d u a l w o r d really h a s a m e a n i ng . T a k e f o r e x a m p l eW i t t g e n s t e i n ' s u s e o f t h e C o n t e x t p r i n c i p l e i n t h e Tractatus. R e d u c i n ga l l i n d i v i d u a l w o r d s i n t o n a m e s , a n d t a k i n g t h e r e f e r e n c e o f a n a m et o b e i ts o n l y m e a n i n g , h e s a y s th a t a n a m e s t a n d s f o r a n o b j e c t o n l yi n th e n e x u s o f a s e n t e n c e . B u t i t is e x t r e m e l y i m p o r t a n t f o r h i sS e m a n t i c s a n d O n t o l o g y t o m a i n t a i n t h a t t h e n a m e s o u s e d in as e n t e n c e does h a v e i ts o w n m e a n i n g , i.e ., e a c h n a m e s t a n d s f o r a ni n d i v i d u a l o b j e c t. L o o k e d f r o m t h e s i d e o f r e f e r e n c e , W i t t g e n s t e i n isf a r fr o m a S e n t e n c e - H o l i s t b e c a u s e a c c o r d i n g t o h im t h e s e n t e n c ed o e s n o t h a v e any r e f e r e n c e ( ju s t a s a N a i y f i y i k a w o u l d s a y a Vdkyah a s n o ~akya). O n l y i n d i v id u a l w o r d s h a v e r e f e r e n c e s . B u t t h e y h a v et h e se r e f e r e n c e s o n l y w h e n t h e y a r e c o m b i n e d w i th o t h e r w o r d s a n dn o t b y t h e m s e l v e s . T h u s w e c a n s e e h o w T h e s i s ( 1 ) a n d T h e s i s ( 2 ) a r el o g ic a l ly s e p a r a b l e f r o m e a c h o t h e r .

N o w t h e c o n f u s i o n b e t w e e n t h e si s (2 ) a n d t h e si s (3 ) is e v e n m o r ei r r es i s t i b l e . Bu t we have t o r e s i s t i t . One t h ing i s qu i t e c l ea r : i n t hei n t e rn a l f a m i l y f e u d o f t h e M i m f if ia s ak a s ( th e q u a r r e l b e t w e e n d e s i g n a -

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T H R E E D O C T R I N E S O R O N E ? 3 9t i o n - a n d - t h e n - c o n n e c t i o n v e r s u s c o n n e c t e d d e s i g n a t i o n ) b o t h p a r t i e sb e l i e v e t h a t i n d i v i d u a l w o r d s are b o n a f i d e b e a r e r s o f m e a n i n g , n e i th e ris a S e n t e n c e - h o l i s t . E v e n t h e P r f i b h f ik a r a d o e s n o t b e l i e v e t h a t i t ist h e w h o l e s e n t e n c e w h i c h h a s ' ~ a k t i ' o r p r i m a r y m e a n i n g . E v e n t h eu p h o l d e r o f c o n n e c t e d d e s i g n a ti o n i s a b e l ie v e r in t h e p r i m a c y o fw o r d m e a n i n g .

R o u g h l y , w h a t t h e P r f i b h f i k a r a s a y s i s t h a t e a c h w o r d s t a n d s f o r a ne n t i t y w i t h a l i n k w i t h o t h e r e n t i t i e s o r m o r e s p e c i f i c a l l y , r e f e r s t o a ne n t i t y a s r e l a t e d t o a n a c t i o n - - t h e a c t i o n b e i n g t h e c e n t e r p i e c e o f t h ee n t i r e m e a n i n g - c o m p l e x . I f w e f o r m u l a t e t h i s v i ew a s th e v i e w t h a t aw o r d m e a n s a n o t h e r - r e l a t e d - o b j e c t , w e m u s t d i s ti n gu i sh it f r o m t h ev i e w t h a t o n l y a n o t h e r - r e l a t e d w o r d m e a n s a n o b j e c t . T h e l a t t e r is t h eC o n t e x t p r i n c ip l e w h i ch s p e a k s o f n e c e s s a r y c o n n e c t e d n e s s o f w o r d sw h e r e a s t h e f o r m e r is A n v i t d b h i d h d n a v d d a w h i c h s p e a k s o f n e c e s s a r yc o n n e c t e d n e s s o f m e a n i n g s . I f A n v i t d b h i d h d n a v d d a m e a n t A n v i t a i h~ a bd a ih A b h i d h d n a m t h e n i t w o u l d h a v e b e e n e q u i v a l e n t t o t h ec o n t e x t p r i n c i p l e . B u t i t o n l y m e a n s ' A n v i t a s y a A r t h a s y a A b h i d h d n a m '- - s o i t i s q u i t e a d i s t i n c t p o s i t i o n .

I n f a c t i f F r e g e is i n t e r p r e t e d a s h a v i n g r e t a i n e d h is C o n t e x t p r i n -c i p l e e v e n a f t e r a r r i v i n g a t h i s m a t u r e t h e o r y o f s e n s e a n d r e f e r e n c e o fw o r d s t h e n w e c a n s e e h o w , w i t h o u t e n t e r i n g i n t o t h e c a m p o fA n v i t d b h i d h d n a v d d a , o n e c a n a d h e r e t o t h e C o n t e x t p r i n c i p l e .

A c c o r d i n g t o F r eg e ' s m a t u r e d t h e o r y , in t h e s e n t e n c e " G a n g e s h at e a c h e s " - - ' G a n g e s h a ' t h e n a m e s t a n d s f o r th e o b j e c t - - t h e c o m p l e t eo b j e c t - - t h e i n d i v i d u a l G a n g e s h a . T h e n a m e w o u l d n o t h a v e s t o o d f o ra n y - t h i n g j u s t b y i t s e l f b u t o n c e u s e d i n a s e n t e n c e i t s s e m a n t i c v a l u e i sa n i n d e p e n d e n t u n c o n n e c t e d ( A n a n v i t a ) e n t i t y - - a n i n d i v i d u a l p e r s o n .T h e w o r d ' t ea c h e s ' o r , t o m a k e t h e s e n t e n c e - d e p e n d e n c e o f t h e w o r de v e n m o r e c l e a r , t h e g a p p y e x p r e s s i o n ' . . . t e a c h e s ' , o n c e u s e d i n t h es e n t e n c e , r e f e r r e d t o t h e c o n c e p t t e a c h i n g . N o w t h e c o n c e p t i s c a l l e da n i n c o m p l e t e o r u n s a t u r a t e d e n t i ty w h i ch h a s a h u n g e r f o r a s o r t o fg a p f i l l e r o r a n o b j e c t t o m a k e i t c o m p l e t e a n d t h a t m a y l o o k l i k ed e s i g n a t i n g a c o n n e c t e d o b j e c t . B u t F r e g e w o u l d n o t s a y t h a t a nu n s a t u r a t e d t e a c h i n g i s t e a c h i n g l i n k e d u p a l r e a d y w i t h t eachers ing e n e r a l - - s o t h a t , a s t h e P r f i b h f i k a r a w o u l d s a y , t h e f u r t h e r w o r dG a n g e s h a o n l y h e lp s t o s p e c i f y t h e a l r e a d y m e a n t e n t i ty t he t eacher i ngeneral . T o s a y s o w o u l d g o a g a i ns t t h e u n s a t u r a t e d n e s s o f th e c o n c e p t

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4 0 A R IN D A M C H A K R A B A R T Iteaching. A n d a b o u t t h e m e a n i n g o f t h e n a m e ' G a n g e s h a ' a t le a st i t isc l e a r t h a t F r e g e w o u l d a s s i g n i t i n s i d e t h e s e n t e n c e a n i n d e p e n d e n tr e f e r e n c e , w h e r e a s P r f ib h f i k a ra w o u l d a s si g n it a r e f e r e n c e a l r e a d yc o n n e c t e d w i th s o m e a c t i o n .

T h e N y f i y a p o s i t i o n , it is w e l l k n o w n s i n c e J a y a n t a s h o w e d i tc l e ar l y , i s n e u t r a l b e t w e e n A b h i h i t d n v a y a a n d A n v i t d b h i d h d n a . N oo n e e v e r t o o k t h e N a iy f iy i k a f o r a s u p p o r t e r o f th e c o n n e c t e d d e s i g n a -t i o n o r A n v i t d b h i d h d n a t h e o r y . Y e t J a g ad i ~ a c l e a r l y w r i t e s i n t h e~ a b d a ~ a k t i P r a k d ~ i k d - - i n d e f i n i n g a S d r t h a k a ~ a b d a - - a m e a n i n g -f u l w o r d , " S a b d f m t a r a m A p e k s a i v a S f t r t h a k a h S v ~ r a t h a b o b h a k r t " .T r a n s l a t e d l i t e ra l l y i t r e a d s " A m e a n i n g f u l w o r d m a k e s i ts o w nm e a n i n g u n d e r s t o o d o n l y d e p e n d i n g u p o n o t h e r w o r d s . " T h i s i s n o to n l y t o s a y t h e o b v i o u s t h i n g t h a t a s i n g l e w o r d c a n n e v e r g i v e r i s e t oa n u n i fi e d u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f th e s e n t e n c e - m e a n i n g ( A n v a y a b o d h a )w h i c h is a n o t h e r n a m e f o r ~ b d a b o d h a i n N y ~ y a . B u t t his cr u ci a ls t a t e m e n t p u r p o r t s t o a s s e r t t h a t a l t h o u g h a w o r d carries a n i n d e p e n -d e n t m e a n i n g a n d w e h a v e t o r e m e m b e r t h a t m e a n i n g f i r s t o n h e a r i n gt h e i n d i v i d u a l w o r d , i ts r o l e i n b r i n g i n g a b o u t t h e u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h es e n t e n c e is d e p e n d e n t u p o n o r a w a it s th e r o l e o f o t h e r w o r d s i n as e n t e n c e . I n o t h e r w o r d s , t h e r e c a n n o t b e a n y u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h es i n g l e w o r d , u n d e r s t a n d i n g o r b o d h a is a l w a y s o f t h e s e n t e n c e . S o ,i f m e a n i n g is n e c e s s a r i l y d e f i n e d a s t h a t w h i c h i s u n d e r s t o o d - - ap e t t h es is o f M i c h a el D u m m e t t - - a n i n d i vi d u al w o r d h a s n o u n d e r -s t a n d a b l e m e a n i n g i n d e p e n d e n t l y o f t h e s e n t e n t i a l c o n t e x t . I t h a s alearnable m e a n i n g w h i c h i s k n o w n a t t h e t i m e o f ~ak t igraha o rl a n g u a g e - m a s t e r y a n d a m e a n i n g w h i c h i s r e m e m b e r e d a t t h e s t a g e o fPaddrthasmr.ti, b u t n o t h i n g o f a s e n t e n c e t h a t is u n d e r s t o o d . T h u si n t e r p r e t e d t h e N a i y f i y ik a c a n b e s e e n t o a g r e e w i th o n e v e r s i o n o f t h eC o n t e x t p r i n ci p le . M i c h a e l D u m m e t t h i m s e l f a d m i t s t h a t in t h e o r d e ro f r e c o g n i t i o n - - t h a t is i n o u r p r o c e s s o f le a r n i n g - - t h e w o r d a c t u a l lyc a r r i e s it s o w n i n d e p e n d e n t r e f e r e n c e . Y e t i f m e a n i n g i s s a id t o b e t h ec o n t r i b u t i o n o f t h e w o r d t o w h a t i s u n d e r s t o o d b y th e s e n t e n c e - - t oth e A n v a y a b o d h a g e n e r a t e d b y t h e s e n t e n c e o f w h i c h i t is a c o n s t i -t u e n t - - t h e n t h e i n d i v i d u a l w o r d ' s svdr tha - - o w n m e a n i n g i s u n d e r -s t o o d o n l y a l o n g w i t h t h a t o f o t h e rs .

A l t h o u g h I h a v e t r i e d t o g o s o m e w h a t o u t s i d e t h e t r a d i t i o n t o g i v ea F r e g e a n s l an t t o Ja g a di ~ a' s t h e o r y o f w o r d m e a n i n g , I a m w e l l a w a r e

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T H R E E D O C T R I N E S O R O N E ? 4 1

o f t h e f a c t t h a t t h e N y f i y a is a f ir m b e l i e v e r i n t h e p r i m a c y o f w o r d -mean ings as aga ins t tha t o f s en tence-mean ing . There a re a t l eas t f ived i f f e r e n t a r g u m e n t s f o r t h a t J

I t can be shown tha t ,( a) g a t h e re d b y p e r c e p ti o n o f c o - p r e s e n c e a n d c o - a b s e n c e t h e k n o w l -

e d g e o f W o r d m e a n i n g s d e t e r m i n e s o u r l in g u is ti c u n d e r s ta n d i n g ;(b ) tha t the l ea rne r 's in it ia l k no wle dge o f wha t is m ean t by wh a t a l so

c o n c e r n s i n d i v i d u a l w o r d s ;(c ) g iv in g p r im a c y t o s e n t e n c e m e a n i n g w o u l d m a k e e x p l a n a t i o n o f

o u r a u t o m a t i c g r as p o f h i th e r to u n a p p r e h e n d e d s e n t e n c e m e a n i ngdiff icult ;

( d ) t h e c o g n it i o n o f w o r d m e a n i n g s a l o n e c a n c a u s e t h e k i n d o fd o u b l y q u a l i f i c a t i v e c o g n i t i o n w h i c h i s n o r m a l l y g e n e r a t e d b yl ingu is t i c under s tand ing ;

( e ) a d m i t t in g w o r d m e a n i n g s a s p r i m a r y p r o m o t e s c o n c e p t u a ls impl ic i ty .

I n d e e d t h e a t t e m p t b y F r e g e t o e x t e n d t h e n o t i o n o f r e f e r e n c e t ow h o l e s e n t e n c e s h a s l e d t o t h e w o r s t s o r t o f O n t o l o g ic a l a n d e p i s-t e m o l o g i c a l q u a g m i r e s . S o , e v e n w h i l e r e c o g n i s i n g t h e c o n n e c t e d n e s so f w o r d s a n d w o r d m e a n in g s , w e c a n a v o i d b o t h S e n t e n c e - h o li sm a swell as A n v i t d b h i d h d n a - - which t aken s t r i c t ly c rea tes t roub les fo re x p l an a t io n o f t h e v e r y f u n d a m e n t a l p h e n o m e n o n t ha t w e c an u n d e r -s t a n d n e w h i t h e r t o u n h e a r d s e n t e n c e s i f t h e c o n s t i t u e n t w o r d s a r efamiliar .

N O T EA l i t t l e l a t e r , i n t h e s a m e b o o k , J a g a d i g a s a y s t h a t a w o r d c o n t r i b u t e s t o t h e

c o n n e c t e d s e n t e n c e m e a n i n g o n l y w h e n f i t t e d i n t o a s e n t e n c e - - w h e n i t a s s u m e sVdkyabhava. H e r e , o f c o u r s e , h e i s a r g u i n g a g a i n s t t h e P r f i b h f i k a r a p o s i t i o n t h a t as in g l e w o r d s u f fi ce s to d e s i g n a t e a c o n n e c t e d m e a n i n g . T h i s s h o w s c l e a rl y t h a t t h es p i r i t o f t h e C o n t e x t p r i n c i p l e , w h i c h a l w a y s r e q u i r e s a n u n d e r s t a n d a b l e ( k n o w l e d g e -g e n e r a t i n g ) w o r d t o s t a n d i n c o m b i n a t i o n w i t h o t h e r w o r d s , i s d i a m e t r i c a l l y o p p o s e dt o t h e s p i r i t o f A n v i t d b h i d h d n a v d d a w h i c h t r ie s t o e x t r a c t s o m e t h i n g l i k e t h ec o n n e c t e d s e n t e n c e - m e a n i n g f r o m a single w o r d . I a m i n d e b t e d t o m y t e a c h e r P a n d i tV i s v a b a n d h u T a r k a t i r t h a f o r s u m m a r i s i n g t h e s e f i v e a r g u m e n t s f r o m t h e l i t e r a t u r e . S e ea l so S E N a nd M A T I L A L : T h e C o n t e x t P r i n c i p l e a n d S o m e I n d i a n C o n t r o v e r s i e s( M I N D : J a n u a r y 1 9 8 8 ) f o r a n e x t e n s i v e d i s c u s s i o n o f s o m e o f t h e i s s u e s r a i s e d h e r e .