Bhartṛhari’s school of sphoṭa theory
E495779
Bhartṛhari’s school of sphoṭa theory is a classical Indian linguistic-philosophical tradition that holds that meaning is grasped through an indivisible, holistic burst of language rather than through discrete words or sounds.
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
linguistic-philosophical tradition
ⓘ
school of Indian philosophy of language ⓘ |
| addresses | problem of how linguistic units convey unified meaning ⓘ |
| associatedWithText | Vākyapadīya NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| basedOnIdeasOf | Bhartṛhari NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| centralConcept | sphoṭa ⓘ |
| claims |
cognition of meaning is instantaneous at the end of the utterance
ⓘ
meaning is not a sum of discrete word-meanings ⓘ temporal sequence of sounds hides an underlying atemporal unity ⓘ |
| classifies | sphoṭa into word-sphoṭa and sentence-sphoṭa in later interpretations ⓘ |
| comparedWith | Western holistic theories of meaning ⓘ |
| connectedTo | metaphysical views about the unity of reality and language ⓘ |
| contrastsWith | atomistic theories of word and sound meaning ⓘ |
| debatedBy |
Buddhist epistemologists
ⓘ
Mīmāṃsā philosophers ⓘ Nyāya philosophers ⓘ |
| developedIn | classical India ⓘ |
| distinguishes | articulated sounds (dhvani) from sphoṭa ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
primacy of the sentence over individual words
ⓘ
unity of linguistic expression and meaning ⓘ |
| epistemicClaim | knowledge of meaning arises from grasping the sphoṭa ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
relation between linguistic form and meaning
ⓘ
speaker-hearer cognition ⓘ |
| holdsThat |
linguistic understanding occurs as a single cognitive burst
ⓘ
meaning is grasped in an indivisible holistic act ⓘ |
| influenced |
Mīmāṃsā discussions of sentence meaning
ⓘ
Navya-Nyāya theories of language NERFINISHED ⓘ later Indian philosophy of language ⓘ |
| influencedBy | Pāṇinian grammatical tradition NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| interpretedBy | traditional Sanskrit commentators on the Vākyapadīya ⓘ |
| keyTerm |
dhvani (sound)
ⓘ
pada (word) ⓘ vākya (sentence) ⓘ śabda (verbal expression) ⓘ |
| language | Sanskrit terminology ⓘ |
| linkedTo | doctrine of śabda-brahman (verbal absolute) ⓘ |
| ontologicalCommitment | existence of an invariant linguistic whole underlying variable sounds ⓘ |
| opposes | purely referentialist accounts of word meaning ⓘ |
| regards |
sentence as the primary unit of meaning
ⓘ
sounds as mere indicators of an underlying sphoṭa ⓘ words as manifestations of an underlying sphoṭa ⓘ |
| relatedField |
Indian philosophy of grammar
ⓘ
Indian semantics ⓘ philosophy of mind ⓘ |
| studiedIn | contemporary philosophy of language scholarship ⓘ |
| supports | holistic understanding of linguistic meaning ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.