Manipal: Many universities in the world teach linguistics along with philosophy and psychology and perhaps, that could be one of the models in the days to come, said Prof K P Rao, the scholar of languages, here on June 29.
Delivering a special talk on “Language Discourse: A Philosophical Inquiry” organised by the Centre for Gandhian and Peace Studies, Manipal University, in memory of polymath-scholar D D Kosambi, Prof Rao said universities such as Oxford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology were teaching linguistics along with philosophy and psychology. Perhaps, that would be a holistic approach to language, he added.
Prof Rao, who is also the founder-director of Centre for Vedic and Linguistic Inquiry, maintained that language would have originated in a million places simultaneously and followed the aural and visual routes. The natural language, becoming computational artificial language, offers an interesting picture for future, he felt. “For Plato, Mathematics was the most accurate language”, he cited.
Quoting from Aristotle, Wittgenstein, Chomsky, Pavlov and Derrida, Prof Rao stressed their different views on language. He also simultaneously spoke about Indian theorists such as Oudumbarayana, Yaska, Shounaka, Panini, Katyayana and Bhartrihari. Initially, he recalled contributions of both Kosambis–father and the so –to the world of scholarship of religion, history, philosophy and language.
Speaking initially, Gandhian Studies Director Prof Varadesh Hiregange commented on how language shapes our world and world-view, quoting Wittgenstein that limits of our language are the limits of our world. Many scholars including Prof Padekallu Vishnu Bhat, Prof Mohan Kumar and Prof Tungesh participated in the discussion.
