Centre for Philosophy

Cordially invites you to two lectures by the eminent philosopher and Indologist, Prof Frits Staal from the University of California, Berkeley. (For more
information, see http://philosophy.berkeley.edu/staal)

Lecture 1
Date: Thursday, 19 April 2007
Time: 4 pm
Place: NIAS Lecture Hall
Title: The Rigveda: Geography and History with a Note on Aptoryama
Abstract: The Rigveda names many rivers that have been identified. It is not therefore difficult to determine where it was composed. That region coincides with the area of the Indus Civilization. My paper starts with a discussion of the two civilizations and then moves to the problem of dates - easy for archeology but difficult for an oral tradition unless both language and the mind are taken into account. I shall briefly comment on genetics and the relations of the Rigveda with Mitanni Vedic of the Near East, both leading to identical conclusions. Finally we turn north to the Oxus Civilization, the steppes further north of what is now Kazakhstan as well as the more dessicated regions of the Tarim Basin close to the source of the Oxus from where the best Soma came.

Lecture 2
Date: Friday, 20 April 2007
Time: 4 pm
Place: NIAS Lecture Hall
Title: Vedic Contributions to the Philosophy of Language
Abstract:
Any philosophy of language should be based on the science of language or linguistics. Here Indic civilization has much to offer because of the tradition of Vedic phonologists and Sanskrit grammarians. But it is often forgotten that artificial languages are part of language and that Indic linguistics incorporated an artificial language. How could that be true when artificial languages appeared only elsewhere many centuries later? My talk proposes to show that the Rigveda paved the way by not only incorporating mantras and other ritual and technical expressions, but by leaving open spaces large enough to be filled by other special forms of language.