Language, Limits, and Beyond

Description

Ludwig Wittgenstein's interest in the writings of Rabindranath Tagore, is recognized among scholars worldwide though little has been written on his fascination with Tagore's poetry and symbolic plays. In Language, Limits, and Beyond, Priyambada Sarkar explores Tagore and Wittgenstein's philosophical arguments on the concept of 'threshold of language and meaning', highlighting the systematic connections between Tagore's canon and Wittgenstein's early works. Situating her study in the early 1900s, when Tagore's poetry had just become available in Europe, Sarkar finds similarities between Tagore's and Wittgenstein's exploration of the limits of language. She argues that Wittgenstein's early philosophy can be better understood when juxtaposed with Tagore.
Drawing parallels between the worlds of philosophy and poetry, Sarkar identifies the point of convergence of their two philosophies in the realm of language, tracing how they reach surprisingly similar conclusions through entirely different paths of inquiry. Sarkar finally claims that such important points of contact will help one to arrange the pieces of the Tractarian jigsaw puzzle in a manner where all the pieces of logic, language, world, and the mystical will fall into place and form a coherent picture.

About the author:

Priyambada Sarkar is professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Calcutta, India.

Reviews

“This book is unique in describing parallels between the views of Wittgenstein and Tagore on the expressive powers of language and thought.  The argument is detailed, scholarly, and cogent, and I found it convincing”.

Jim Hopkins,Reader Emeritus, King’s college,London

 "Professor  Priyambada  Sarkar's  book  is  a fascinating  comparative study of  the early Wittgenstein's  and  Rabindranath Tagore's  writings  on the  nature of the limits of language and on  what is  beyond these limits.. The idea of  the beyond  is an underlying  link between  the two thinkers, one a  philosophical genius and the other a literary genius. Both  belong to  two different  intellectual hemispheres and yet   they agree  on  the idea that   beyond the limits of language, there  lies a realm of  the mystical and inexpressible. Professor  Sarkar has painstakingly  studied   the  details  of  the writings of both the thinkers  to  establish  her thesis  that  while Wittgenstein has philosophically arrived at the  truth  that is  beyond  the scientific thought and language, Tagore  with his  poetic  insight  has  arrived at the  mystical  experience of  the Infinite and Unlimited  beyond the conventional words.

Professor  Sarkar's work is  unique  being the  first such an attempt  at studying Wittgenstein and  Tagore together  with  deep understanding  and  forceful arguments”

 Professor R.C.Pradhan, Professor of Philosophy, University of Hyderabad,India

“This book contains some of the main issues in the Tractatus of Wittgenstein, as the author focusses on the distinction between sayable (expressible) and non-sayable  inexpressible), as well as between sensical and non-sensical. In this respect, her comparison with Tagore has added a new dimension to her thesis. She has compared the showable of the Tractatus with the surplus of Tagore in the form of art, literature, ethics, aesthetics, and religion.

This book is well researched and the author has quoted several passages from the writings of Tagore to substantiate her claim. Hence it is a valuable addition to the existent literature on this subject.”

J L Shaw, Victoria University of Wellington.

Table of contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Crossing the Threshold of Language: Early Wittgenstein
and Rabindranath Tagore
2. In Silence There Is Eloquence
3. The Domain of the Ineff able: The Ethical and the Aesthetic
4. The Domain of the Ineff able: The Religious
5. The King of the Dark Chamber and the Remarks of Early
Wittgenstein: An Interpretation
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index