The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the key points of
Nāgārjuna’s discussion of problems relating to the philosophy of language. We will
focus on two works from Nāgārjuna’s yukti-corpus that address these matters most
explicitly, the Vigrahavyāvartanī (VV) and the Vaidalyaprakaraṇa (VP). The dis-
cussion will concentrate on four topics: Nāgārjuna’s views on semantics, the
problem of empty names, the relation between language and momentariness, and the
implications of Madhyamaka views on parts and wholes for the existence of
language.

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• Nāgārjuna and the Philosophy of Language