Frits Staal | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 November 1930 Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Died | 19 February 2012 (aged 81) Chiangmai, Thailand |
| Father | Jan Frederik Staal |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Amsterdam University of Madras |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | philosophy |
| Sub-discipline | Indian philosophy |
| Institutions | University of London University of Amsterdam University of California, Berkeley |
| Main interests | Vedic ritual andmantras |
| Notable works | Rules without Meaning |
Johan Frederik "Frits"Staal (3 November 1930 – 19 February 2012) was the department founder and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and South/Southeast Asian Studies at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.[1][2] Staal specialized in the study ofVedic ritual andmantras, and the scientific exploration ofritual andmysticism. He was also a scholar of Greek and Indian logic and philosophy andSanskrit grammar.
Staal was born inAmsterdam, the son of the architectJan Frederik Staal. In 1954, Staal earned his undergraduate degree from theUniversity of Amsterdam focused in mathematics, physics, and philosophy. In 1957, he earned his doctorate from theUniversity of Madras focused onIndian philosophy and Sanskrit.[3] After earning his doctorate, he served as a lecturer in Sanskrit at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London from 1958 to 1962. From 1961 to 1962, he searched as an Assistant and Associate Professor of Indian Philosophy at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[3] Staal was Professor of General and Comparative Philosophy in Amsterdam from 1962 to 1967. In 1968, he became Professor of Philosophy and South Asian Languages at the University of California, Berkeley, and he retired in 1991.[3]
In 1979, Staal became a corresponding member of theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[4]
Staal retired to Thailand, and died at his home inChiangmai, aged 81, on February 19, 2012.[1][3]
Staal argued that the ancient Indian grammarians, especiallyPāṇini, had completely mastered methods of linguistic theory not rediscovered again until the 1950s and the applications of modern mathematical logic to linguistics byNoam Chomsky. (Chomsky himself has said that the firstgenerative grammar in the modern sense was Panini's grammar).[5]The early methods allowed the construction of discrete, potentially infinite generative systems. Remarkably, these early linguistic systems were codified orally, though writing was then used to develop them in some way. The formal basis for Panini's methods involved the use of "auxiliary" markers, rediscovered in the 1930s by the logicianEmil Post.[6] Post'srewrite systems are now a standard approach for the description of computer languages.
In 1975, a consortium of scholars, led by Staal, documented the twelve-day performance, inPanjal village,Kerala, of the VedicAgnicayana ritual, which is available as a documentary titledAltar of Fire.[7] It was thought possible that this would be the last performance of the ritual, but it has since been revived.[8]
InRules without Meaning Staal controversially suggested that mantras "predate language in the development of man in a chronological sense". He pointed out that there is evidence that ritual existed before language, and argued that syntax was influenced by ritual.
His more recent study was concerned with Greek andVedic geometry. He drew a parallel between geometry and linguistics, writing that, "Pāṇini is the Indian Euclid."[1] Staal's point is that Pāṇini showed how to extend spoken Sanskrit to a formalmetalanguage for the language itself.[citation needed]
