Dr Shaw’s impressive career spanned decades of teaching at Victoria University, the University of Hawai’i, Alabama University, and Jadavpur University in Calcutta. He taught a range of courses on Western philosophy and comparative philosophy. With numerous publications, books, conferences, societies, and seminars under his belt, his legacy was further bolstered with two Festschrifts, prestigious books with a compilation of articles that honour a respected scholar’s work.
He is the first New Zealand-based philosopher to be honoured with the Festschrift Contemporary Philosophy and J.L. Shaw (2006). He is also one of only two New Zealand-based scholars honoured with Festschrift, with Comparative Philosophy and J.L. Shaw (2015), published by Springer. “As a Festschrift, this book celebrates and honours the scholarly achievements of Professor Jaysankar Lal Shaw, one of the most eminent and internationally acclaimed comparative philosophers of our times,” commented the Springer editor.
“In my early life, from high school onwards, I had some questions,” Dr Shaw says, explaining the origins of his interest in philosophy. “Like whether God exists, or God does not exist. I was concerned with these questions and then people describe what we call God in different ways. God is mercy, God is truth. And some people do not believe in God, also. So, which one is correct? Which one is incorrect? Similarly, whether there is life after death, and whether we had previous life, and the concept of ethics. What is good? What is bad? What is justice, and injustice?”
His academic career started strong, winning two first-in-class medals during his undergraduate degree, and he was quickly hired by Jadavpur University after graduating. He then received two scholarships—a Rice University Fellowship and a Fulbright Travel Grant—and completed his PhD in record time (only two years) at the prestigious Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Following his PhD, Dr Shaw received multiple job offers, before choosing to come to Victoria University in 1970, where he introduced non-Western philosophy courses. He conducted many seminars and wrote papers on meaning, and says he got answers to his questions. He developed his philosophy, the six levels of meaning, during the early 1970s.
“I developed these metaphysical utterances,” he says. “Metaphysics is not nonsense. Metaphysical utterances are neither true nor false. They suggest some goals. God may be interpreted in different ways. God is truth, that means our duty is to promote truth. God is mercy—our duty is to promote mercy. Similarly, in the Indian context, they interpret God or Brahman in terms of truth and infinity. That means we should strive for infinity—there is no end to our endeavour. I developed the six levels of meaning, that is my contribution.”
The first level is etymological. Like baker—bake plus ‘er’—the person who bakes. The second level is conventional—there is meaning in the context of ceremonial things, for example ‘I take this woman to be my wife’. “You cannot substitute in that context woman for a lady,” Dr Shaw says. “The meaning should remain the same, you cannot substitute anything.”
The next level is the deep structural meaning. “Chomsky is developing that one, and I found the counterpart of it in the tradition of Indian philosophy, Pāṇini.” Pāṇini was a Sanskrit grammarian, logician, and scholar who sometime between the seventh and fourth centuries BCE wrote of 3,996 rules on linguistics, syntax, and semantics.
The fourth level is causal, and the fifth level is metaphorical meaning, for example, ‘she’s a beauty’ means ‘she is very beautiful’. The last level is suggestive meaning, incorporating all the views about reality, God, and metaphysics. “One extreme is that it is meaningless,” Dr Shaw says. “Another that it is true.”
Dr Shaw is also the founding member of several societies, including the Society for Philosophy and Culture, a society dedicated to cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary debate and discussion at Victoria University, which has now been running for 20 years, with branches in three countries. Through the profits from Dr Shaw’s books, the Society has provided scholarships to Master’s students at the University.
“Jay Shaw has had a remarkable academic career, spanning continents, beginning in India, followed by a US PhD and teaching appointment, through guest lectures in the UK, Europe, and Japan,” says Professor Stephen Levine, from the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations.
“Over the years, he has not only contributed his own publications, but has also had books published in his honour, contributors’ chapters highlighting his ideas, insights and influence. Inspired by words from India’s poet/philosopher Rabindranath Tagore—‘If no one answers your call, stand alone and march ahead’—Jay Shaw has done so, striving ahead, evoking loyalty from his students and respect from his friends, his personal qualities, embodied in emails and hand-delivered cards, playing out Abraham Lincoln’s maxim, ‘with malice toward none, with charity for all’.”
With his tireless work ethic and commitment to furthering the study of philosophy, Dr Shaw has hosted fundraisers and organised conferences, alongside his teaching, seminars, and research. His students rated him highly, and he was—and is—held in high esteem by his colleagues. His dedication to teaching even saw him hosting discussions at his home—the longest session was ten hours long. He fed the students lunch and dinner as well as tea and coffee.
“Students were my heart,” he says. “To young people, my message is to solve the global conflict and integrate global philosophy into one. Not East/West, North/South, but to integrate all of them into one so that we learn from each other. It should not be one-sided.
“I’m very grateful to Victoria University for giving me the opportunity to develop my philosophy.”