Philosophy - Publications

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Browsing Philosophy - Publications by Author "Raghuramaraju, A."
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    Bending Deleuze and Guattari for India: Re-Examining the Relation Between Art and Politics in Europe and India
    ( 2018-09-01) Raghuramaraju, A.
    Identifying the limitations in earlier attempts for comparing Euro-American philosophy with Indian, the paper distinguishes its approach and makes a case for an alternative approach. This consists of bending the Euro-American philosophy, without breaking it, for use in India. Following the discussion of major and minor literatures by Deleuze and Guattari in the context of Kafka in Europe, the paper shows the variance between its claims in the context of minor literature and the reality. In this context, it establishes a close relation between modernity and art and literature in Europe, where the latter is sought to reclaim what is rejected by the modern. Modernity rejected the premodern as embodying non-reason. Without abandoning this relation between minor and major, it seeks to show its relevance in India through Indian National Movement and M. K. Gandhi. This paper, thus, discusses an instance where alien is a better ground for growth and relevance than the origin.
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    Computer ethics: Constitutive and consequential morality
    ( 2006-12-01) Raghuramaraju, A.
    This chapter introduces two distinct models of morality, namely, constitutive which is available in traditional moral philosophy and consequential which surrounds the present day computer ethics discourse. It shows how constitutive morality thoroughly rehearses possible problems arising out of new developments or introduction of new products before accepting a moral rule, whereas consequential morality, propelled by liberalism, allows freedom for new products without deliberation and attends to problems only when they arise. The chapter, looking from the point of view of constitutive morality, highlights some of the structural problems associated with computer ethics. In conclusion, it suggests how societies, like India, that are not fully modern, can learn from both of these two models, thereby instituting additional terms to a new discipline like computer ethics. © 2007 by Idea Group Inc.
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    Debates in Indian Philosophy: Classical, Colonial, and Contemporary
    ( 2012-10-18) Raghuramaraju, A.
    This book elucidates the debate between Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi, V.D. Savarkar and Gandhi, and Sri Aurobindo and Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya. It also compares and contrasts for the first time, scholars like Sudhir Kakar and Tapan Raychaudhuri. The debates in classical, colonial and contemporary Indian philosophy are specifically reported. A discussion on Indian state, civil society, religion and politics is presented. Moreover, the association between science and spiritualism is explained.
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    Enduring Colonialism: Classical Presences and Modern Absences in Indian Philosophy
    ( 2012-10-18) Raghuramaraju, A.
    This volume explores three significant issues - absence, the consciousness of the contemporary, and new philosophical episteme - relevant to thought-systems in the Indian subcontinent. The author discusses the present lack of original philosophical discourse in the context of South Asia, especially India and investigates the reasons of such absences. It examines the reasons for decline in traditional philosophical schools and Sanskritic studies in the subcontinent. The book also discusses the manner in which Indian thinkers from the times of nineteenth century social reforms to the present day have interacted with the contemporary issues of philosophical engagement the world over. It also explores the relevance of classical texts and thought systems alongside contemporary philosophical consciousness. A major part of the discussion comprises of philosophical analysis of a new contemporary Indian text entitled, Desire and Liberation: The Fundamentals of Cosmicontology by Vaddera Chandidas.
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    Excavating the relation between non-being and permanence in the Vedas, Upanishads, Bergson, Deleuze and Vaddera Chandidas
    ( 2018-02-01) Raghuramaraju, A.
    In the context of discussing Deleuze’s account of Bergson’s idea of non-being, this paper brings into discussion different versions of non-being as available in Indian philosophy. These versions are drawn both from classical Indian philosophy including Vedas and Upanishads and modern Indian philosophy such as Vaddera Chandidas. The paper discusses Deleuze’s analysis of Bergson on the relation between non-being and negation. While Bergson rightly traces the roots of non-being to negation, he, however, rendered it to intuition. Extending Bergson’s diagnosis of negation as the basis of non-being, the paper goes on to show, using Chandidas’s work Desire and Liberation: The Fundamentals of Cosmicontology, how negation in the form of pre-existence and post-existence that negate existence is made possible by permanence. Pre-and post-existence are permanent; in contrast, existence is rendered impermanent and changing. The paper concludes, using the insights from Chandidas, by exposing this conspiracy of metaphysics that renders the real existence as fleeing and impermanent in contrast to the non-being that is projected by the intellect as real.
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    Forgotten Moral Exemplars of the West: A Critique of Akeel Bilgrami’s Projection of Gandhi
    ( 2012-01-01) Raghuramaraju, A.
    This chapter focuses on eAkeel Bilgrami’s famous essay on Mahatma Gandhi entitled ‘Gandhi’s Integrity: The Philosophy Behind the Politics’ in the volume in honour of Mrinal Miri. Bilgrami introduces a distinction between universality and universalisability. He defines the former as suggesting that ‘a moral value, whether or not someone in particular holds it, applies to all persons’. While agreeing with Bilgrami’s preference for exemplary lives over moral principles one could wonder how one accounts for morally wrong actions too becoming exemplary lives for others to emulate, using the provision of flexibility. The life of Christ and the morality derived from it has also played an important role in shaping Western moral theory. Gandhi largely avoided offering Indian solutions to Western problems. All major contemporary Indian thinkers in one way or an other fell prey to this temptation: glaring instances are Bankim Chandra, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and even Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya.
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    Grounding morality: Freedom, knowledge and the plurality of culture
    ( 2012-12-01) Sharma, Jyotirmaya ; Raghuramaraju, A.
    Put together to honour one of the most influential philosophers in recent times, Mrinal Miri, this book brings together articles on philosophy, politics, literature and society, and updates the status of enquiry in each of these fields. In his philosophical writings, Miri has broken the stranglehold that early training has on academics and written on a range of themes and areas, including analytical philosophy, political philosophy, tribal identity, ethics and, more recently, an abiding engagement with the ideas of Gandhi. The articles in this volume mirror some of Miri's concerns and philosophical interests, but go beyond the format of a festschrift, as they seek to enhance and restate themes in moral philosophy, ethics, questions of identity, Gandhi's philosophy, and offer a fresh perspective on themes such as secularism, religion and politics. © Jyotirmaya Sharma and A. Raghuramaraju. All rights reserved.
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    Grounding Morality: Freedom, Knowledge and the Plurality of Cultures
    ( 2012-01-01) Sharma, Jyotirmaya ; Raghuramaraju, A.
    Put together to honour one of the most influential philosophers in recent times, Mrinal Miri, this book brings together articles on philosophy, politics, literature and society, and updates the status of enquiry in each of these fields. In his philosophical writings, Miri has broken the stranglehold that early training has on academics and written on a range of themes and areas, including analytical philosophy, political philosophy, tribal identity, ethics and, more recently, an abiding engagement with the ideas of Gandhi. The articles in this volume mirror some of Miri’s concerns and philosophical interests, but go beyond the format of a festschrift, as they seek to enhance and restate themes in moral philosophy, ethics, questions of identity, Gandhi’s philosophy, and offer a fresh perspective on themes such as secularism, religion and politics.
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    Internal criticism in the democracies outside the west
    ( 2009-01-01) Raghuramaraju, A.
    Democracy requires criticism. A significant feature of democracies outside the West, though often ignored by liberal traditions of analysis, is the practice of internal criticism. This article examines some experiences of internal criticism that may be found in the writings of some Indian philosophers, focusing especially on the work of Swami Vivekananda.
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    Modern frames and premodern themes in Indian philosophy: Border, self and the other
    ( 2017-01-01) Raghuramaraju, A.
    This book presents a fascinating examination of modern Indian philosophical thought from the margins. It considers the subject from two perspectives-how it has been understood beyond India and how Indian thinkers have treated Western ideas in the context of Indian society. The book discusses the concepts of the self, the other and the border that underline various debates on modernity. In this framework, it proposes the notion of the other as an enabler in taking cue from the lives of Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. It focusses on the nature and compulsions of the colonised self, and its response to the body of unfamiliar and sometimes oppressive ideas. The study traces these themes with allusion to the works of Edward Said, Frantz Fanon and Krishna Chandra Bhattacharyya and the Bhagavad Gita. The author exposes the limitations in existing theories of self, the incompatibility between the slavery of self and svaraj in ideas, how the premodern village intersects modern city and democracy, the radical challenges that confront society with its accumulated social evils, inequality, hierarchy and the need for reform and non-violence. This engaging work will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Indian philosophy, social and political philosophy, Indian political theory, postcolonialism and South Asian studies.
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    Modern philosophy in India
    ( 2017-01-01) Raghuramaraju, A.
    The chapter draws a comparison between modern Western philosophies’ attitude towards its own classical philosophy and Indian philosophy, in rendering both as non-philosophical. Modern Indian philosophy exist within the context of both the colonial and postcolonial eras. Unlike in the West, classical philosophies continue to be significantly present in modern Indian philosophy. This chapter identifies two important absences, namely, debates and new philosophical texts, that were present in the classical Indian philosophy; as well as the modern attempts at egalitarianism and inter-criticism.
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    Modernity in Indian Social Theory
    ( 2012-09-20) Raghuramaraju, A.
    Indian society is extremely complex, particularly in the twentieth century. However, this complexity has not been captured by Indian social theory. One reason is the theoretical burden caused by historical events such as colonialism, which incidentally brought modernity to India. Western modernity is mainly normative, and its norms include the concept of autonomous individual, freedom, and instrumental rationality. This normative project is sought to be ruthlessly implemented through modern programmes of secularism, nationalism, urbanization, and industrialization where the pre-modern is sought to be disinherited. This book explores the limitations surrounding Indian social theorists' views on Indian society. It discusses Partha Chatterjee's perspectives on Indian nationalism, Javeed Alam's interpretation of Indian secularism and the use of plural character of Indian society by some Indian social scientists, and Gopal Guru's proposal to move Dalits' lived experience from literature into social theory. The book also examines the limitations surrounding the reading of contemporary texts and activities of thinkers such as Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, B.R. Ambedkar, and Aurobindo Ghosh.
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    Of thinking machines and the centred self
    ( 1995-06-01) Raghuramaraju, A.
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    Philosophy and India: Ancestors, Outsiders, and Predecessors
    ( 2013-09-26) Raghuramaraju, A.
    Philosophy is the terrain that can systematically explicate the soul of India. Yet, notwithstanding its true capacity and assigned centrality, philosophy in modern India has not lived up to fulfilling this task. Taking cognizance of this history, this book embarks on the project of critically assessing the contributions of seven twentieth-century academic philosophers of India. The first part examines three philosophers who offer Indian solutions to Western problems: Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya, who offers Advaita to overcome the Kantian problem of unknowability of the self; Akeel Bilgrami, who offers Gandhi's views of exemplar as the way out for solving the problems surrounding Western moral philosophy; and B. K. Matilal, who invests the resources of the epic, the Mahabharata, to buy ethics for Indian philosophy. The second part discusses Daya Krishna and K. Satchidananda Murty, who, while preoccupied with ancient Indian and Western philosophies, have failed to take into consideration the contributions of their immediate predecessors. The last part discusses how both Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and S. Radhakrishnan explain away the radical project of Buddha and Buddhism and portray it as a part of Hinduism. In this context the contribution of B. R. Ambedkar and T. R. V. Murti is discussed. Thus, this book brings critical perspectives on some of the major Indian philosophers' discussion on the West, modernity, colonialism, classical Indian philosophy, and modern Western philosophy. This critical evaluation of the works of these prominent philosophers will enable us to take stock of the strengths and also be aware of the limitations if not weaknesses that prevail in the practice of philosophy in India.
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    Pre of art in modern India
    ( 2009-12-01) Raghuramaraju, A.
    This article lays bare an unusual underlying relationship between modernity and art or literature in the West by elucidating the sequential relationship between the premodern and the modern in the West as scripted by Descartes. Modernity rejected the premodern and the rejected is recalled and preserved by art and literature. This formula, when it travelled to societies like India through colonialism, met with mixed results as there remained the large premodern social reality. In this sequential relationship the premodern at times interrogated the modern. Creativity in these societies is to be found not only in art and literature but also in politics. This is illustrated by analysing how Swami Vivekananda chose saffron dress and wandering; Sri Aurobindo departed from this and selected white and seclusion; subsequently, Mahatma Gandhi chose wandering from Vivekananda and white from Aurobindo. The article concludes by pointing out how Descartes simultaneously decided to leave the past and enter into modernity whereas Ambedkar tokk nearly three decades between the decision to leave Hinduism and convert to Buddhism. © Third Text (2009).
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    Problematising lived dalit experience
    ( 2010-07-17) Raghuramaraju, A.
    If the Indian social sciences represent a "pernicious divide between theoretical brahmins and empirical shudras", should dalits move from poetry which generates inwardness to theory so as to advance the dalit epistemological cause? And are Habermas' views on universalism truly in contrast to the position that only the people who own an experience can theorise about it? This essay argues that the emphasis must be on the search for an authentic space for dalits in poetry instead of attempting to move them into social theory and elucidates the problems related to using Habermas as an illustration of universalism.