“What is Philosophy if it Isn’t Western?” by Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad

The Problem with Philosophy's identification with Western philosophy has been a perennial one.  Watch this lecture to know what Chakravarthi Ram Prasad, an eminent Indian philosopher from Lancaster University, adds to the debate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=davqrJU97Ck&feature=youtu.be     Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach also attends to the problem of domination  in philosophy in her new article "Diversifying philosophy: The art …

Margaret Chatterjee, an Interdisciplinary Philosopher With a Novel Approach

Shefali Moitra pays tribute to Margaret Chatterjee who passed away on January 3, 2019.  It won't be wrong to say That Margaret Chatterjee was one of the foremost Women philosophers in the postcolonial Indian academia. An author of more than 20 books and numerous articles in reputed journals, Prof. Chatterjee can be credited with breaking …

Revival: Contemporary Indian Philosophy

A new edition of the book Contemporary Indian philosophy edited by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and  John Henry Muirhead and published by G. Allen & Unwin in 1936/1952 has been published by Routledge under its "Revival" series. The book has essays by M. K. Gandhi, Tagore, Swami. Abhedananda, H.Bhattacharyya,  K. C.Bhattacharyya, G. C.Chatterji, A. K.Coomaraswamy, N. G.Damle, H. Haldar, and others. The description on the Website "The book includes essay …

Daya Krishna’s Recorded Lecture

We added a precedently unreleased lecture by Daya Krishna on "Daya Krishna - The Open Library". It is the Inaugural Lecture of the National Seminar on "Classical Indian Philosophy: Present and Future" at the Department of Philosophy, University of Pune, 1st March 2007 (10-11am). The recording was provided by Prof. Sharad Deshpande, who also was …

“Meet the Philosopher” Interview Series from Dept. of Philosophy Savitribai Phule Pune University

Most often we as students of philosophy curiously search the web to find the interviews of various philosophers across the globe. A large number of lectures and interviews remain available on youtube and other forums on and by Western philosophers. We have documentaries on philosophers, films on them, interviews with them and above all lectures …

Margaret Chatterjee on Indian Metaphysics – contemporary contributions and commitment to pluralisms.

In an already somewhat older publication (1993), Margaret Chatterjee explores “Indian Metaphysics” (‘Indian Metaphysics’, in Contemporary Philosophy. A New Survey. Vol. 7, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 83-105). She discusses the distinctions between metaphysics and speculative, descriptive and revisionary metaphysics, phenomenological and ontological in the light of contemporary Indian philosophy. She begins with the usual problem faced …

U.T. Vīrarāghavācārya on malefic sacrifices

To my knowledge, Veṅkaṭanātha's Seśvaramīmāṃsā (henceforth SM, a masterpiece of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta and Mīmāṃsā composed in the early 14th c.) has been commented upon only once in Sanskrit, namely in the 20th c. by Abhinava Deśika Vīrarāghavācārya. Vīrarāghavācārya continues Veṅkaṭanātha's agenda in reinterpreting Mīmāṃsā tenets in a Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta way. For instance, within the commentary …

Extra Readings in CIP: Miniya Chatterji’s Indian Instincts: Essays on Freedom and Equality in India

What about a book which tries to crisscross philosophy with culture and politics in order to arrive at an understanding of the contemporary Indian society? Miniya Chatterji's Indian Instincts: Essays on Freedom and Equality in India seems like a nice blend where the author tries to capture the muddled layers of complex Indian society from …

Kautilya’s Relevance in Contemporary World

The curious title of this post is from Ashok Vohra's review of a recently published book (November 2017) Kautilya's Arthashastra: An Intellectual Portrait- the classical roots of modern politics in India written by Subrata K. Mitra and Michael Liebig. The review mainly focuses on  the way in which the book attempts to fill the gap …

Akeel Bilgrami’s Interview with The Frontline

The Frontline, a reputed fortnightly magazine in India, has conducted an interview with Akeel Bilgrami who holds the Sidney Morgenbesser Chair in Philosophy at Columbia University and is considered an important Indian philosopher in the field of social and political philosophy.  He is known widely for his work on Gandhi and the concept of secularism.  …