Ananta Kumar Giri

The calling of a creative transdisciplinarity

Abstract A relational approach to the problem of interdisciplinary studies is presented and arguments made for rethinking our disciplinary identity from our experiential and aspirational vantage point of transdiciplinary participation. But transdisciplinary participation requires overcoming our disciplinary chauvinism and an openness to the perspectives of other disciplines. In transdisciplinary participation, the other perspective, the other disciplines, need recognition and invitation into the hard core of the disciplinary self and for this the method and weltanschauung of the conventional interdisciplinary research is not enough. Interdisciplinary research now calls for a transdiciplinary interrogation, opening and enrichment which transforms the pious hopes and waiting for interdisciplinarity into a calling of transdiciplinary striving.

Rethinking human well-being: a dialogue with Amartya Sen

The paper undertakes a critical dialogue with the perspective of human well-being offered by Amartya Sen. Sens notions of functioning and capability of individuals lack emphasis on self-development and how individuals can themselves advance their functioning and capability. Further, his notion of well-being as distinct from the agency aspect of the human person and his dualism of negative and positive freedom are not helpful for what Sen himself calls a comprehensive redefinition of human development as a quest for freedom. Finally, freedom is not sufficient, and development as freedom needs to be supplemented by a quest for development as responsibility. To overcome all this is difficult within Sens frame of reference because of its lack of an ontological striving or a deep conceptualization of self and self-preparation. This prevents realization of the full potential of his quest for a wider supportive environment for human well-being, consisting of internal criticism of traditions, a pluralist framework of secular toleration and an epistemology of positional objectivity. Copyright

Knowledge and Human Liberation: Towards Planetary Realizations

“‘Knowledge and Human Liberation’ not only calls for transcivilizational and transcultural dialogues but practices them in a beautiful and engaged manner. Ananta Kumar Giri juxtaposes for instance Jürgen Habermas with Sri Aurobindo, Martha Nussbaum with Mahatma Gandhi, and Fred Dallmayer with Daisaku Ikeda, drawing important lessons from each encounter. For him, personal self-development, global democracy and cultivation of our cosmic humanity go hand-inhand. Giri is replacing anti-colonial anger with a dialogue on cosmopolitanism; and simultaneously reminds Western progressive cosmopolitans of their limited and biased understanding of other cultures. Warmly recommended reading for anyone interested in the future of humanity!” —Heikki Patomäki, Professor of International Relations, University of Helsinki

Knowledge and Human Liberation Jürgen Habermas, Sri Aurobindo and Beyond

Knowledge and human liberation are epochal challenges and a key question here is what the meaning of knowledge and the meaning of human liberation are. This article argues that knowledge means not only knowledge of self, society and nature as conceived within the predominant dualistic logic of modernity but also knowledge of transcendental self beyond sociological role playing, knowledge of nature beyond anthropocentric reduction and control, and knowledge of cosmos, God and transcendence in an interconnected spirit of autonomy and interpenetration. Liberation means not only liberation from oppressive structures but also liberation from one’s ego and the will to control and dominate. The article discusses the transformative link between knowledge and liberation through a critical dialogue with Jürgen Habermas and Sri Aurobindo, focusing mainly on their works, Knowledge and Human Interests and Synthesis of Yoga. The article does not simply compare and contrast Habermas and Sri Aurobindo or compare and contrast the so-called Western rationality and Eastern spirituality but seeks to create a condition for transformative criticism for both.

Rethinking the Politics and Ethics of Consumption: Dialogues with the Swadeshi Movements and Gandhi

This article attempts to create the space for rethinking the politics and ethics of consumption by initiating dialogues with Swadeshi movements and Gandhi in order to transform the spaces ofproduction transcending the concern for consumption choices. Analysing the history of Swadeshi movements in pre-independence India, especially Bengal, and drawing inspiration from Gandhi s Swadeshi movement and his principles of swaraj and satyagraha, an attempt has been made here to provide an aesthetic, ethical and spiritual foundation for the present version of the Swadeshi drive in India, which is substantively immersed in the logic of market capitalism and mindless consumption. The article explores pathways of improvement of quality of life, experi ences in happiness and fulfilment, both individual and collective, by creating a culture of self-development, responsible consumption and community building efforts on the basis of sharing and concern for others.

Discussion: On M.N. Srinivas and Indian Sociology The Challenge of Understanding Indian Society: Critique, Generosity and Transformations

T.K Oommen’s M.N. Srinivas Memorial Lecture (Oommen 2008) and responses of A.M. Shah (2008) and M.V. Nadkarni (2008) have raised a number of important issues which call for further exploration, cultivation, and probing. In this discussion note, I focus mainly on the following issues in Oommen’s lecture: his reflections on methodological pluralism, his application of the label ‘methodological Hinduism’ to characterise the work of Srinivas, and the conflation of language and social reality in Srinivas’s use of the word sanskritisation which Oommen misses in his critique.

Gandhi, Tagore and a New Ethics of Argumentation

Discourse, dialogue and deliberation are important frames for thinking about and creating an ideal inter- subjective condition and a dignified society at present. This article presents the contours of such a new ethics of argumentation by carrying out a detailed discussion of the relationship between Gandhi and Tagore, and the way they argued with each other. Their arguments and counter-arguments were not for the sake of win ning any egotistic victory but for exploring truth. It also connects this new ethics of argumentation in dia logue with the agenda of moral argumentation offered by Jurgen Habermas, the heart-touching social theor ist of our time.

Spiritual Pragmatism: New Pathways of Transformation for the Posthuman

Pragmatism has been an important philosophical and sociocultural movement in the USA which has influenced our view of language, social reality and human condition. American pragmatism as cultivated by C.S. Pierce and John Dewey has influenced postwar continental philosophy in the works of seekers such as Karl Otto-Apel and Jurgen Habermas which has influenced our concepts of language and the human condition. In the works of Apel and Habermas, we see a mutual dialogue between American pragmatism and streams in continental philosophy namely Kant leading to what is called Kantian pragmatism which has opened up pragmatism to new realities and possibilities. This dialogue now needs to be broadened and needs to be part of what can be called planetary conversations. This can include dialogues with thinkers such as Sri Aurobindo and Heidegger who can help us realize the spiritual dimension of pragmatism. My essay charts the path of spiritual pragmatism which can help us rethink and transform the idea of the human in our posthuman landscape. It argues how spiritual pragmatism involves interpenetration of spiritual and material, immanent and transcendence, capability and transcendence. It also involves a transformation of anthropocentrism and a creative mutual interpenetration of human, nature and divine. Posthuman strives to go beyond the dualism of man and nonhuman, and in my essay, I argue how spiritual pragmatics can help us in overcoming these boundaries. The conventional representation of the posthuman mainly takes a technological turn, and it does not explore the challenge of divinization of the human. In my essay, I explore all the dimensions of the posthuman including humanization of the divine and divinization of the human.

Chitta Ranjan Das A Creative Thinker

Chitta Ranjan Das (1923–2011) was a creative seeker and transformative thinker who was engaged with manifold creative experiments in education, literature, cultural creativity and social criticism. He pioneered the integral education movement in Odisha following his earlier experiment in starting an experimental school named Jeevana Vidyalaya (School of Life) in mid-1950s. Chitta Ranjan helped many alternative groups of social action and co-realisations blossom. He wrote on many different challenges of self-development, social transformations and human evolution. This essay presents a glimpse into the creative life and works of Chitta Ranjan and explores his universal significance as a friend of our fragile world.

Sociology as a Quest for a Good Society A Conversation with Robert Bellah

Quest for a good society has a long pedigree in sociological thought and critical reflections. It vibrates with many themes of liberation, morality and justice in classical sociology as pioneered by thinkers such as Marx and Durkheim and themes of decent society and creative society in recent theoretical discourses. The present essay discusses this quest for a good society in contemporary social sciences with a detailed discussion of the work of Robert N. Bellah, the pre-eminent sociologist of our times. It discusses Bellah’s quest for a good society in Japan and the US and in the process it discusses related themes such as dynamic harmony and dynamic sunyata.