Introduction to Philosophy
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Reflections on Stems and Ink (Version 1)
-Shivprajval Divakar We can now say that we have carried out (in however rudimentary a form) an experiment. At this point, it may prove fruitful to keep in mind what we did while carrying out the experiment and ask why we did it. The most obvious question first- Why do Read more…
Stems and Ink (Version 1)
-Shivprajval Divakar Activity 2 in Chapter 7 of the NCERT textbook for Science (Class 6) is an experiment which the textbook claims to establish that the stem transports water and minerals to different parts of the plant. It involves adding a few drops of red or blue ink to a Read more…
User Submitted Post ( Professor Maithreyi Krishnaraj)
Loneliness is not a matter of being physically alone but feeling an absence of connectedness with other close relations or friends, anything other than oneself.. Forging a link outside oneself is what gives us a feeling of being a part of what is outside us .There are examples of how Read more…
What is a Plant?
-Shivprajval Divakar I begin with Chapter 7 from the 6th standard NCERT textbook for Science titled, ‘Getting to Know Plants’. It is in the 6th standard that science is first introduced as a separate subject, although the subject of Environmental Science is taught from 3rd to 5th standard. Chapter 7 Read more…
Concept Note for Series
-Shivprajval Divakar This series began as an attempt to understand the scientific method and the nature of scientific knowledge. Scientific knowledge is associated with terms such as ‘evidence-based’ and ‘objective’. The scientific method is associated with terms such as ‘experiment design’, ‘data collection’, ‘hypothesis testing’, and ‘falsifiability’. There are multiple Read more…
User Submitted Post (Ramya)
We are born alone, but is loneliness born with us? When was the first time I felt lonely? Was it when my mother did not pick me up from the cradle when I was crying, craving for some human touch,assurance and warmth? Was it when I felt like an ‘other’ Read more…
User Submitted Post (Mansi Rathour)
Is loneliness something brought about by others, or something one inflicts upon themselves? Its interesting to see the complexity of the relationship between the Self and the Others in the development of loneliness. Each one of us is a separate person, who come into this world and will leave this Read more…
On Loneliness
Loneliness could quite easily be considered one of the most harrowing aspects of modern life. It presents us with the agonising experience of confronting our own thoughts, particularly those which are critical of our worth and value. Perhaps an even more troubling aspect of it is the feeling that ‘nobody Read more…
Indian Logic and Science- Part 3
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ ” Indian theories of doubt range from the sceptical mode in some Buddhist schools to a pragmatic approach by philosophies such as Nyaya. Descartes’ methodology of doubt has been extremely influential in philosophy of science. The Read more…
Indian Logic and Science- Part 2
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai characterizes the role Indian Logic can play in understanding the nature of Science- ” In recent times, there have been many claims about the relationship of modern science with ancient Indian traditions. In this Read more…
Indian Logic and Science- Part 1
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai offers an introduction to Indian Logic- ” It is commonly believed that logic is unique to the Greeks and, through this, to the Western civilization. At the same time, many philosophers in the West Read more…
How are Science and Logic Related?- Part 4
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai now considers whether other activities also rely on the use of logic- ” Given what we understand by logic, it is indeed difficult to see how only science is concerned with logic. Even theology Read more…
How are Science and Logic Related?- Part 3
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai addresses the question of where logic is to be found in Science- “From the ancient Greek tradition to modern logic, logic is presumed to have certain characteristics: it is universal, is not related to Read more…
How are Science and Logic Related? -Part 2
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai introduces logic to the reader in the following manner- ” We are endowed with sensory organs that allow us to experience the world. Our knowledge of the objects in the world is derived from Read more…
How are Science and Logic Related?- Part 1
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ “One of the most enduring images of science is its special relationship with logic and rationality. In fact, the logic associated with science is often seen to rub off on the scientists so much so that Read more…
How does the Publishing Industry Impact Science?
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ ” What does a scientist do when she has solved a problem, derived a new result or made some new observations? Typically, if she is in an academic institution, she will write her result in the Read more…
What do Scientists do?- Part 4
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai addresses what the work of an experimental scientist entails- “What do experimenters do in their everyday work? The paradigm of experiments must be the test tube experiments in schools, where students mix chemicals and Read more…
What do Scientists do?- Part 2
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai comments on another aspect of what scientists do- “Arguably the most important marker of science is this capacity to build institutions at all levels of the society. Science is primarily an activity of establishing Read more…
What do Scientists do?- Part 3
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai elaborates on the role of scientific models in theoretical work- ” Scientists spend an inordinate amount of time playing around with models and not with the phenomena of the world.” (Page 38) ” Newton Read more…
What do Scientists do? -Part 1
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai elucidates on the many things scientists do since it is often said that science is what scientists do. “Scientists go to office just like countless others. They have various tasks in their offices. They Read more…
What is Karl Popper’s View of Science?
-Shivprajval Divakar Karl Popper was an influential philosopher of science of the 20th century. He addressed issues related to how theories gain acceptance in science as opposed to how this happens in other fields of study. He argued that theories in science can not only be verified, but also make Read more…
What do we Mean by Science?- Part 4
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai explores the idea of science as a worldview- ” In an earlier section, I had mentioned Feynman’s description of science as a capacity to think critically. In the same talk, he also talks about Read more…
What do we Mean by Science? -Part 3
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s book, ‘What is Science?’ Dr. Sarukkai addresses the relationship between Science and Truth- “Science has an intrinsic engagement with truth. It is based on the belief that what is says about the world are the truths about the world. Scientists Read more…
What do we Mean by Science? -Part 2
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s Book, ‘What is Science?’ We now continue from the last post, and summarize further points from the book. Dr Sarukkai elaborates on the idea of science that Karl Popper, a famous philosopher used in his attempts to demarcate scientific hypotheses Read more…
What do we Mean by Science? – Part 1
Part of a Series of Excerpts from Prof. Sundar Sarukkai’s book,’What is Science?’ Dr Sarukkai offers some perspectives prevalent in the 19th century, relevant to science – “…the ‘scientist’ of those times moved between science, theology, political economy and even literature.” “Before the use of the word ‘science’ to refer Read more…
Philosophy for Children – the book
Check out some Reviews of the Book: In English-Click here to read a review published in the Deccan Herald. In Kannada-Click here to read a review published in the Prajavani.Click here to view a video review which was aired on Kannada One News. In Tamil-Click here to read a review Read more…
Everything and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
by Azeem Khan In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, it is said that people belonging to the cave have accepted the cave as their world while the one who has seen the real world and knows how beautiful, open and real the world is, still wants to be in the Read more…
From the editors’ laptops
by Vijay Govind Nath. Walter Lord’s ‘A Night to Remember’ is the definitive non-fiction account of the sinking of the Titanic. The book recounts how in the early hours of April 15, 1912, the largest ship to ever set sail, sank into the depths of the Atlantic along with 1,500 Read more…
Childism: playing at the crossroads of the pedagogy of philosophy and the philosophy of pedagogy
Dr Tanu Biswas Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Philosophy, University of Bayreuth The word childism can well provoke ideas that I do not wish to suggest. Therefore, it seems appropriate to me to introduce the philosophical approach “childism” with some preliminary clarifications as to what I will not propose: Childism is Read more…
FREE SPEECH OR GENDERED SCIENCE?
Editorial Team (Mansi Rathour) Most of us are rather quick to show our support in favor of free speech or the right to speak freely since it is one of the fundamental rights in most countries around the world. A closer look at it will reveal that however revered free Read more…
Philosophical Community in India – Skeptical Interrogation
by Balaganpathi Devarakonda. Is there a Philosophical Community in India? Is there a curious skeptical question that needs further probing considering the attribution of crisis to the modern/contemporary Indian Philosophy in the present times?[1] There is a skeptic tone about the existence of a philosophical community and there is a Read more…
Reflections on footwear
From the Editorial Team (Dr. Meera Baindur). While ruminating on the phenomenon of walking barefoot, my thoughts turned to footwear. I was wondering while we did throw away the excess baggage of the metaphorical footwear, we do have close connections between footwear and philosophy. Let me recount for you two Read more…
Camus’s Absurdity in Today’s Times
by Mansi Rathour. Albert Camus’s reflection on the existence of mere mortals seems quite relevant today. Most of us are facing lockdowns in our respective places owing to the rise of the corona pandemic. Its times like these which call for a reflection upon oneself and repurposing or reorienting of Read more…
Three Poems : Translating T. S. Eliot: The love song of A. Mathematician | Teenagers | Just for a Laugh
Sundar Sarukkai Translating T. S. Eliot: The love song of A. Mathematician Let us go then x and y When e is raised to the power of ? Like an irrational number squirming on a page Let us go, through half-calculated sheets the scratched out misdeeds of restless symbols in Read more…
Five Math Poems : O-E / B / Brackets / Sets / Trans
Sundar Sarukkai O-E It is odd that numbers don’t grow old but that is how they get even with humans B On her forehead sticking bindis which read: xn + yn = zn saying marriage is for wimps Brackets This: ( Or that: ) Or: ( )? Or this ( )( ) Read more…
Notes from Inside the COVID-19 Museum : A satirical soliloquy
by Srajana Kaikini. We are curious about our social behavior in a post COVID-19 future. A future where the social can’t be taken for granted; a future where we humans hope to reclaim some sense of control over the world currently ruled by a virus. Now we find that we Read more…
Black Out Poetry Series : It’s all Indian Philosophy
Eternal return of the sacredand the real to nothingness changes progressively. Cosmic time and cosmic rhythms emptied, is a vehicle for covering infinity.
Normativity in tech: How technology shapes our world
By Mansi Rathour. With the radical increase in the use of technology and the pervasiveness of technical artifacts, it becomes pertinent for us to analyze the concept of technology from varying perspectives. A significant theme has been the nature of technology and its inherent normativity. Since norms are claims about Read more…
A Utilitarian View of Homosexuality
by Dr Ananya Barua & Aradhana Gupta. Sexuality is a complex phenomenon, particularly when looked at from a social perspective. This is primarily because the various dimensions of sexuality are not alike in all individuals. This is to say that everyone exhibits a variety of different desires and behaviors that Read more…
The Philosophy of Philistines
by Ezat Mossallanejad. In his masterpiece “The Bridge over the Drina”, the Yugoslav novelist Ivo Andric, speaks of a Turkish foreman who orders death sentence by means of horrible techniques of torture against a Bosnian worker due to his alleged attempts at rebellion: “Everything must be made ready so that Read more…
Non-human Ethics
by Nitesh Anchan. Introduction How should humans treat non-human beings? In other words, what is the correct or right mode of action towards members of non-human species? The ‘how’ question, i.e. how to treat non-human beings, relies on the ‘what’ question, i.e. what ‘are’ non-human beings. The ‘what’ question is Read more…
‘Philosophy and the Public’
By Sundar Sarukkai. “Philosophy, from its earliest origins whether in India or Greece, was always a form of public discourse. The aims of philosophy were about addressing individual and social concerns, which included questions of the nature of the real, knowledge, truth, freedom, soul, god and so on. If there Read more…
Doing Philosophy with Kids
by Mansi Rathour. In the summer of 2019, the team at Barefoot Philosophers led by Professor Sundar Sarukkai, organized Philosophy Summer Camps for children across various cities in India. The intention of organizing these camps was to introduce children to the practice of critical and philosophical thinking. The first of Read more…
Ontological Positions about the Concrete World
by Varun S Bhatta. 1. Introduction To say that there are variations in ontological stances about the concrete world (apart from the obvious one that there are many different kinds of material things) might seem absurd at first. We see things like trees, animals, mountains, tables, and other natural things Read more…
Existence: Nature of existence and characteristics of existential assertions
by Varun S Bhatta. 1. Introduction We have an intuitive grasp of what is there and what is not there around us. The trees and the building are present not only for me but for others too. The same is true of the Taj Mahal, which I cannot see from Read more…
Digitization and Literary Studies
by Kamlakar Bhat. I. Emerging Phenomena of Digital Literature I am ‘writing’ this note on “Digitization and Literary Studies” on my laptop, consulting online resources on my mobile phone. And the reader of this piece may access it through one or the other digital platform. This entire circle of production Read more…
Dissonances: The Myth of Sisyphus
by Kushal Choudhary. An exploration of the ideas pertaining to the 1942 seminal essay ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’ by Albert Camus. The exploration expounds the ideas of what we mean by creating something and what purpose creation of any kind serves. It also alludes to the idea ‘the absurd’ and Read more…
Compilers Now, Authors Later: Indent from Indian Philosophy
by A Raghurama Raju. There are two genres of writers, authors, and compilers. Similarly, ethical interventions in society can take two approaches, philanthropy, and altruism. In this piece, I will discuss the relationship between the altruist and the compiler. The relationship between the author and their text is clear and Read more…
Barefoot
by Sundar Sarukkai Bare is in. All the enlightened souls I meet – mostly those in Delhi academic circles – keep talking about somebody called Agamben and his idea of ‘bare life’. I must confess that I don’t understand what the fuss about this ‘bare life’ is about. Much before Read more…
Why So Serious?
by Sahana Rajan. Why should you care about why you do what you do? Kabir and Meera are having a meal at McDonalds. While Kabir works at Nirvana PrivateLimited, Meera is currently a Professor of Philosophy at Avyaktum University. Kabir hasordered a Chicken Kebab Burger with a Soft Serve Hot Read more…
Rights are not good enough: A Sandelian critique of the Peterson controversy
by Abbas Bagwala. Jordan Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist and a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. He rose to prominence on social media after his controversial interview with Channel 4 News. The cause of his fame was his denial to accept Bill C-16 of the Canadian Read more…
Relevance of law: A theoretical framework
by Ramakash Gujuluva Suryaprakash. As a student of law, a typical introductory class begins with these simple questions: a) what is the law; and b) what is the relevance/need of law. While it is difficult to define the term ‘law’ with precision, students generally come up with various opinions as Read more…
Life, flowing river & the realms of our existence
by Dr. Parimala. Life is not always nice to all. But still, we live. Like many others, I was not so happy with my life until I realized, ‘good heavens, I am still alive!’ I am an accident survivor and I have started to wonder at the way life triumphed Read more…
Consciousness and the need for philosophy
by S. Siddharth. Consciousness and why it is a problem It seems like not a week passes without someone proclaiming that the human mind and consciousness is the final frontier for science, perhaps forever beyond its reach. It’s even more surprising when it is sometimes leading scientists themselves who say Read more…
Self and Another: A Dialogical Relation
by Mahak Uppal. The term “dialogue” is defined by the Oxford online dictionary as “taking part in a conversation or discussion to resolve a problem”. It is derived from the root “dia” meaning “through or across” and “legin” meaning “to speak”. In its most popular usage, therefore, a dialogue is Read more…
Of Gilead
by Anushka Maheshwary. Margaret Atwood in her book The Handmaid’s Tale spins a tale so gripping that it leaves one gasping for air after being submerged in turbulent waters of the totalitarian state of Gilead. It tells the story of the narrator, a woman whose name is later revealed to Read more…
Ethics of Debate
by Chaitanya Joshi & Sushruth Ravish. In present times of partisan divide, each one of us would have experienced at some point or the other, an impasse in a conversation. This is what the Greeks called aporia – a point beyond which no further dialogue seems to be possible. Each Read more…
The Conceptual and Volitional Character of Sexual Acts
by Dr Enakshi Ray Mitra. We habitually say that our erotic experiences have an irrevocably given status – they are not available to alternative modes of interpretation. By contrast, an experience of a material object like a long pencil, for instance, maybe said to dissipate in different directions – say Read more…
Certainty in Everyday Life
by Medi Chaithanya. Why are we so certain about some knowledge claims in our everyday life? How do we understand “certainty” in general and in what way does this understanding help us to do things in our day to day life? I was watching a Telugu movie on TV when Read more…
Past moments, Present stories : History as Performance
by Arpita Bajpeyi. Chances are that, when you encounter the word ‘history,’ certain images come to mind: old buildings, monuments, and significant events, dates, people or eras from your nation or region’s past. All seemingly irrelevant to our lives today. And yet, if we look closely at the shapes of Read more…
The Causal Factors in Verbal Testimony: Ākā?k?ā, Yogyatā, Sannidhi and Tātparya
Verbal communication is ubiquitous in our lives. Whether it is to pass information, make jokes, tease each other, praise someone, or to express feelings – all of these activities involve using words to form sentences that are then communicated to the hearer. The hearers, on their part, put together these Read more…
‘Sacred Nature’ in the Upanishads
by Meera Baindur. Abstract When the sages of the Upanishads are speaking of nature and speaking of the sacred they were drawing deep connections between nature, human beings, and life. These insights reveal to us a renewed understanding of the way we should relate to nature that not only realigns Read more…
A Bird’s Eye View of Contemporary Philosophy of Technology
by Ashwin Jayanti. What is philosophy of technology? And what accounts for the increase in popularity of this field of inquiry? These are the questions that might plague any curious reader, who might presume that this is just another fad in the philosophical trend of associating itself to whatever subject Read more…