Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Diversity in Thoughts is common to any developed thought process

The Indian Express Monday, December 19, 2005
History of thought
Making a sense of History of thought for a civilization as complex and old as India is not a simple issue even for such accomplished minds like Amartya Sen. Dr. S.Radhakrishnan's seminal work on Indian Thought was a comprehensive account and it avoided simple phrases for categorizing diverse and rich cultural processes. It is only inadequate attention paid to such works that leads us to have wrong perceptions about Indian thought. But compared with Dr. Radhakrishnan's work one cannot escape the conclusion that Dr. Sen has fallen into the trap of easy generalizations in seeking out selectively for his case for "argumentative" Indian. Any person well versed in Indian traditions knows fully well that Indian thought is not only about irrational emotionalism but comprises as much if not more on logic and action than any comparable philosophical system. Diversity in Thoughts is common to any developed thought process and does not imply that the culture which made it happen was "argumentative". Also the linkage portrayed between political History of Facts with History of Thoughts for period between Ashoka and Akbar does not stand on closer observation. Posted by: Raj Bhadra Singh, India, 19-12-2005 at 1335 hours IST
Enjoying Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen's range is infinite, but he connects his thoughts and inferences on various aspects: ancient history, rise and fall of civilisations, thoughts, spirituality and traditions of India with baffling compatibility. His "The Argumentative Indian" may count as one of the great summations on India, and it may have taken the place once occupied by Nehru's Discovery of India, with more richness of contents. When we are finished with the worthless political cacophony on matters from Indus Valley to Indira Gandhi and Advani's Ayodhya, at least some among us will have the good fortune of savouring Sen's works. Posted by: C. Nair, United States, 20-12-2005 at 0123 hours IST

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