History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization (Vol-XI Part 4)

by D.P. Chattopadhyaya/R.Balasubramanian

The volumes of the Project on the History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization aim at discovering the main aspects of India's heritage and present them in an interrelated way.

The jiva who lives in the world is the enworlded subjectivity. The concept of trhe "enworlded subjectivity" interrelates consciousness, science, society, value, and Yoga. Every individual who is placed in this world becomes an enworlded subjectivity encountering and experiencing three worlds as explained by the Upanisads in the Indian tradition and by Popper and Eccles in the West.

The four sections in this volume bring out the nature, status, and function of the individual in relation to society on the one hand, and its achievements, values, and aspirations on the other. The message of this volume is that human beings, though rooted in the transactional world, endeavour to achieve transcendence of their finitude from time to time, from stage to stage.

The Upanisad not only speaks about the spiritual journey from the outer world to the inward Self, but also formulates the technique for realizing the primal Spirit through the vision of oneness. The end of the journey takes us to the point from which the journey was started.

This volume will be of interest not only for students and scholars of philosophy, but also for social philosophers, interested in the Indian culture and civilization.

About the Authors:

R. Balasubramanian (Ph.D and D. Litt., Madras University), a specialist in Advaita, Phenomenology and Existentialism, started his career in 1950. He taught in Besant in Basant Theosophical College, Vivekananda College, and Annamalai University before joining the faculty of Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University off Madras, of which he was the Director for a number of years. He started Sri Aurobindo School of Eastern and Western Thought at Pondicherry University and was its first Chairman for five years. He spent a year at Stanford University as a Fulbright & Smith-Muudt scholar for his post-doctoral Philosophical Research for a term. He is at present Visiting Professor, Sri Aurobindo School of Eastern and Western Thought and President, Afro-Asian Philosophy Association. His publications include: Personallistic Existentialism of Berdyaev (1970); The Taittirtyopanisad-bhasya-vedanta (1976); The Naiskarmya-siddhi (1988); T.M.P. Mahadevan (1998).

D.P. Chattopadhyaya, M.A., LL.B., Ph.D. (Calcutta and London School of Economics), D. Litt. (Honoris Causa) researched, studied Law, Philosophy and History and taught at various Universities in India, Asia, Europe and USA FROM 1954-1994. founder-Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (1981-1990) and President-cum-Chairman of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (1984-1991), Chattopadhyaya is currently the Project Director of the multi-disciplinary 96-Vol. Project of History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization (PHISPC) and Chairman of the Centre for Studies in Civilizations (CSC). Among his 32 publications (authored 17 and edited 15) are Individuals and Societies (1967), Individuals and World (1976), Sri Aurobindo and Karl Marx (1988), Anthropology and Historiography of Science (1990), Induction, Probability and Skepticism (1991), Sociology, Ideology and Utopia (1997), Societies, Cultures and Ideologies (2000), Interdisciplinary Studies in Science, Society, Value and Civilizational Dialogue (2002) and Philosophy of Science, Phenomenology and Other Essays (2003). Besides, he held high public Offices like Union Cabinet Ministership and State Governorship.