Are stories symbols?
1. Here is one way of looking at what stories are. They are symbols. What are they symbols of? Well, they could symbolize acts; they could also be symbolically interpreted as…
Read moreAchievements of Indology: Esoteric Indian traditions
A science of cultures is not Atmagyaana or Brahmagyaana. Let me also add that I find a quest for happiness a normal human striving. According to the Indian traditions, experience…
Read moreExtended reproduction of religion and revitalization of Indian traditions
1. Why did Christianity become a ‘universal’ religion? How did Christians replace the ‘chosen’ people? What was the logic behind the transformation of the Jewish god into God of the…
Read moreThe dynamic of religion: secularization and proselytization
1. Let us begin with the idea that religion is some kind of a system (or structure or whatever you feel like using) that maintains itself. That is to say,…
Read moreNorm, utilitarian ought, Patanjali
1. Assume that India (or any other society) does not have an ethics. What would happen? Surely, if ethics has something to do with coordinating human actions, we know of…
Read moreThe word ‘Normative’
1. There are other normative statements besides ethical ones: even aesthetic statements are normative (when you judge something to be ugly or beautiful) or statements about the presence of other…
Read moreNormativity as ‘parasitic’ behavior
We need to tackle the following issues properly if we want to get a handle on normativity and its relation to a configuration of learning. 1.1. Normativity cannot be the…
Read moreNormative Ethics III
I still have some difficulty in figuring out the problem about normative ethics expressed on the Abhinavagupta forum. There is obviously something that bugs people, but I cannot make out…
Read moreOught vs. should
X asks: I am unable to figure out what the special significance is of not having a ‘moral ought’ in the Indian traditions. If ‘should not’ and ‘must not’ have…
Read moreNormative Ethics II
Whenever I discuss the absence of normative ethics in India, people, especially Indians, get agitated. They hear me say that India has no ethics. Consequently, they want to show that…
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