Criticism: you are a hindutvavaadin!
Consider the following possibility: let us assume that in some of my writings, I reach the same conclusion as some or another ideologue from Hindutva. (Of course, neither Steve Farmer…
Read moreVivekananda and Caste Discrimination: theory-ladenness
1. You ask whether or not it was ‘factual’ that a ‘paraiah’ was not allowed on the same street as a Nair or a Brahmin. The evidence we have says…
Read more‘Facts’ are facts of a theory
1. Until the sixties of the previous century, there was some kind of consensus about the nature of scientific enterprise. One strand within it had to do with the nature…
Read moreParadox of Tolerating Intolerance
Social issues, inherently, are neither paradoxical any more than they are contradictory. It is the formulation of these issues that gives birth to paradoxes, contradictions and such like. (For the…
Read moreRefutation
1. My book is not about India but about the western culture. It is a study of the western culture using one thread, namely, religion. To the extent I talk…
Read moreCommonalities and Similarities—S.N.Balagangadhara
1. Whether or not we observe ‘commonalities’ has to do with the descriptive framework we use. Things might share common properties in one description; at the same time, share nothing…
Read moreCognitive Superiority
It is partly a term of the art (in the philosophy of sciences) and partly retains the commonsense usage. When one compares theories (in order to choose the best one…
Read moreUse and Mention
All works of Balagangadhara make use of use-mention distinction. Please get familiarized with this distinction. In logic the words ‘use’ and ‘mention’ [both the nouns and the verbs] are sometimes…
Read more‘Hinduism’ and hipkapi: an Imaginary entity –S.N. Balagangadhara
1. What did the theory of gravitation do? Apart from describing the fall of bodies on earth, it also tied the motion of planets and the ebb and tide in…
Read moreIntentional operator and inconsistent reasoning
1. A Christian netizen says: [T]here is within exclusive religions the claim that theirs is the only way to God (that claim can be true or false). There is in…
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