Towards a positive portrayal of Hindu traditions?
What is at stake in the California textbook controversy? Few would agree that it concerns only the image of Hinduism as offered to the pupils of the California state schools.…
Read moreTranslations or Travesty of Traditions? –S.N.Balagangadhara
In one sense, the title of the piece captures the nature of the tasks facing the contemporary generation, whether in India or in the Diaspora. This generation, unlike many from…
Read moreTo Follow Our Forefathers: The Nature of Tradition –S.N.Balagangadhara
While reading this contribution and all the others ([1], [3]) I hope to write, we need to keep the context in mind. The context is this: many intellectuals, both in…
Read moreWhy Understand the Western Culture?
Let me begin this contribution, the third piece about our culture and traditions([1], [2]), by sharing something you are familiar with. Very often, I have heard the NRI parents in…
Read moreComparative Anthropology and Moral Domains. An Essay on Selfless Morality and the Moral Self—S.N.Balagangadhara
[Published in Cultural Dynamics 1 (1): 98–128] A Disquieting Suggestion Arthur Danto, the well-known American philosopher, prefaced a book he wrote in the 70’s on oriental thought and moral philosophy titled Mysticism and…
Read moreThe Future of the Present. Thinking Through Orientalism—S.N.Balagangadhara
[Appeared in Cultural Dynamics July 1998 10: 101-121] Though the book was published nearly two decades ago, Said’s Orientalism continues to be topical. Many have rejected the message of this work; others have attempted…
Read moreComparative Anthropology and Rhetorics in Cultures.
[Published in Robert Maier (Ed.) Norms in Argumentation: proceedings of the conference on Norms (1989). Dordrecht: Foris, pp. 195–211.] Introduction Perhaps it is best that we begin on a personal note.…
Read moreThe reality of elusive man? –S.N.Balagangadhara
[Appeared in Nispen & Tiemersma (Eds.), The Quest of Man: The Topicality of Philosophical Anthropology, 1991 Assen: von Gorcum, pp. 112-116] Speaking of ‘the greatest mystery of our humanness’, Sinari raises the…
Read moreUnderstanding and Imagination: A Critical Notice of Halbfass and Inden
[Published in Cultural Dynamics 3 (4): 387–405] Introduction During the last decade or so, a new restlessness has begun to disturb the calm facade of the social scientific academia. As yet, it…
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