The Bright Lights on Self Identity and Positive Reciprocity: Spinoza’s Ethics of the Other Focusing on Competency, Sustainability and the Divine Love

The claim of this paper is to present Spinoza’s view on self-esteem and positive reciprocity, which replaces the human being in a monistic psycho-dynamical affective framework, instead of a dualistic pedestal above nature. Without naturalising the human being in an eliminative materialistic view as many recent neuro-scientific conceptions of the mind do, Spinoza finds an important entry point in a panpsychist and holistic perspective, presenting the complexity of the human being, which is not reducible to the psycho-physiological conditions of life. From a panpsychist point of view, qualities and values emerge from the world, in a situation similar to what could be seen in animism, or early childhood psychology, where the original distance between the mind and the exterior thing is reduced ad minima, and both can even interrelate in a confusing manner. Human reality is nevertheless a social reality, it supposes a basis for shared competencies, that we will present as grounded on the one hand of the sustaining character of the essence of the animal-man as will-to-power. Negatively speaking we all share same asocial tendencies and affects. This aspect is not only negative but it is also a will to develop and master the environment, because values have an onto-metaphysical immanent dimension in nature, not because there is an individual bottom-up will to survive, but rather a will to live in harmony with the surrounding world. On the other hand, we shall see that Spinoza understood and described perfectly the power of the mind over the power of the affects, as a co-constituting dimension, which is alienating natural dependencies, leaving an inner space for the objectification of ethical values, not related to mere compensation mechanisms

The Śūdrācāraśiromani of Krsna Śesa: A 16Th Century Manual of Dharma for Śūdras

From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century C.E., a śāstra of a new type on the topic of Śūdras was composed and circulated among Dharmaśāstrins. These śūdradharma texts were primarily concerned with the ritual life of Śūdras—the rites, sacraments, and forms of religious knowledge to which they were entitled in śruti and smr&#;ti. But they also included expositions on the generation of Śūdra jātis according to the theory of varn&#;asankara and descriptions of the ways of life and occupations of Śūdras. This is a study and translation of one of these texts, the Śūdrācāraśiroman&#;i of Kr&#;s&#;n&#;a Śes&#;a, among the most brilliant and eminent pan&#;d&#;its of late medieval Sanskrit, celebrated as both grammarian and poet. In the series of essays that accompany the translation, I analyze the text and piece together the fragmentary evidence for its date and authorship. Śūdradharma texts were one response of the Brahmin intellectual elite to the challenges to traditional dharma and dominance arising from the changing socio-economic conditions of Sultanate and Mughal India. They represent a shift in Dharmashastric discourse from the ritual exclusion of Śūdras as the sign of their social subjection to fuller integration into the Brahmanical fold. As an effort to deepen the ritual regulation of low castes in a time of and caste instability and anxiety (the improved but precarious class position of many Śūdras) and social ferment (the Bhakti movements) they were adjunct to a more general reassessment of varn&#;&#;a and the identity and place of Brahmins and Ks&#;atriyas. Śūdradharma texts like the Śūdrācāraśiroman&#;i preserve the Vedic privilege and ritual primacy of Brahmins while adjusting to the new realities of caste by the qualified inclusion of sat, i.e., “good” Śūdras as a new client base for ritual services. The Śūdrācāraśiroman&#;i was composed in typical nibandha style, but in the form of a concise and comprehensive handbook for Brahmins to instruct and guide Śūdras in their daily ritual life

Intercultural dialogues and the creativity of knowledge - A study on Daya Krishna

Zusammenfassung Diese Arbeit bespricht den Beitrag des Philosophen Daya Krishna (1924-2007) für den Bereich interkultureller Dialoge. Als eine maßgebliche Person akademischer indischer Philosophie hinterließ Daya Krishna ein umfangreiches und vielseitiges, jedoch hauptsächlich unentdecktes Werk. Zuerst biete ich einen Zugang zu seiner diversen Philosophie an, indem ich mich auf sein philosophisches Projekt als ganzes fokussiere. Sein Projekt versucht, die Voraussetzungen des Denkens sichtbar zu machen, was nur mittels Dialogen über philosophische Traditionen mit verschiedenen Voraussetzungen hinweg durchgeführt werden kann. In Anwendung seines Projekts auf den Bereich interkultureller Dialoge stelle ich erst einige Grenzen heraus, an welche aktuelle interkulturelle Theorien stoßen, die in Reaktion auf ihr postmodernes europäisches Erbe den Eurozentrismus zu dekonstruieren und einen globalen philosophischen Dialog zu etablieren versuchen. Als Kontrapunkt dazu stelle ich die Herausforderungen englischsprachiger indischer Philosophen in Indien vor, welche einer Entwurzelung ihrer eigenen Traditionen ausgesetzt sind. Ihrer eigenen philosophischen Vergangenheit beraubt, erfahren sie diese Entwurzelung als eine kulturelle Unterwerfung. In diesem Kontext verband Daya Krishna isolierte Gemeinschaften von Denkern,...This work discusses the contribution of the philosopher Daya Krishna (1924-2007) to the realm of intercultural dialogues. A leading figure of academic Indian philosophy, Daya Krishna left an immense and eclectic, yet mainly unexplored, corpus. Firstly, I offer one approach to his diverse philosophy by focusing on his philosophical project as a whole. His project attempts to unveil the presuppositions of thinking, which can only be effectuated in dialoguing across philosophical traditions founded on different presuppositions. Applying his project to the realm of intercultural dialogues, I begin by questioning the limits encountered by recent intercultural theories aiming at deconstructing Eurocentrism and establishing a global philosophical dialogue while responding to their postmodern European heritages. As a counterpoint, I introduce the challenges of Anglophone Indian philosophers in India, facing an uprooting from their own traditions. They feel this uprooting as cultural subjection, deprived of their own philosophical past. Within this context, Daya Krishna connected isolated communities of thinkers by organizing multilingual dialogues (called 'saṃvāda') between traditional paṇḍits, ulama and Anglophone philosophers. I reconstruct some of these experiments, thereby emphasizing methodological...Doktorský obor Německá a francouzská filosofiePhD. - German and French PhilosophyFaculty of HumanitiesFakulta humanitních studi