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Interface Two
Theorizing the Present: Philosophy and Culture
The South Indian Context
January 2003 Tellicherry and Trivandrum, Kerala
To be organized by the Centre for South Indian Studies, Trivandrum,
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One of the distinguishing marks of our present time is complexity - - complexity in terms of living, complexity in terms thinking. That thought and life are invariably interlinked and human life is implicated in human thinking is a point that cannot be over emphasized.
The turn of the century witnessed a series of intellectual overhaulings - the subaltern and the marginal were engineered into the center and their roles reversed/revised.
The debate on modernity and post modernity instigated by a rampant societal rationalism led to the reinstallation of plurality and heterogeneity.
Fragmentalism and irrationalism came to be as worthy of intellectual interrogation.
Globalisation of life hastened in its wake globalization of interrelated crisis.
What is the nature of our present reality? Can thought precede work? Can we look upon the current environmental crises and a techno-nuclear threat as the disastrous outcome of our intellectual/philosophical derailment?
What is the role of philosophy in this complex present? Why philosophy? Has philosophy in India started breathing afresh after the colonial/post colonial stasis?
Is there a need to philosophise at all in an age when the cyberspace extends from the miniscule to the cosmic dimensions? When virtual reality has just about displaced "the real"?
Because it is our contention that in our complex present time science, philosophy, religion and art (not in this hierarchical order at all), whose generous combination constitutes what we look upon as culture - have greatly manipulated our minds, lives and our world.
How have our philosophers and culture critics interpreted and reinterpreted "Indian thought" in the contemporary idiom? Have they restored (or attempted to restore) the broken links between a vigorous past and a dynamic present?
Where does tribal knowledge fit in with all these? What is the contribution of religious philosophy? What about the present rise in fundamentalist thought? - - Where is the space for the female?
Can the philosopher speak in isolation?
In continuation with the Interface one of the Dynamics of Representation on Contemporary Writing and the Arts - the Cultural Scenario of South India: Region, Literature and Culture this forum hopes to generate interesting debates/ discussions centering on these philosophical and theoretical issues.
Programme Director: Dr. S. Murali, Fellow, NMML, Teen Murthi House, New Delhi 110011. Phone 011- 3017378; 011-4693552 e-mail:[email protected]. Coordinators: Dr. Usha V.T and Dr. L. Sulochana Devi, Centre for South Indian Studies, Trivandrum - Phone: 91 471-730729 e-mail: [email protected]
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