Praveen Kishore Development | Public Policy | Economics | Governance

Learning Liberal-Arts and Social Sciences in India: An Exploration Through Books on Indian Philosophy and Thought

01 Nov 2021 0 comment(s) Academic Pieces

The first version of this essay originated in 2017 when I read two excellent books by Anthony Gottlieb on western philosophy titled ‘The Dream of Reason’ and ‘The Dream of Enlightenment’. And I must say that I enjoyed both of them thoroughly, and am waiting for the third one which presumably will cover the development of philosophy in modern times, especially after enlightenment. Both the books read like a hugely entertaining and engaging novel, and Gottlieb is a terrific writer. Even some of the difficult and confusing concepts from the western philosophy have been easily explained. An interesting feature of his book is that he has consciously refrained from referring to other secondary sources (i.e., books on western philosophy by other authors) and has only referred to the primary sources. This is especially true about the first volume, dealing with ancient and medieval periods.

While going through the second volume, I started thinking and wishing for a similar volume on Indian philosophy. As far as I knew, there was no such volume written for curious educated reader interested in getting introduced to Indian thought – ancient, medieval and modern (except Amartya Sen’s The Argumentative Indian, though it is focused more on history of Indian thought and practice). In the process, I also decided that it is something on which I should comment. And the result was first version of this essay.

I have now expanded and updated that essay to also examine the larger issue of status of liberal arts and social sciences education and learning in India while also juxtaposing it with historical and cultural context of Indian society, societal preferences and government policy. However, study and learning of Indian philosophy and thought retains its centrality and acts as proxy for various liberal arts and social sciences disciplines, and in that process also saliently compares and contrasts various relevant issues and ideas. 

I. Modern Popular Books on Indian Philosophy and Thought

There are good numbers of books available on Indian Philosophy, and I had made attempts earlier also to make myself aware of this field, and had tried going through a couple of those books. I found most of them very dry, written not in an engaging style, often difficult to understand and haphazardly organized. Most easily available ones like many books by one Y. Masih (this writer appears to be an assembly line producer of text books on all types of philosophies: eastern, western, Greek; you name it, perhaps he has written a book on it), book by Chandradhar Sharma and few others are typical Indian textbooks, which one would read only when one is forced to! Most of these books are dry, poorly organized, with shoddy prose and they often make ideas and concepts confusing rather than helping us to understand them. I empathise with the students who have to read these books, as most of these are written with undergraduate/graduate students in mind, to help them pass the university examinations. In this age of internet, information technology and social media, searching these names did not throw any results which, perhaps, is an indication of the comparative lack of credentials of these authors as writer/philosophers/academicians/researchers. So, for an educated, curious mind, looking for an interesting and engaging book, options are very limited.

Perhaps the most popular and one of the classic books on Indian Philosophy available, is the two volumes set written by the thinker and the ex-president of India, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (see reference). These books were written well before independence (in fact, in 2022, they will be completing the centenary), and thus are very old. Nevertheless, they serve as a good introduction and offer an advanced look into the Indian philosophical tradition and thought. However, there are three main issues with these volumes which I need to point out. First, obviously, they are very old, and reflect the though and understanding of early twentieth century, and therefore, not updated with subsequent research, development in understanding and debates in these areas. Second, they are largely concerned with religious philosophy or with the problem and analysis of world in relation to God, largely ignoring other philosophical issues like questions relating to logic, science, mathematics, epistemology, language and ethics etc. Further, the first volume, which mostly discussed Vedic gods, rituals and worship practices, Vedas and Upanishads, including Buddhist and Jain thoughts is more pronounced in this regard. The second volume covers the six system of Indian philosophy, namely Nyaya, Vaisesika, Sankhya, Yoga, Mimansaa and Vedanta, but again, though analytical to some extent in its approach and methodology (yet not critical) the coverage is limited mostly to metaphysical issues. Third, though these two books are an excellent source and reference, these are not as engaging and interesting as Gottlieb’s or some other books on western philosophy, and may not be able to hold the interest of a general reader.

There are two other, rather popular books by Radhakrishnan on Indian thought and philosophy. Though I have not read them, but from what I know about them, they generally are seen in favourable light. Titled ‘An Idealist View of Life’ (published first time in 1931-32), and ‘The Hindu View of Life’ (published in 1926), these were again written almost a century ago, and largely concerns themselves with question of God, religion, spirituality etc, and in that sense are limited in their scope and coverage. Further, these philosophical writings of Radhakrishnan of early twentieth century are within the confines of ideas and worldview of those times and contexts, and in a sense have been written with an underlying religious-nationalistic dialectics.

I remember reading another old book by Chatterjee and Dutta long back. It was than published by University of Calcutta. Originally published in 1939, it is a reasonably good book for having a meaningful introduction of Indian philosophy, the six systems, as well as Buddhist and Jain thoughts. However, it also suffers from the same shortcomings; being almost a century old, written in textbook style, and in a very traditional fashion. I found that it is still available, now in a paperback edition (2007) from Rupa Publications. While availability of Radhakrishnan’s books even after a century is understandable (as it is considered a classic), the availability of this book (by Chatterjee and Dutta) after almost a century, do attests to the fact that there is acute dearth of reasonably good modern books (and textbooks) on Indian philosophy written in post-independence India.

There is another classic encyclopaedic book of five volumes on Indian philosophy by Surendranath Dasgupta. However, as like other good books, it was written during the early period of 20^th century (in 1922, to be precise), and due to its huge size (more than two thousand pages) does not serve the purpose of being a popular intelligent introduction to Indian philosophy and thought. Interestingly, this book too, has recently (2018) been made available in paperback format by Rupa publication (the original five volumes rearranged in three volumes). This, indeed, is a welcome step as a classic work is now available for general readers and students in reasonably priced paperback edition. Nevertheless, the question posed above in relation to Radhakrishnan’s books are equally applicable to these volumes too.

I should not be closing this section without mentioning a book by Late Heinrich Zimmer, professor of philosophy at Columbia University. The book titled ‘Philosophies of India’ was published posthumously in 1951, edited by Joseph Campbell based on Zimmer’s manuscripts and notes. Although it is also an old book, in the first glance, it appears to be more broad-based discussing issues like philosophy of power, and of success, political geometry, universal king etc. However, the neglect of science and related explorations of Indian philosophy at the cost of focus on God, metaphysics and politics is present here too.

And none of the books I have found deals with medieval and late medieval philosophical developments, which was a syncretic process synthesizing ancient Indian and middle east/Arabic/ Persian thoughts.

One qualification is required here. My survey and search are confined to the books available in English. However, in respect of Hindi, and other regional languages of India, I am reasonably certain that situation is not much better, perhaps worse than that found in English. The decline of Hindi language and literature in past century is well known and we are also well aware of the plight of Hindi language authors and academicians. Further, other regional languages have done better, and therefore, the situation there might be better. Again, due to my limited knowledge and research, I am not in a position to offer any worthwhile comment on this.

II. Religion in Philosophy, ‘This Worldly’ Issues and Their Critical Analysis

I can be questioned on my wish of seeing philosophy divorced from religion and question of God. In all civilizations, philosophy originally developed within the confines of religious thought. The quest of human mind to understand and explain this world, the world beyond, the universe, and various phenomenon within all this led to development of philosophical enquiry (understood in broadest sense), and if I may say so, also led to the development of idea of God.

In this light, it is a fair claim that it may not be possible to meaningfully separate Indian thought and philosophy from ancient Indian religious thought.

Though I would agree to this claim at one level, I still think that it is possible to have understanding of philosophical issues by expanding our analysis beyond question of existence, purpose of this life and God. And it not the case that there is dearth of such ‘worldly’ ideas in our ancient thought. Ancient thinkers like Aryabhatt, Varahmihir, Chanakya, Shankarachaya, Nagarjuna, Bhaskaracharya, Charak and numerous others have made important contribution in the areas of science, mathematics, astronomy and astrology, system of thoughts, politics, money matters, and epistemology, and various other ‘this worldly’ practical questions. And in this list, I am almost completely missing the thinkers and philosophers of Buddhist traditions. It indeed is a very serious question for Indians to thinks and ponder over as to how and why the Buddhist thinking, philosophies and system of knowledge has largely vanished from its land of birth. This will quickly take us to the contested, complex and layered history of birth, development and long and widespread influence of Buddhism in India and then a rather quick decline of it in India and the role that Brahminical Hinduism has played in its demise (and some would say, planned destruction). I do not want to enter into that question here, but must point out that Buddhist knowledge and philosophies are certainly much more neglected than the Vedic-Brahminical ideas and philosophies.

In all these cases, this-worldly issues would generally be found intermeshed and intertwined with religious and spiritual ideas in ancient literature and writings, and would thus need a careful handling to separate them and thrash them out of this intermingled mass for our analysis and understanding.

In fact, if we look closely, the western tradition of philosophy was developed even more strongly within the confines and limitations of Greco-Roman religious tradition and subsequently within Christian religious worldview. Ideas of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Sophists, Stoics, Sceptics and others were developed within the boundaries of pagan world view of Greco-Roman religious thoughts. Similarly, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and other medieval philosophers were Christian priests and thinkers. And I would also like to point out that thinkers like Descartes, Galileo, Copernicus, Erasmus, Hypatia and many others had to suffer a lot (including death) for their inquisitive mind and unorthodox views, and often had to propound their theories as just imaginary tales to evade the ire and Inquisition of Church. Such was the attitude of church towards non-conformist views during medieval and renaissance period, even during enlightenment and beyond. There are large number of books on all these aspects, periods and events of western/European history. A beautiful history of development of these ideas and scientific conception is the book by David Wootton titled ‘The Invention of Science’ (see reference).

In comparison to western thought, Indian thought and philosophical tradition have always accommodated (and if I may also say, encouraged) all types of heterodox, non-conformist thinking, ideas and approaches. Indian pluralism has a very long and rich history. Here, I would like to mention the popular and enlightening book by Amartya Sen titled Argumentative Indian (see reference) which, being a masterful survey of Indian thought with a historical narrative, can loosely qualify as one of the modern books on Indian thought and its development, if not strictly a popular introduction to Indian philosophy. In this sense, Sen’s book is the only one which I can accept as fulfilling my requirement of a popular Indian philosophy book for an intelligent lay reader.

And therefore, I would also say that it is very much possible to examine and analyse Indian philosophical ideas fruitfully too, largely divorcing it from the questions about God and other religious questions. For the still sceptical, I would add that s/he only needs to read either Sen’s or Gottlieb's book to realize that it is possible to explain, examine and analyse philosophical thoughts, questions and developments without mixing it with religious themes.

Here I must mention another book, which shuns religion and goes on to tell the story of western philosophy in a very interesting manner. Arthur Herman book titled ‘The Cave and The Light’ (see reference) is an absolute pleasure to read. It is a grand history of western thinking told by juxtaposing Plato and Aristotle, wherein the Plato’s metaphysical worldview has been contrasted with Aristotle’s empirical approach, and the whole subsequent development of western thinking, right up to the modern times, has been examined through the contrasting lens of metaphysical vs. empirical strands.

A related idea is of critically analysing ancient (and not so ancient) thinkers and philosophers and commenting on their theories, worldview, metaphysics and philosophies. This is another area, where we need to learn from western liberal traditions. Gottlieb, Herman and others do not shy away from critically analysing, examining and commenting on various theories and ideas of earlier philosophers, at times, even inferring as to why and how they thought the way they thought, looking at historical, social, political and cultural factors. As far as my understanding goes, this kind of open analysis was late in coming in Indian philosophical writings, especially when Indian experts were analysing ancient Indian thought and philosophies. It seems that most of the earlier Indian authors (including Mr. Radhakrishnan) had an underlying streak of deference to the past which limited their capacity to dispassionately analyse and understand the ancient Indian thought and worldview. However, I should also add that this situation has changed much since independence, more so for those scholars who are based abroad or are based at better institutions in India.

Further, I also see a vacuum of research, analysis and literature in the areas of Indian thought and philosophies of medieval and modern periods. There is hardly any popular, or for that matter scholarly, book covering these period and thinkers from these eras. A book emphasizing Indian thought and philosophical development should tackle medieval time’s religious and other currents, like bhakti and Sufi, development of puranic traditions and thoughts, ideas of Tulsidas, Kabir, Tukaram, Nanak, Chaitanya, Surdasa and others, as well as philosophical engagement of Islamic thought in India influenced from Arabic/Persian/Middle eastern thoughts, including Buddhist and Jain thinking. I feel myself inadequate to elaborate it further as my knowledge is sketchy (and this is perhaps the result of lack of resources to learn about this period itself), but am sure that this is a hugely neglected area. There has been some good research and literature for this period, but that largely pertains to disciplinary areas of historical and social analysis as well as some work on mathematical-astronomical areas, and not to the strictly philosophical realm per se. A notable contribution in ancient mathematical thought is the book by George G. Joseph, titled ‘The Crest of the Peacock – Non-European Roots of Mathematics’ which examines not only ancient and medieval Indian contribution but also development of ideas in Islamic, Chinese, Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures. Belonging from Kerala, he specifically discusses development of mathematical thought in Kerala, especially during the medieval period.

Moving further to British period, I again hardly find popular or serious and scholarly books on philosophy and development of thought. Books for this period should include and analyse ideas of such thinkers like Ranade, Gokhale, Vivekanand, Tilak, Gandhi, Tagore, Nehru, Periyar, Ambedkar, Patel, Bose, Ahmad Khan, Rammohun Roy, Radhakrishnan, Azad, Rajagopalachari, Phule, and many others, including Savarkar and Mukherjee. Whatever is available is again within the confines of historical and social analysis, and there is a rich literature here. However, as these writings and research mostly concerns itself with historical analysis and often do place themselves within the framework of colonial history and freedom struggle, culling out strands of philosophical ideas and thought is not so easy from such studies and books. Obviously, the emphasis in not on examining and critically analysing the thought process, writings, philosophical and scientific ideas ingrained therein, development of these ideas and thoughts, and their inter-linkages – temporal and spatial.

Further, there are books on individual thinkers (most numerous on Mahatma Gandhi), analysis of their writing and thoughts, but again it is more historical-political and less philosophical, analytical and comparative. Another worrying trend is that of growing intolerance where supporters of different thinkers are not ready to have them analysed critically. Here again, Mahatma Gandhi, accompanied by Nehru (to a lesser extent) are the only thinkers who have been put through critical analysis since long. In fact, of late, criticizing Nehru seems to be becoming a fashion!

In any case, I see a huge gap here also in terms of unavailability of popular, scholarly yet interesting books covering Indian thought and philosophical process of medieval and modern period.

III. Learning Western Philosophy and The Deluge of Books on This Topic

The contrast between books available for Indian and western philosophical tradition becomes sharper when I compare what is available on western philosophy. Apart from Gottlieb and Herman, there is another classic, hugely popular book by Will Durant. Though this too is an old one, again more than half a century old (last edition was in 1933); the style, the approach, the treatment and the prose, all are first rate. This was the first book I tried reading about western philosophy, more than a decade ago.

Let me list few more, excellent books on western philosophy, some of which I still plan to read. The first one is another classic, by the great philosopher of twentieth century, Bertrand Russell, titled 'History of Western Philosophy', first published in 1945. The edition with me runs in to more than 750 pages and divided in to three parts; ancient, catholic and modern philosophy. It follows the traditional approach of tracing the development of philosophical thought through life, work and times of important philosophers and thinkers in western tradition. Another modern book is written by British Philosopher of Oxford University, Sir Anthony Kenny titled 'A New History of Western Philosophy', originally published in four volumes starting 2005. The combined volume with me is a tome of more than thousand pages (first published in 2010) with rather small font. The treatment is primarily periodic with four parts dealing, in turn with ancient, medieval, early modern and modern times. However, within each of these periods, instead of analysing ideas of great thinkers, Kenny prefers being thematic. Thus, we have discussion on knowledge and language, metaphysics, science, mathematics, ethics, God, mind and soul, logic, epistemology, truth etc., under each of the period. However, within these there is an attempt to analyse and synthesise the ideas of different thinkers too, making cross references and comparisons.

A similar approach has been taken by Roger Scruton, the British conservative firebrand philosopher in his book Modern Philosophy – An Introduction and Survey (first published in 1996, see reference). As the title makes it clear, Scruton is concerned with modern philosophy, mainly but not exclusively, the period from Enlightenment onward. His approach and coverage of ideas seems wider than Kenny in the sense that in addition to themes like ethics, mind and soul, knowledge, language etc, he also involves himself with more modern ideas like perception, imagination, paradox, objectivity, identity etc. However, it is good that he has eschewed himself from engaging in post-modern ideas. Mr. Scruton has written another short book on western philosophy titled A Short History of Modern Philosophy (see reference).

I have only done ‘elementary’ and ‘inspectional’ reading (that there can be different approach to and types of reading has been beautifully described by Adler and Van Doren in their famous book, How to Read A Book) of Scruton books, yet it has given me the feeling that they are very interesting to read, and have been written with an intelligent lay reader in mind. However, I cannot very confidently claim the same about the book by Sir Anthony Kenny, as it seems a bit more specialized and in-depth. In any case, its volume and weight itself is sufficient to deter any non-serious attempters.

Popular books on western philosophy keep on being published regularly. Some recent prominent ones need mention. British Analytical philosopher, logician and ethical theorist, and a prolific writer, Anthony. C. Grayling has published a title ‘The History of Philosophy – Three Millenia of Thought from the West and Beyond’ in 2019 (see reference), which interestingly has a chapter each on Indian, Arabic and Chinese philosophy at the end of the book. It is a pleasing read with flowing prose and covers most of the western philosophers from ancient to modern times. Despite its length of more than seven hundred fifty pages, the books certainly qualify as what I call a popular book for intelligent general reader. It is interesting to note that Mr Grayling and Mr. Scruton are often portrayed in opposition to each other – representing two rival philosophical ideas at a deeper level.

Another recent book (first published in 2019) written with a completely different and novel approach is titled ‘Witcraft – The Invention of Philosophy in English’ (see reference). It has been written by English philosopher and historian Jonathan Ree. It is a beautiful mixture of philosophical ideas, history and their development seen through the lens of English-speaking world at 50 years interval, starting 1600 AD. It moves through portraying intellectual life and times of famous British and American philosophers like Hume and George Eliot as well as not so well-known figures, in the process attempting to tell the story of modern philosophy as it was lived and practised.

Yet another recent book (of 2018) is by British philosopher and journalist, Julian Baggini titled ‘How the World Thinks – A Global History of Philosophy’. Through its three hundred fifty pages, it takes stock of not only western but India, Chinese, Islamic, Japanese as well as African thought. It is appropriately arranged topically and discusses topics like theology, secular reason, logic, tradition, pragmatism, naturalism, unity, emptiness, self, atomism, virtue, harmony, liberation, transience, and more. With its arrangement and style, it provides a fresh new way of making a comparative analysis and understanding of various philosophical ideas and concepts from across the globe.

And I can go on and on. But this is not my main purpose here and is not required also.

Nevertheless, I must say that there are perhaps thousands of popular books on western philosophy if one wants to go further. And I have strictly confined myself to the popular books on western philosophy as a whole, suppressing my desire to examine popular books on various branches and sub-branches of philosophy like political philosophy, modern philosophy, enlightenment, ethics, political thought, logic, epistemology, metaphysics, mind and thinking, aesthetic, analytical and continental philosophical traditions and what not! There is then a huge set of easy-to-follow books, what is often called ‘made easy’ series from various publishers and authors. And believe me, the options and availability of books on these and other related subjects are almost inexhaustible.

It is easy to feel daunted and overwhelmed by plethora of resources and books available on western philosophy (or for that matter many other topics). This contrasts so starkly with the almost negligible books that we have to make ourselves even decently aware about Indian philosophy, thought and ideas. And if we further restrict ourself to searching for popular modern books on Indian philosophy by Indian authors, the choice almost vanishes. Except for the book by Amartya Sen, I can hardly figure out any other one.

IV. The Troubling Question: Liberal Arts and Social Science Education and Learning in India

Let me now frame the two main issues arising out of this fact finding and discussion.

First, why don’t we have engaging, popular books on Indian Philosophy? Especially books written after independence. Related queries could be: Perhaps books are available; just that I have not tried hard enough to find them.

Second, and more importantly, why there is no worthwhile book to name, published after independence, which can be compared to the classics of Russell or Kenny or popular like Harman or Gottlieb?

On the first question, I am reasonably sure about my finding of shortage and lack of popular books. Amazon, google and Goodreads are now well endowed with extensive and comprehensive data-base of books published, especially recent books. And I am, therefore, pretty confident that my search has been rather comprehensive, and there is no popular book on Indian philosophy written after independence which is of the quality and calibre of Gottlieb, or Scruton or Kenny (again excepting Amartya Sen’s book).

On the second question, during my search, I came to know of Bimal Krishna Matilal, and books written by him. He was an Indian, professor of philosophy at Oxford, who died in 1991. Many of his essays have been published by Oxford University press in two volume (see reference) titled ‘Mind Language and World’, and ‘Ethics and Epics’. I have both these books, an 'elementary' reading/flipping makes it clear that he is discussing issues like conception of philosophy in India, knowledge, truth, scepticism, logic, simplicity and profundity etc. He has authored many other books too, presumably of high quality. So, there is at least one post-independence Indian philosopher with some quality work. There might be few more, I suspect, not in India but abroad.

Another name also comes to my mind, and without mentioning which, I think, this essay will remain a superficial attempt. Sheldon Pollock, of Columbia University, is a world-renowned authority on Sanskrit, Indian thought and philology. Obviously, he is not Indian. I still have to read his book titled ‘The Language of the Gods in the World of Men – Sanskrit, Culture and Power in Premodern India’ (see reference). As the name suggest, this book, though clearly not being a popular book on Indian philosophy, is a modern classic, examining the cultural, social and political aspects of Sanskrit, Indian thought and philosophies and its role in political and social power dynamics in South Asia, starting from beginning of the common ear till the beginning of the second millennium. And certainly, it requires a certain level of maturity and intellectual depth to appreciate and understand it.

In terms of their quality and coverage, these books are comparable to some of the classics on the western thought but then, they are perhaps not for a popular audience. These are more academic and in-depth in nature, and may not easily qualify as to what I am searching for.

Further, to emphasize the basic concern of this essay, I am making a subtle distinction here between books on ancient Indian philosophy and ideas on the one hand, and books which expand and broadens the realm of philosophy to include historical and social development too while telling the story of philosophy. Amartya Sen book falls in the second category, and therefore, strictly speaking, the first category is still vacant. Nevertheless, it is important to examine and analyse these penumbrae too, to have a better understanding and appreciation of the issue at hand.

So, it is heartening to know that in terms of modern scholarship in these broader realms of social-political studies impinging on philosophy and thought, some good work has been and is being done by many scholars, especially covering the colonial and post-independent period, if not the ancient. Though it would be like entering into academic world, I would like to mention Prof. A Raghuramaraju, who has written some interesting, deeply researched and nuanced books on Indian philosophy – one of such books is titled ‘Debates in Indian Philosophy – Classical, Colonial and Contemporary’, another one is called ‘Philosophy and India – Ancestors, Outsiders and Predecessors’. Mention should also be made of Prof. Gopal Guru and Prof. Sundar Sarukkai, who are often considered pioneer in analysing Indian thought from social, political and sociological perspectives, especially with reference to marginalized and exploited social groups, their experiences and ideas of justice, ethics and untouchability. One of their joint books is titled ‘The Cracked Mirror – An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory’. However, it should be noted that these books and studies are not meant for an informed educated person looking for an interesting popular book to understand Indian philosophy.

V. From Professional vs. Social Value of Learning, to Policy Priority and Institutional Design

One obvious reason of absence of popular books on Indian philosophy is that no one is writing such books. And why no one is writing such books? It is because no one (or very few) has studied and researched these areas since independence and even now, very few are studying philosophy in India. As is the case, after independence, and gradually thereafter, there has been a steady decline in quality and quantity of people taking up arts, liberal arts (and few discipline of social sciences too) as a profession and career. For most of the middle class and aspiring middle class citizens, career in technology, engineering, medicine, commerce and economics, and management was, and still is, the dream. Those few, who took social science and arts, mostly wanted to enter civil services, and continued in academic world only as a residual choice.

A gross generalization would not be appropriate here. Indeed, there have been, and still are, few intelligent, highly motivated, dedicated individuals who took up academic and research careers in arts and philosophy, and whatever good quality work we find today, we need to be thankful to them for their passion and hard work. The few examples I have mentioned above are among them. I would also like to mention that many such individuals found their calling and have opportunity of excellence in universities and research institutions abroad. There are good number of Indians in university of USA and Europe who are working in the field of philosophy and are also writing and researching. Though many of them are specializing in Indian philosophy, I have not come across a modern popular Indian philosophy books written by such Indian professor/academician/ philosopher. In any case, my concern is again more with the sorry state of affairs which one encounters when thinking of taking up philosophy (or Sanskrit or other ancient Indian languages or many other liberal arts disciplines) as a stream/career in Indian social, professional and intellectual context. In fact, most of the Indian educational and research establishments in liberal arts (and even social sciences) (except few, again) have steadily deteriorated over the years. I would also say that universities in south (and to some extent, in west) India have fared much better in this regard. The situation of higher education institutions in the so called ‘cow belt’ is truly pathetic. But let me not enter into this issue here.

If we just take a cursory look at a recent handbook on Indian Philosophy published by Oxford University Press in 2017, titled ‘The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy’ (see reference), we can notice many of the issues being discussed here. The handbook, as the name suggest, is an anthology of essays on various aspects of Indian philosophy penned by some of the prominent authors/academicians on Indian philosophy, from universities like Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Kings College, Texas and many others. This book of around eight hundred pages contains thirty-nine essays written by thirty-seven individuals. Out of these thirty-seven contributors, it seems, as the name suggests, only eight are Indians (or are of Indian origin). A further examination shows that out of these eight, only two are presently teaching (or are based) in India, rest all are pursuing their career abroad, either in Europe, USA or Canada (even in Japan and Korea). The two India based authors are Gopal Guru (of JNU, already mentioned above) and Ramkrishna Bhattacharya (of Calcutta University). This clearly shows two things, which we are trying to establish. First is that despite all the talk, due to various reasons (discussed further in subsequent paragraphs) not many Indians are motivated to take up study of philosophy and related disciplines in India, and even now, most of the research, academic work and writing is being taken up by foreigners and foreign universities. Second is the fact that those few passionate and talented Indians, who do take up study and research of Indian philosophy and thought, more often than not, seems to have found it suitable to migrate abroad where not only the opportunities, facilities and environment for study and research are more congenial and friendly, but also the universities and institutions are intellectually and professionally resource rich as well as more satisfying and fulfilling. In fact, this can be said about all other academic fields too, whether liberal arts, social sciences, sciences, technology or management. Further, it should also be noted that no Indian university or research institute or publisher has yet been able to publish something like a handbook of Indian Philosophy though there are similar titles in politics, constitutional thought and some other areas.

In a sense, when there are very limited opportunities, and all kind of difficulties and struggle, and very low social and professional recognition, in choosing of study and research in philosophy/Sanskrit/ liberal arts as a profession and career, it is understandable that most young people avoid such paths, unless someone is exceptionally motivated and passionate. To that extent, the way our educational system, especially higher educational structure has developed and taken shape since independence, where arts, liberal arts, and even social sciences have been neglected and under-funded vis-à-vis technology and professional program needs to share the blame. How many publicly funded educational and research institutions of the standing and with the comparable resources and infrastructure of IITs, IIMs, NITs (and now NIDs, IISERs, IIITs, SPAs, NLSIU) etc., can we boast of in the fields of arts and liberal arts? Except JNU, I struggle to find another name. There could be few other universities, but then the important question is: Did we, or do we ascribe the same importance to liberal arts and social sciences as we do to technical education in our public policy, social consciousness and national outlook?

The way university establishment and structure of a higher education system has been conceived and developed over the years also needs to share some blame. On the one hand, we have set up specialized institute (like IITs IIMs etc) for relatively narrow disciplines (mostly technical) and on the other, we have failed to set up or strengthened all-inclusive Universities. This has created an imbalance, disparity and discrimination among technical and professional vs. arts and social sciences disciplines. It has also encouraged a silo-based approach to higher education and research, has created islands of excellences in a vast sea of mediocracy and has stymied a wholistic, comprehensive and inter-disciplinary development of higher education, research and learning. And all throughout, there has always been comparative shortage of funds and resources for liberal arts and social sciences fields accentuated by establishment of specialized public-funded institutions for technical and professional education. Further, not only the government but private charitable institutions too are to share the blame. Our prominent business philanthropies believe more in constructing temples then in establishing universities, research institutions, libraries and other centres of learning. And even if they have set up some learning institutions (which few of them indeed have), it is mostly in the professional and technical education fields, which is ulcerative and revenue generating.

Perhaps it is easy to criticize the government policy of focusing on technical education initially after independence. That emphasis was perhaps required at that time after early years of independence, and perhaps despite the desire to have even better liberal arts/social sciences institutions and universities, the paucity of resources tied the hands of the government and forced it to prioritize. Even if we accept this line of argument, the continued neglect of these areas in terms of providing funding and resources as well as establishing quality institutions needs some explanation. Perhaps it also has something to do with societal preference for technology and related field, which were and are being guided largely by economic and career consideration. 

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VI. Indian Philosophy and Thought, Scientific Temper and Enquiring Minds

Now, let me discuss a contradiction resulting largely from the above. Today we have a situation where on the one hand, we have largely neglected study and analysis of our actual ancient philosophy, knowledge and thought, have not bothered to promote the study and scholarships of these disciplines, and whereby most of the students choose to study engineering, medical or some other professional course instead of taking these subjects. On the other hand, we (including many of these engineers and other professionals) are increasingly becoming chest-thumping chauvinists ever willing to believe, and often ready to fight for the claim that our ancient culture and philosophy was the best in the world and that ancient India had the modern scientific inventions like aeroplanes, internet and plastic surgery. Nothing could perhaps be more ironical, absurd and ridiculous than this!

So, this blind belief coupled with non-existent or, at the best, sketchy knowledge of our own past has brough us to a situation where we do not care for what Aryabhatta, Brahamgupta or Nagarjuna thought, studied and discovered; how zero, place value notation and Indian numerals were conceptualized, devised and improved, and then exported to the Arab world and then further to Europe. On the other hand, sadly and poignantly, for many Indians, our ancient heritage, culture and philosophy has been reduced to the level where it is much more important to save the holy cow, and then also drink its urine in the belief that it will cure so many ailments! Many of our educated intellectual middle class, if not drinking cow urine itself, are either silent on such absurd propagation or trying to find some justification for such belief in an attempt to condone it or avoid confronting it. This is, obviously, not much different from believing in healing powers of cow urine itself and is the manifestation of the mindset I am talking about here.  

Since I mentioned invention of zero, I must also mention the excellently researched book by French mathematician and historian, Georges Ifrah, titled ‘The Universal History of Numbers – From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer’ which is truly a monumental achievement. It was originally written in French in 1981, revised in 1994, and then was translated in English in 1998 (see reference). It is a large size book, running into more than seven hundred pages, widely researched, excellently illustrated and presented. Almost half of the book is about Indian numeral system, its development over the years, conception and development of ‘shunya’, development of place value notation, as well as system and structure of various mathematical operations and development of numeral notations in various regions of India. It has even a dictionary of numeral symbols of Indian civilization. The breadth and depth of the research undertaken is simply incredible, and one feels nothing but admiration for superhuman achievement of Georges Ifrah.  

This also makes one realize that none of such persons and institutions who claim themselves to be lover of Indian philosophy and Indian past glory has yet been able to put in even a little effort and have done any worthwhile work in studying, researching, analysing the actual Indian past, its philosophy and thought, or its science and technology. So much so that even the story of our discovery of zero is also being told to us by a French! Continuing further to provide another similar example, let me mention that the only biography of Indian mathematician, S. Ramanjuan, has recently been written by an American science writer, Robert Kanigel (see reference), not by any Indian science or technology expert or for that matter, any ancient Indian culture and philosophy enthusiast, the ilk of which readily claim that we were the best. As I said, such Indians are more interested and busier in making hyperbolic absurd claims that the ancient India already had aeroplanes, plastic surgery, internet etc, and are thus not only making a laughing stock of themselves but also propagating a dangerous line devoid of reason, enquiry and healthy understanding – asking for mere conformity and mute acceptance of authority.

In light of above, it may be appreciated that it becomes all the more easy and more natural to believe in sacredness of cow when our bright young minds graduate from specialized institutions like IITs and IIMs etc, learning dynamics, calculus, finance, robotics, computer coding and what not, but sadly, with almost no education in and understanding of liberal arts and social sciences. I also suspect that all this technical education has somehow largely failed to instil and develop the basic scientific temper in most of the young minds, somehow has not been able to inculcate the desirable attitudes of searching, questioning, experimenting and enquiring. What most of these students learn is perhaps problem-solving techniques and processes, something which is disconnected with and hardly can develop an inquiring, questioning, logical and rational mind. Of course, there are exception again, institutionally as well as individually. Further, many of such students also have a lack of understanding and appreciation of our society, culture and history in a broader sense and also are not exposed to ideas and ideals like justice, fairness, liberty, equality, freedom, tolerance etc. These people then spent their lives in technical fields, without proper understanding of our rich, diverse yet syncretic, accommodating and adjusting cultural and philosophical heritage, and thereby becoming increasingly an easy prey for propagandist chauvinistic brigades.

It is therefore, possible to argue that the relative prominence given to technical education vis-a-vis liberal arts and social science education over the years has also contributed to the present trend where we are finding (technically educated) middle class easily falling prey to understanding of the Indian past not only in a parochial, narrow and partisan way but also in an imaginary, dreamy, wishful, pseudo-scientific, blinkered way.

But then we should also ask: is formal education the only source of learning for a person? What about family, society, community, culture, religion and faith, social communication, behaviour and all other environmental factors which also shapes a person’s thinking, psyche, perception - both conscious and non-conscious, understanding, ability, talents, passions, preferences and worldview? These are important too, and perhaps more important than we usually think them to be. For example, we can ask: How the Indian cultural-religious focus on notions of ‘purity and pollution’, which has no scientific basis, but deeply ingrained in our psyche, shapes and affect our daily lives, our social, economic and political relations and interactions? How does it even shape and influence government policies, and further, how even the most aware and educated people are often oblivious of it? This question has specifically been examined and illustrated by me in three short essays published in the US based magazine Fair Observer (interested readers may check reference for the online link to the essay).

And then, an inherent, naive, misplaced and socially induced arrogance and haughtiness of many such technically educated people towards social sciences and liberal arts subjects also play a part, whereby they think that they are competent and wise enough to not only understand but also provide comments on such issues without any formal education and training in these subjects and disciplines. The very nature of social sciences and liberal arts subjects and issues are such that, to some extent, these cannot remain aloof of discussion and debate by everyone. These subjects impinge our day-to-day life, as well as our broader and long term social, political and economic outlook and understanding in innumerable ways, and at almost every step, making them extremely important, relevant and crucial for us. Therefore, the concern of everyone with these issues is, to an extent, understandable. Nevertheless, the role, responsibilities and value which is generally assigned to a trained person in science and technology needs to be similarly extended to a person trained/educated in social sciences and liberal arts too. And this is the thing which is generally lacking in our social and political discourse, and needs to be appreciated, especially by those who have no formal education and training in social sciences and liberal arts.

Therefore, not only formal education but a complex mix of many other factors have played their part in bringing us to the present situation where, while, on the one hand we long for a decent good book on Indian philosophy and we want to know and research more about our past thinking, science and society; on the other, we simultaneously keep on neglecting these areas of study and scholarships in our social, political, intellectual, policy and governance discourses, and then also fall easy prey to propagandist and chauvinistic groups in promoting falsehood and imaginary, partisan and vindictive tales of our so called ‘glorious’ past.   

VII. Children and Philosophy?

At last, let me talk about a philosophy book written exclusively for children. Sounds contradictory? We generally assume that philosophy and philosophical thought is mostly for matured and adult persons, and children should best be left out of this striving. So, a book specifically written for children to make them aware of philosophy sounds a contradiction in terms. But it is true! And of course, we the adults can equally benefit by reading it.

I was much impressed by this superb book – Sophie’s World, a novel, a story, about history of philosophy by a Norwegian story writer, Jostein Gaarder, first published in 1994. It is actually written as a novel for children introducing them to the western philosophy and thought. It has been a hugely popular book, has attained the status of a cult classic and has been translated in to more than 60 other languages. I have the book, and I have read few chapters. Sophie is a school going girl. The story starts one May afternoon, when she is returning home back from school with her friend. Her father periodically visits home as he works in an oil company; her mother has gone to work. Unusually, she, at the gate of her home, in the letterbox, finds a white envelope addressed to her… and thus the story begins.

The novel is as interesting and engaging as Ree's and Herman’s book, and truly a golden treasure for all middle and high school children. It should be a required reading in Indian schools.

When are we going to have our own Sophie’s World?

Let me conclude with the following:

Sen's book 'The Argumentative Indian' should be a required reading for all college students, especially those who are pursuing technical and professional programs.

And I am also waiting for a Grayling or a Ree or a Gaarder in India and hoping to see popular intelligent books on Indian philosophy someday.

***

References

• Adler Mortimer, Van Doren Charles: How to Read A Book (1940, 1972); Simon and Schuster, New York
• Baggini Julian: How the World Thinks - A Global History of Philosophy; (2018) Granta Publications, London, UK
• Chatterjee Satischandra, Datta Dhirendramohan: An Introduction to Indian Philosophy (1939, Reprinted 2007): Rupa Publications, New Delhi
• Dasgupta Surendranath: A History of Indian Philosophy; (5 volumes) (1922) Motilal Banarsidas, New Delhi; (Reprinted 2018) ( in 3 volumes) Rupa Publications, New Delhi
• Durant Will: The Story of Philosophy; (1961) Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, New York
• Gaarder Jostein: Sophie’s World – A Novel About the History of Philosophy; (1994) Orion Publishing Group, London
• Ganeri Jonardon (Ed): The Oxford Handbook of Indian Philosophy; (2017) Oxford University Press, UK
• Gottlieb Anthony: The Dream of Enlightenment – The Rise of Modern Philosophy; (2016) Penguin Books, New Delhi
• Gottlieb Anthony: The Dream of Reason – A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance; (2001, 2016) Penguin Books, New Delhi
• Grayling Anthony C.: The History of Philosophy - Three Millennia of Thought from The West and Beyond; (2019) Penguin Books, London, UK
• Guru Gopal, Sarukkai Sundar: The Cracked Mirror – An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory; (2012) Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• Herman Arthur: The Cave and The Light; (2013) Random House Trade Paperback, New York
• Ifrah Georges: The Universal History of Numbers- From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer; (1998) John Wiley & Sons, New York
• Joseph George G.: The Crest of the Peacock – Non-European Roots of Mathematics; (2011) Princeton University Press, USA
• Kenny Anthony: A New History of Western Philosophy; (2010) Oxford University Press, UK (4 volumes published combined)
• Kishore Praveen: How Do Indians Clean Their Bottoms? (2019) Fair Observer, New York Issue 29 May 2019.  https://www.fairobserver.com/region/central_south_asia/indian-bathroom-etiquette-hygiene-shattaf-bidet-shower-asian-news-90482/
• Matilal Bimal Krishna: Ethics and Epics (Collected Essays, vol – 2); (2002) Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• Matilal Bimal Krishna: Mind, Language and World (Collected Essays, vol - 1); (2002) Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• Pollock Sheldon: The Language of the Gods in the World of Men – Sanskrit, Culture and Power in Premodern India (2006); University of California Press, Berkeley
• Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli: Indian Philosophy (Vol -1); (1930); Second Edition, Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli: Indian Philosophy (Vol - 2); (1930); Second Edition, Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• Raghuramaraju A.: Debates in Indian Philosophy – Classical, Colonial and Contemporary (2006) Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• Raghuramaraju A.: Philosophy and India – Ancestors, Outsiders and Predecessors; (2013) Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• Ree Jonathan: Witcraft – The Invention of Philosophy in English; (2019) Penguin Random House – Allen Lane, UK
• Russell Bertrand: History of Western Philosophy; (1946, 1996) Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, London, UK
• Scruton Roger: Modern Philosophy – An Introduction and Survey; (1996) Bloomsbury Reader, New York
• Scruton Roger: A Short History of Modern Philosophy; Second Edition (1981, 1995) Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, New York
• Sen Amartya: The Argumentative Indian – Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity; (2006) Picador India, New Delhi
• Wootton David: The Invention of Science – A New History of Scientific Revolution (2016) Penguin Books, USA
• Zimmer Heinrich (Edited by Joseph Campbell): Philosophies of India (1951, 2018); Princeton University Press, Indian Reprint Edition, New Delhi (Bollingen Foundation, Washington DC)

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