Meaning in literary texts such as poetry and novel etc., is not determined on the basis of a literal understanding of the words in it, but through a total evaluation of the devices such as metaphors and similes. This paper deals with metaphor to show its significance, to make us aware that metaphoric expressions do give a different kind of knowledge, and to pave the way to disclose a different kind of truth which is perhaps, more valuable than what the (...) literal sense provides. Ordinarily metaphorical use is taken for rhetorical purposes. Literalists of the Western and Indian philosophical traditions believe that it is only the literal or primary meaning that can give us a precise account of language. Metaphors are viewed by them as fuzzy, lies, not corresponding to actual states of affairs, non-propositional in character, not having truth-conditions, and thus not providing us with any knowledge or truth. However, this paper tries to work out the fundamentality of metaphor, how metaphor widens our experience of the world, and how it has the power to take us to an alternative world to introduce with some new truth by exploring certain notions of the Indian aestheticians. (shrink)

The twelve exploratory essays collected in this volume examine forms and limits of human inquiry. Where does scientific inquiry significantly apply? Can it cover the vast canvas of human experience? Where do other forms of inquiry, such as philosophy and the arts, attain their salience? With the emergence of the cognitive sciences, these questions have become more intriguing. Can human inquiry investigate its own nature? They are examined by a philosopher whose academic work concerns the study of language and mind; (...) as such, the sceptical inquiry turns on itself. [The] essays are reflections of a fine scholar... Their range is wide, and they are at once rigorous and accessible. They... are wise in their understanding of the limits of science's reach into the domain of what he calls 'common life'. They will be a source of much pleasure and instruction and insight to the serious reader. Akeel Bilgrami, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University With remarkable range and depth, these tantalizing essays explore scientific and cultural forms of inquiry,... and other topics that have inspired reflection on the world and ourselves for ages. At each point, there are instructive and challenging new perspectives and insights... a welcome gift to the inquiring mind. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mukherji's interests go well beyond narrow academic concerns. His writings reflect the breadth of his aspirations and should appeal to the general public as well as to the experts. Francois Recanati, Senior Fellow, CNRS, Paris. (shrink)

This work seeks to highlight that an understanding of aesthetic practices is essential to the analysis of politics and political processes. If today, aesthetics has become a rather overused term, referring to a variety of historical periods and groups, even states of being (love, melancholy...), nonetheless its relevance as a connecting agent between individual, state and society remains strong. Placing it as a central theme for understanding processes of domination, contestation and transversal links highlights the mobilization of spaces, bodies and (...) objects in a struggle for the exercise of power and the challenges to it. It is impossible to study historical shifts or systems of power without examining the mobilisation of aesthetic languages: of splendour and display, austerity, asceticism, minimalism or restraint. In this book the concern is with the dynamics between the custodians of aesthetics and the dissenters, with the moment, and with change over time. This book approaches contemporary politics through the aesthetics of power and its practices: from the more formal and regulated presence of state power in the public space in the form of official buildings, commemorative monuments, to the aestheticisation of sacrifice in politics and judicial spectacles. The studies presented here promise to lead us further to deepening our understanding of the dynamics of political spaces and the politics of the aesthetic in contemporary politics. (shrink)

Initiated almost four decades ago in the form of an 11-bed clinic in Madurai, Aravind Eye Care System with its large network of hospitals, vision centres and community outreach programs is now recognized in India and beyond as a major actor of health care. This paper upholds the view that Aravind’s innovative characteristics call for the creation of a specific category: transformational entrepreneurship. It first clarifies what may be called the ‘Aravind paradox’: Aravind achieves compassion through Taylorism, providing free eye (...) care to poor patients while expanding its robust entrepreneurial model. It then analyses the social, cultural and policy implications of Aravind’s success, notably from the perspective of its contribution to the common good. Finally, the paper identifies the definitional components of transformational entrepreneurship. (shrink)

In this work, we have investigated the validity of the generalized second law of thermodynamics in logamediate and intermediate scenarios of the universe bounded by the Hubble, apparent, particle and event horizons using and without using first law of thermodynamics. We have observed that the GSL is valid for Hubble, apparent, particle and event horizons of the universe in the logamediate scenario of the universe using first law and without using first law. Similarly the GSL is valid for all horizons (...) in the intermediate scenario of the universe using first law. Also in the intermediate scenario of the universe, the GSL is valid for Hubble, apparent and particle horizons but it breaks down whenever we consider the universe enveloped by the event horizon. (shrink)

Dans le cadre des luttes pour l’indépendance en Inde et du renouvellement des normes de la mode féminine en Europe, des Anglaises telles Annie Besant, Margaret Noble, Madeleine Slade quittent à leur arrivée en Inde leurs robes traditionnelles pour des habits qui réélaborent des éléments empruntés à la culture indienne. Les pratiques vestimentaires témoignent, particulièrement dans le contexte anticolonial, d’un enjeu crucial tant pour les autorités britanniques que pour les Indiens. Tandis qu’Indiens et Indiennes modifient leurs habits en réponse aux (...) pressions des codes vestimentaires coloniaux, ces « saris européanisés » affirment publiquement à la fois leur sentiment politique anti-impérialiste et un programme national et social pour les Indiens sous-tendu par une forte dimension féminine. Ils fonctionnent comme un lieu de négociation des relations coloniales par la contestation ouverte des notions impérialistes de domesticité et l’introduction de nouvelles formes de sociabilités politiques. (shrink)

Dans le cadre des luttes pour l’indépendance en Inde (1890-1940) et du renouvellement des normes de la mode féminine en Europe, des Anglaises telles Annie Besant, Margaret Noble, Madeleine Slade quittent à leur arrivée en Inde leurs robes traditionnelles pour des habits qui réélaborent des éléments empruntés à la culture indienne. Les pratiques vestimentaires témoignent, particulièrement dans le contexte anticolonial, d’un enjeu crucial tant pour les autorités britanniques que pour les Indiens. Tandis qu’Indiens et Indiennes modifient leurs habits en réponse (...) aux pressions des codes vestimentaires coloniaux, ces « saris européanisés » affirment publiquement à la fois leur sentiment politique anti-impérialiste et un programme national et social pour les Indiens sous-tendu par une forte dimension féminine. Ils fonctionnent comme un lieu de négociation des relations coloniales par la contestation ouverte des notions impérialistes de domesticité et l’introduction de nouvelles formes de sociabilités politiques. (shrink)

A proposal that the biolinguistic approach to human languages may have identified,beyond the study of language, a specific structure of the human mind.

Today, thanks to Noam Chomsky and his fellow media analysts, it is almost axiomatic for thousands, possibly millions, of us that public opinion in "free market" democracies is manufactured just like any other mass market product — soap, switches, or sliced bread. We know that while, legally and constitutionally, speech may be free, the space in which that freedom can be exercised has been snatched from us and auctioned to the highest bidders. Neoliberal capitalism isn't just about the accumulation of (...) capital (for some). It's also about the accumulation of power (for some), the accumulation of freedom (for some). Conversely, for the rest of the world, the people who are excluded from neoliberalism's governing body, it's about the erosion of capital, the erosion of power, the erosion of freedom. In the "free" market, free speech has become a commodity like everything else — — justice, human rights, drinking water, clean air. It's available only to those who can afford it. And naturally, those who can afford it use free speech to manufacture the kind of product, confect the kind of public opinion, that best suits their purpose. (News they can use.) Exactly how they do this has been the subject of much of Noam Chomsky's political writing. (shrink)

The contemporary discipline of biolinguistics is beginning to have the feel of scientific inquiry. Biolinguistics--especially the work of Noam Chomsky--suggests that the design of language may be "perfect": language is an optimal solution to conditions of sound and meaning. What is the scope of this inquiry? Which aspect of nature does this science investigate? What is its relation to the rest of science? What notions of language and mind are under investigation? This book is a study of such foundational questions. (...) Exploring Chomsky's claims, Nirmalangshu Mukherji argues that the significance of biolinguistic inquiry extends beyond the domain of language. Biolinguistics is primarily concerned with grammars that represent just the computational aspects of the mind/brain. This restriction to grammars, Mukherji argues, opens the possibility that the computational system of human language may be involved in each cognitive system that requires similar computational resources. Deploying analytical argumentation and empirical evidence, Mukherji suggests that a computational system of language consisting of very specific principles and operations is likely to be involved in each articulatory symbol system--such as music--that manifests unboundedness. In that sense, the biolinguistics approach may have identified, after thousands of years of inquiry, a specific structure of the human mind. (shrink)

Are social sciences that are indigenous to the West necessarily universal for other cultures? This collection of South Asian scholarship draws on the experiences of the region to discuss this question in depth.

This book brings together the political thought of Gandhi and Tagore to examine the relationship between politics, truth and conscience. It explores truth and conscience as viable public virtues with regard to two exemplars of ethical politics, addressing in turn the concerns of an evolving modern Indian political community. The comprehensive and textually argued discussion frames the subject of the validity of ethical politics in inhospitable contexts such as the fanatically despotic state and energised nationalism. The book studies in nuanced (...) detail Tagore’s opposition to political violence in colonial Bengal, the scope of non-violence and _satyagraha_ as recommended by Gandhi to Jews in Nazi Germany, his response to the complexity of protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and the differently constituted nationalism of Gandhi and Tagore. It presents their famous debate in a new light, embedded within the dynamics of cultural identification, political praxis and the capacity of a community to imbibe the principles of ethical politics. Comprehensive and perceptive in analysis, this book will be a valuable addition for scholars and researchers of political science with specialisation in Indian political thought, philosophy and history. Gangeya Mukherji is Reader in English at Mahamati Prannath Mahavidyalaya, Mau-Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh, India. (shrink)

This book attempts to unravel the worldview of two prominent Indians of recent Indian history — Tagore and Vivekananda. Both suggested emancipation through political struggles but without transgressing the boundaries of humanism. This is significant, as identifying an enemy was an intrinsic part of nationalistic formulations. The larger philosophy of life, for Tagore and Vivekananda, was to reach out across geographical borders. In this work, their alternative idea of India is analysed in the larger context of the many formulations of (...) nationalism with special reference to theoretical as well as literary works in European and Indian contexts. The author brings on board critiques that have emerged recently —secularist, feminist and postcolonial — and defends his subjects against them. This book is essentially an intellectual interrogation of two eminent thinkers of their time, and falls within the rubric of intellectual history. (shrink)

C HL is Noam Chomsky's shorthand for "Single Computational System of human language." C HL is that part of the faculty of language (FL) that integrates lexical information to form linguistic expressions at the interfaces where language interacts with other cognitive systems. In this paper, I am asking whether the elements of FL are dedicated to language alone, or whether significant parts of FL might apply beyond language. From a close examination of the properties of the principles of C HL (...) , I argue that they might well apply to a class of natural symbol systems that includes language and other cognitive systems. This issue of linguistic specificity differs from a similar issue raised recently by Chomsky. For Chomsky, while the "elements" of the linguistic system per se are drawn from all over nature, general principles of computational efficiency control the operation of the system. Currently, there is little empirical motivation for this vast generalization to all of nature. The more restricted generalization proposed here looks better suited to the current form of inquiry on language and related system. (shrink)

This textbook for postgraduate students learning mathematical methods in economics provides a comprehensive account of mathematics required to analyse and solve problems of choice encountered by economists. It looks at a wide variety of decision-making problems, both static and dynamic, in various contexts and provides mathematical foundations for the relevant economic theory.

This volume constitutes a lucid introduction to methodology in social research. It will enable social science researchers trained in a particular field to look beyond and relate to other methodological domains.

In Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari emphasise the difficulty of confronting ‘micro-fascisms’. Such fascisms occur at the micropolitical level as they permeate and modulate across social collectivities and networks. Arundhati Roy’s novel, The God of Small Things, reflects upon overt and violent modes of social division and classifications that determine ‘who should be loved and how. And how much’. Such a system ‘restrains or limits the individual’s power’, diminishing the ‘capacity to be affected’, as (...) Deleuze wrote in Spinoza, thereby nourishing and sustaining the fascists inside of them. This article will examine micro-fascisms within Roy’s novel, demonstrating how they function at the individual and interpersonal level. (shrink)

Presented as a “speculative manual on pedagogy,” this article seeks to provide praxis to Spivak’s Aesthetic Education in the Era of Globalization using Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things as a reading in Philippine schools. Its aim is to envision pedagogical ways in which a foreign literary text is introduced into a culturally distant setting, thereby prompting educators – the “supposed trainers of the mind” – to resolve: How does one educate aesthetically? How do we imagine the performance (...) of aesthetic education in local classrooms? In demonstrating a theory and its form, the paper first explores Spivak’s conception of aesthetic education and then adapts it in a specific case: in Philippine classrooms where learners are confronted by a literary work of the Other – particularly, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. Aesthetic education, as a theoretic idea, is visualized and imaginatively performed through its capacity to realize an “epistemic revolution” happening in local classrooms worldwide. (shrink)

In this essay, Fred Dallmayr considers the writings and activism of Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things and Power Politics. First, Dallmayr examines the proper role of the writer-activist, comparing Roy to Edward Said. For each, writing and politicsare neither separate nor are they independent of the writer’s distinctive being-in-the-world. He then examines her critique of corporate business and the war machine, especially in relation to the construction of destructive “mega-dams” in India. The privatization of public (...) services in India has done little to provide safe drinking water and electricity to some eighty percent of India’s rural population. Dallmayr finds in Roy an unmatched voice of hope and commitment to a more just, more humane future, sustained by a love that will not quit. (shrink)

This book discusses the work of four different kinds of artists from four different countries to examine how they create a space for politics in their work.