This study explores and analyses funerary rite struggles in a nation where Christianity is a comparatively recent phenomenon, and many families have Christian and Hindu, Buddhist and Traditionalist members, who go through traumatic experiences at the death of their family members. The context of mixed affiliation raises questions of social, psychological and religious identity for Christian converts, which are particularly acute after a death in their family. Using empirical research, this thesis focuses on the question of adaptation and identity in (...) relation to church life, within the familial and social sphere of individual Christians and within the wider society in which they live, particularly with reference to death and disposal. This research has used an applied theology approach to explore and analyse the findings in order to address the issue of funerary rites with which the Nepalese church is struggling. For the need of adaptation, this study seeks to understand the funerary rites of the host culture alongside Jewish-Christian characteristics of adaptation, especially in terms of the Nepalese Evangelical Christian context. It also poses the challenge of finding an identity in a wider cultural and societal milieu. The case studies and interviews have portrayed tripartite relationships and tensions between an individual, family and church or community at the death in a ‘split’ family where a Christian convert’s loyalty to the deceased and the family is tested. Participation and non-participation in the last rites create problems for both the church and the family, and some solution needs to be found. The study has discovered that adaptation of the technique of the funerary rites, rather than of their content, could ease this tension in a ‘split’ family, and enhance a family and community’s reconciliation and solidarity. The mode of disposal, whether burial or cremation, could be used and a theology of cremation be developed in order to provide a theological framework. (shrink)

The volume editors have organized the volume as a set of ten couplets and triplets.

Festschrift honoring Daya Krishna, b. 1924, professor of philosophy; comprises contributed articles.

Small and medium-sized firms form 90% of the worldwide population of businesses. However, it has been argued that given their smaller scale of operations, resource access constraints and lower visibility, smaller firms are less likely to participate in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This article examines the different economic motivations of firms with varying combinations of visibility, resource access and scale of operations. Arguments are presented to propose that in terms of visibility, resource access and operating scale, very small and (...) very large firms are equally motivated to participate in CSR. However, the motivational bases for CSR participation are likely to be different. Medium-sized firms are the least motivated. This suggests a U-shaped relationship between firm size and CSR participation. This study contributes towards resolution of the long-standing debate on the effects of firm size on CSR participation, and highlights the importance of considering configurations of firm characteristics in the study of CSR outcomes. In conclusion, cautions are raised against the broad categorization of firms, without adequate attention to the underlying dimensions of such categorizations. (shrink)

This set of volumes sketches the history, breadth, and applicability of narrative theory, thus demonstrating its value as an analytical instrument. The collection includes articles from the leading names of narrative theory, such as Roland Barthes, Mikhail Bakhtin, Tzvetan Todorov and Jean-Françoise Lyotard, as well as lesser-known, though equally important, contributions. Titles already available in this series include _Deconstruction_ and _Modernism_. Forthcoming titles include _Romanticism_ and _Structuralism_.

significance of its problems and ideals.2 Still, a philosophical doctrine has a timeless quality about it, a fundamental unalterableness of its quest coinciding with the unaltering core of human nature itself.3 The importance of the temporal flux for ...

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Images >> Visual Vertigo:Gaëlle Foray's Homage to the DiscardedAmber Bal (bio)Gaëlle Foray's artistic style invites renewed meditation upon the two human processes that surround the artwork: first, the metamorphosis of raw materials into aesthetic object at the hands of the artist, and second, the phenomenology of perceiving art. On the side of reception (in other words, the viewer's experience of Foray's works), the artworks demand first to be felt. (...) Only following an immediate visceral "strike" of abstract, unfocused perception, does the analytical eye proceed to examine these intricate works up close, parsing their immense and meticulous detail. On the side of artistic creation, Foray's methods elicit questions about the artist's relationship to Earth's finite materials, to the tension between environmental awareness and our own extractive practices. Foray's response to issues of waste and consumption at the heart of artistic endeavors is that she exclusively uses discarded materials; a form of recycling, gleaning, and/or foraging in the lived world. Yet, her approach is distinct from the well-established use of objet trouvés ("found objects") in modern art. Unlike "anti-artworks" such as Marcel Duchamp's 1917 Fontaine (a porcelain urinal signed "R. Mutt") or Piero Manzoni's 1961 Merda d'artista, both of which offer "common objects" in their original state for aesthetic contemplation, Foray's works are not "readymades." As opposed to what Steven Goldsmith describes as Duchamp's "subordinat[ion] of form to concept," Foray manipulates and defamiliarizes her recycled artistic material through processes of collage and bricolage.1 She describes the transformation of collected objects as a means of "paying homage to waste," from natural matter like animal bones, minerals, and fossils to synthetic waste such as long-discarded plastic toys or Tupperware containers, abandoned family photo albums, and démodé dinner party utensils from the eighties.2What emerges from the selection of Foray's works featured in this issue is a clash between the ephemerality of the human lifespan and planetary spatio-temporal dimensions. Her artistic process forces vertiginous acknowledgement of the fragility of human existence as it presses up against that which the human tries to capture through art: the world. What's more, Earth's monumental landscapes only ever figure as and in fragments. Two specific conflicts return across Foray's works to create this sense of vertigo. First is the contrast between the limited human lifespan and the eternity of the fossil; as the latter is often figured alongside photographs of humans or man-made materials in a manner that draws attention to this unfathomably large geological temporal scale. A secondary contrast arises from Foray's recurrent human-nature juxtaposition as the boundedness of human life continually knocks up against raw and unruly natural matter. Foray's recourse to diverse textures and materials heightens these oppositions—schist lies atop bone, the smooth veneer of a photograph envelops a human form but rests against the jagged edges of a stone. As we shall explore through ruminations on specific pieces, her method prompts inquiry into the relationship between these human [End Page 110] and geological timescales, attesting Foray's remarkable ability to capture brevity and limitlessness in tandem. Of equal note is Foray's repeated, self-reflexive wink to art's mediation of the world through a "framing effect," as she regularly makes the protective screen of a work or staging of an exhibition space integral to the artwork itself. This is her own means of drawing attention to the conditions in which the work of art is encountered, both exaggerating the distantiating function of the frame in classical art which "served to make [artwork] discontinuous with its surroundings" and building upon the "readymade" tradition's abolition of the barrier between viewer and artwork.3Foray's pieces, composed from an amalgam of natural matter and industrial or household waste, operate as self-contained ecosystems that are akin to stumbling upon a diorama that has escaped from its box, or a snowglobe whose glass sphere has been shattered and from which the liquid has drained away. In La Mer (see pages 34/35), the background's glitter and the iridescent blues... (shrink)

A scholar of eminence in the field of Indian Philosophy, Bimal K. Matilal was one of the leading exponents of Indian logic and epistemology. Painstakingly compiled from Matilal's huge body of work, this collection of essays includes a set of previously unpublished essays and reveals the extraordinary depth of Matilal's philosophical interests.

Transcript of papers presented in a seminar and meetings.

The competent and detailed introduction to this book traces out the origin and rudiments of religions, their essential nature and the causes of their conflicts. It emphasises the truth that all religions are trying to say the same thing in different ways. Religions are meant to bring out the spiritual in man and to make him live a full and virtuous life. Despite the rapid progress in science and medicine, the mysteries of life and death remain as unknown as before. (...) Religions try, in their myriad ways, to explain these and to venture into the unknowable. They bring comfort to human beings in their suffering, and consolation in their bereavement. The author's belief is that if, while following their own religion, men respected the faiths of others too, much of the religious conflicts and bloodshed which debases mankind would be avoided. The fundamental concepts of Hindu religion and philosophy have exhaustively been narrated in a clear manner. This is followed by selected passages from the main scriptures and philosophical books of the Hindu religion-the Vedas, Puranas, Upanisheads, brahma-sutras, Bhagavadgita, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana of Tulsidasa. In each case there is a synopsis of the book giving its subject matter and a reading list consisting of the main texts and criticisms which will be invaluable to those who wish to know more about it. The passages have been selected to provide interesting reading, particularly connected with the problems and conditions of our own times. The book aims at providing a mine of information about Hinduism and is also an in-depth study of religion in general. It has been written in down-to-earth language and is of interest to all those who are wish to know about matters vital to life and living. (shrink)

Study of the definition of invariable concomitance (vyāpti) according to Indic philosophy.

This volume critically explores the cultural significance and fate of 'the literary' in the European and Indian traditions as it traces the history of the reception of works that have a deep hold on the lives and sensibilities of people across time and culture. The book grapples with three major concepts in the humanities-the literary, the philosophical/theological, and the historical. It looks at Homer's reception by Plato; Virgil's reception by Christianity; the many responses that The Mahabharata has received over centuries (...) and across cultures in India; and the reception of Kumaravyasa's Kumaravyasabharata, among other works, and analyses the understanding of truth, time, and history that influence the reading of these works in different times and cultural contexts. Part of the Critical Humanities across Cultures series, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of philosophy, literature, history, comparative literature, cultural studies and post-colonial studies. (shrink)

Corpus of critical study on the thought and works of Debi Prasad Chattopadhyaya predominantly on philosophy of sciences with cultural philosophy; contributed articles.

Interpretative study of Nyāyasūtra of Gautama, aphoristic work on Nyaya philosophy; includes Nyāyasūcinibandha Sanskrit commentary by Vācaspatimiśra, fl. 976-1000.

This book presents a unique collection of papers on various philosophical aspects of the unknown and unvoiced truth and reality of the cosmic world. It offers a systematic analysis of the three philosophical theories of Quietism, Agnosticism and Mysticism and introduces readers to the fundamentals of mystical knowledge claimed by philosophical schools of the east and the west. It discusses, debates and deliberates on philosophical issues concerning the acquisition of truth, its objectivity and its various dimensions along with the application (...) of thoughts pertaining to Quietism, Agnosticism, and metaphysical-mystic traditions in philosophy. It examines and precisely defines the scope and limits of knowledge, the respective way of life, its expressions and morality, mystical revelation, ineffability of the ultimate, value realism, and faith and reason - with a primary focus on the classical Indian schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Agnosticism, the Bāuls, Greek traditions, modern western meta-philosophy, and contemporary quietist debate in religion and theology. This insightful collection should be of great interest to independent researchers, students and teachers of philosophy, theology, Mysticism and Agnosticism, cultural studies and religious studies. (shrink)

In this book the reader will find a tool-set of suggestions and thoughts, specifically selected for stimulating and enhancing a strategic approach to the early stage of assessment, validation and development of a business idea. This book doesn’t provide definitive solutions, nor a recipe for success, since definitive solutions and recipes for success (if they really exist) hardly can depend on reading a book. Rather, by taking inspiration from different philosophies and philosophers, each chapter will provide concepts, perspectives and examples (...) that can help the would-be entrepreneur to widen, change or clarify her/his own point of view, in order to strengthen her/his strategic thinking. The process that strategic thinking helps us to accomplish is first of all aimed at putting a functional and useful order among our thoughts, and accordingly at figuring out which particular actions should be done and in which sequence. Founding and developing a business today is indeed more and more an exercise that must hold together in a harmonious and complementary way a vision and a practice. An idea, with its load of aspirations, intuitions and desires, and an operative strategy, aiming at defining options, choosing timing, and developing suitable products and services. In other words, running a business is today more than ever before an exercise of sense, of excellent sense, in fact. And philosophy, when it comes to looking for sense in things, can offer surprising theoretical and practical advices. (shrink)

This is the third and final part of a study focused on the Madhyamaka accounts of the Cārvāka/Lokāyata so-called “wolf’s footprint” stanza and tale, and “beautiful lady” stanza. In particular, this paper discusses Jayānanda’s short account of the tale and the stanzas contained in his Madhyamakāvatāraṭīkā on Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatārabhāṣya. The Tibetan edition and English translation of Jayānanda’s relevant passages are also provided.

Description: The Nature of Philosophy is a reprint of the very first book published by Daya Krishna. based on his doctoral work, completed in 1951 in the Department of Philosophy of Delhi University. The book is a critical examination of the presuppositions of the philosophical enterprise; it considers with admirable clarity and critical acumen diverse styles and genres of philosophical reflection: analysis, phenomenology, existentialism, and other historical modes of doing philosophy. Daya Krishna moves from one mode to another (...) with great facility and seamless ease. Although written more than fifty years ago. the book is an impressive example of philosophical modernity. The present reprinted version consists of the original twelve chapters and has an Introduction by Mrinal Miri as well as a Bibliography and an Index. The book is an outstanding contribution in philosophy and would be beneficial to scholars of various areas of philosophy, humanities, social and the natural sciences. (shrink)

Efforts to encourage universal access to information and communication technologies have run into the problem that some individuals, for reasons of affordability, lack of awareness or preference, continue to be without subscriptions. This article examines the arguments commonly put forward in support of promoting broadband access, to determine whether they can justify universalizing access. It examines the ethical limits of government actions that encourage, enforce or coerce participation in socially beneficial programmes, while potentially overlooking consumer sovereignty and human autonomy. The (...) conclusions address how policymakers can encourage universal access to broadband, while respecting the rights of citizens. (shrink)

Inclusive businesses that combine profit making with social impact are claimed to hold the potential for poverty alleviation while also creating new entrepreneurial and innovation opportunities. Current research, however, offers little insight on the processes through which for-profit business organizations introduce social innovations that can profitably create social impact. To understand how social innovations emerge and become sustained in business organizations, we studied a telecom firm in Kenya that successfully extended financial services across the country through a number of mobile (...) banking innovations. Our qualitative analysis revealed the strong role of being embedded in local networks and structures for initiating and implementing social innovations. Strong embeddedness enhanced the pragmatic and ethical imperative for internalizing social issues, but also provided access to diverse resources for implementing and legitimizing social innovations. However, hybridization processes that emphasized social issues introduced organizational tensions by increasing goal diversity and requiring adapting organizational processes and structures. The case shows how developing a mission-driven identity enabled the sustenance of social innovations by providing a meta-narrative that bridged goal diversities and rationalized organizational change. (shrink)