Vāda, the classical name for the act of discussion/debate in the Indian tradition, forms the basis of every conversation undertaken to reach correct knowledge. The paper explores the Indian tradition of Vāda and its subcategories with the intention of highlighting the all-encompassing and holistic nature of this Indian tool of cultural studies in both theory and praxis. It checks into its evolution through contemporary times, wherein it has lost its essence to accommodate the corrupted interests of modern individuals as well (...) as leaders and debaters. Through the analysis of various examples, the paper endeavours to establish Vāda as a comprehensive way to attain correct knowledge. Examples from day-to-day life as well as the historic-literary world help to explicitly comprehend these tools that have been used for establishing the nearest truth from ancient times in India. These tools are potent to all aspects of research across spatial-temporal limits as they are innate and immutable to all disciplines of knowledge and education. (shrink)

As the title suggests, this paper looks at the Deleuzian concept of body without organs and compares it with Indian Philosophy. In the Indian context, the concept of moksha/nirvana comes near to it as both are practices that aim at liberation; here, ‘liberation’ is never the awaited end of the process but the process itself. The traditional western substantialism rests on things whereas Deleuze, like Indian Philosophy, celebrates ‘experience’ and the ‘incorporeal’. Thus, body without organs plays a role in individuation. (...) It hints at a journey beyond ‘the self’ which is full of ecstasy or the ananda of the Indian thought system. The question of Being, which not only is conceptual identification, is presented in terms of the virtual and the actual. For Deleuze and Guattari, every actual body has a virtual dimension, a vast reservoir of potentials, and this is the body without organs. The actual emerges from it and carries it with it. Further, the plane of immanence is a field in which concepts are produced. It is neither external to the Self nor forms an external self or a non-self. It is ‘an absolute outside’, very much like Brahman. The pragmatics of Deleuzian theory is that it explains life to be ‘immanence of immanence, absolute immanence’ – an utter beatitude – which has a Vedantic counterpart where the essential Brahman is a combination of three attributes – sat, chit and ananda. Thus, this paper aims at the interesting comparison between Deleuzian theory and Indian Philosophy. (shrink)

Authoritarian governments are characterised by political systems with concentrated and centralised power. Healthcare is a critical component of any state. Given the powers of an authoritarian regime, we consider the opportunities they possess to derive good health outcomes. The 2019 Varsity Medical Ethics Debate convened on the motion: ‘This house believes authoritarian government is the route to good health outcomes’ with Oxford as the Proposition and Cambridge as the Opposition. This article summarises and extends key arguments made during the 11th (...) annual debate between medical students from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. By contrasting the principles underlying authoritarianism and democracy, it enables a discussion into how they translate into healthcare provision and the outcomes derived. Based on the foundation of said principles, an exploration of select cases represents examples of applications and the results. We analyse the past, present and future implications on the basis of fundamental patient-centred care. (shrink)