In narrow terms of the development of technology and the means of material comfort and luxury, recent decades have witnessed the pinnacle of human achievement. This is often taken to…
A free and open community grief-tending event in Berkeley, California, set an example for coming to terms with loss—of people we love and of nature. White tarp tents lined one…
There are several important perspectives for understanding history and learning from it for future. One of the more useful of these ways may be to seek an understanding in terms…
What are the most important lessons of history regarding true progress which really brings welfare and happiness? What can we learn from this to resolve the most serious survival crisis…
George Berkeley is one of the greatest and most influential philosophers of the early modern period. In defending the immaterialism for which he is most famous, he redirected modern thinking…
My name is Ilaiah--O, you are from a wretched caste I added Shepherd to it--O, you have become a Christian I read and write--O, you have violated the Dharma I…
“Ahh, you know Aai what happened today”? I entered Home with excitement, threw my college bag and entered the kitchen. Mother was preparing Dinner. “Don’t you dare to come into…
A two-day seminar cum webinar convened by the World Buddhist Culture Trust brought together a select group of academics and researchers as well as concerned citizens to discuss what is…
The killing of Socrates left a stain on the fabric of Athenian society, a stain it nearly expanded 80 years later with similar threats of impiety towards…
The British materialist philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is one of the fathers of social contract theory and modern political philosophy. His magnus opus – Leviathan[i] – is a text which…
Posing the Question This year marks the 57th anniversary of Herbert Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man (1964). This text, although plagued with a pessimistic spirit, was a great source of inspiration for…
On my first day as a professor of critical writing in a ‘premier’ university, I decided to conduct an experiment in the classroom. I walked in and told the students…
Creative visualization uses imagination, mental images, and the power of thoughts to make objectives come true. Used properly, it can improve and attain richness. It is a power that can…
Written by Poornima Bisineer and Sandeep Pandey As the second more virulent wave of coronavirus rages on, the urban areas seem to be more adversely affected compared to the rural…
In the recent past we have seen enough of riots, trolling and devaluation of others in the name of collectivity. Nothing is like groups emancipation and collectivity if it is…
One of the most persistent causes of human distress in world has been that too many human relationships are built around the tendencies of dominance and exploitation. This is…
What is ‘dissent’? The term ‘dissent’ was first used in sixteenth century England, to refer to the opinions of those Christian sects that would not conform to the Church of…
Aristotle famously said that man was a social animal: ζῷον πολιτικόν. He also strongly implied that what distinguished man from all other animals was his rationality. Today this description…
People grow up with several identities. One identity can be that of caste, another one can be that of religion , yet another one can be that of ethnicity.…
They say do not contribute silver bricks for Ram temple, because it is difficult to stock silver bricks there. Funny! Union Ministers are pleading to people to contribute to the…
Reader’s Guide Buddhist theory of the origin of state, as contained is Digha Nikaya, one of the collections of Buddha’s teachings) is a great ancient Indian contribution to the history…
Written by Thomas Klikauer and Nadine Campbell The 2020-2021 coronavirus is by no means the first pandemic that has impacted people's lives. Throughout history, philosophers have contributed to our understanding…
Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will. ― Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth ORIENTATION Throwing the…
There are several widely held myths about human progress which have persisted widely for a long time and the wide persistence of these myths has itself become an obstacle in…
A lot of problems have been caused by the fact that there has not been enough careful thinking on what constitutes human progress and it has been often just taken…
Truth as Interpretation There can be different versions of truth from what has been already accepted as truth. In 1951, renowned Japanese moviemaker Akira Kurosawa made one of the greatest…
From time immemorial protests have been a very significant way to argue for one's rights. In British India Mahatma Gandhi introduced the non-violent way of protesting publicly which is bhuk…
In recent times India has been passing through the most difficult period of its post-independence history. The most sacred constitutional precept of social (including inter-faith) equality and harmony is badly…
Religion is not rational, yet attempts are made all the time to prove it is. One example is the Templeton Study. The Templeton Foundation arranged for Christians to pray for 1800…
In history there has been a long debate between violence and non-violence in the context of social movements. Some very great persons who brought very beneficial and durable change chose…
Spirituality has always been a very important part of human progress, but these days when we talk about spirituality we feel the need to prefix ‘sincere’, an indicator of how…
While there are so many factors which are important for true progress of humanity, some of these can be identified as the most crucial and essential. Firstly, there should be…
Here where I dwell in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice has just occurred. The darkest day of the year in a dark year. A few days ago was also…
(Optimistically dedicated to Steven Pinker) In a world suffering from a global pandemic, it would be both easy and understandable to be morosely pessimistic. Yet, even here, midst frantic calls…
Cultural evolution In all terrestrial organisms, information is transmitted between generations by means of the genetic code; and genetic evolution takes place through natural selection acting on modifications of this…
Can the world be changed in any fundamental way or not? Will the methods one uses to change it end up doing more harm than good? Should one mind one’s…
The principles and ideological commitments in politics, culture, religion and social practices breed culture of puritanism both in its progressive and regressive forms. The transformation of society to lead an…
Knowledge society, information society and industrial society are all interlinked concepts with a particular ideology which places undue faith on science, technology and development. The origin of the terms especially…
Would you mind rolling your eyeballs on people starving, dying in extreme conditions, in need of the things you can so easily afford to give them? I know, you won't…
As we celebrate another birth anniversary of the father of the nation, it is worth recognising that the thinkers, writers, and activists are valuable for a society. Gandhi represented all…
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) is one of the greatest French thinkers. A polemical and witty essayist, a metaphysician of subjectivity, a political activist, a revolutionary political theorist, a humanistic novelist, a…
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