RE: [Y-Indology] Eurocentrism in Theology

[Guest guest]

I want to support Rajiv Malhotra's point of view. I hold a chair in two

universities in Switzerland, Fribourg and Neuchâtel. Well, there is

certainly an openning towards Indian thought and religions by the fact that

I am admitted into the Swiss and European circles of theology. But I am

struggling since the last 22 years to create interest among my colleagues

for religious thought other than the judeo-christian field. They all seem

to be self-sufficient with the European legacies. They are ready to accept

that other cultures and thoughts contribut to the present-day world culture,

but they just dont show interest in anything solid coming from the East.

Still there is hope coming from the general public, often non-adcademic

public- who are a little fed up with the exclusive western thought. I get

more people for a seminar on Sankara than on St Thomas Aquinas. That might

bring a change in the academic cirlces too. A. nayak

 

 

 

Sarvesham svastirbhavatu May all be prosperous

sarvesham santirbhavatu May all be peaceful

sarvesham purnambhavatu May all be whole

sarvesam mangalambhavatu May all be happy

 

INSTITUT DE MISSIOLOGIE ET DE SCIENCE DES RELIGIONS

INSTITUT FUER MISSIONS- UND RELIGIONSWISSENSCHAFTEN

Université de Fribourg

Avenue de l'Europe 20

CH-1700 Fribourg

Tel: 026/ 300 74 38 (Office)

026/ 475 27 91 (Private)

Fax; 026/ 300 9768

 

URL: http://www.unifr.ch/imr <http://www.unifr.ch/imr>

Prof.Dr.Anand NAYAK

 

 

-----Message d'origine-----

De: Rajiv Malhotra [rajiv.malhotra]

mercredi, 9. mai 2001 03:16

À: INDOLOGY

Objet: RE: [Y-Indology] Eurocentrism in Philosophy Departments?

 

To Richard Mahoney: I have more than just read curricula and

attended

courses at these philosophy departments. I have discussed this issue

with

the faculty. They DO NOT hesitate to admit their lack of interest in

Indian

philosophy, so it's not a disputed item in the minds of most

philosophy

departments. They take the position rather openly and without any

apologies

that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS INDIAN PHILOSOPHY. Some go about it

by

asking, 'Can you describe to me what you would consider as Indian

philosophy?' Then the approach is to claim that whatever you cite

would not

qualify as philosophy as per their definition. Rarely do they know

any

Sanskrit or have more than popular knowledge of Indic ideas. The

problem is

worse with Anglo-American Philosophy departments than the

Continental

Philosophy departments. (At least through phenomenology and now

postmodernism, Continental Philosophers can see some linkage.)

 

Scholars in numerous Religious Studies depts. have told me of their

efforts

to get closer to their own philosophy departments without success.

In fact,

at one major Philosophy Department (Rutgers University), the Chair

and the

Dean got interested to start Indian Philosophy, and we went through

experimental steps for a couple of years, such as organizing

seminars, etc.

But in the end there was 'disinterest' from the faculty. This ploy

of

ignoring, or simply using linguistic categories to define something

as not

belonging, is an old one indeed. The evidence for disinterest is

numerical

hard data: count the faculty positions, number of PhDs, panels at

conferences, etc and the answer does not require sophisticated

interpretation. The conclusion is: as per western philosophers,

there is no

such thing as Indian Philosophy. Now maybe that's a justifiable

conclusion.

Then we can discuss that.

 

Your view that IP belongs in 'ethnic' contexts is problematic, as

few

students go for S. Asian specializations. By your logic, you would

also

agree than non-western music rightfully belongs under

'ethnomusicology'

whereas Mozart, Beethoven, etc could never be classified as

'ethnic'. Is

this attitude of others' cultures and ideas being 'ethnic' any

different

than a view from Europe? Quite a few Indian Philosophers have spoken

of the

importance to mainstream IP and to get out of the ghetto of

ethnicity,

including Karl Potter, Arindam Chakrabarty, Ram-Prasad Chakravarti,

Stephen

Phillips, J. Mohanty, Eliot Deutsch, ...

 

Rajiv Malhotra

The Infinity Foundation

53 White Oak Drive

Princeton, NJ 08540

www.infinityfoundation.com

 

 

 

 

indology

 

 

 

Your use of is subject to

 

[Guest guest]

To Anand Nayak: Eurocentrism in theology is a different matter than in

philosophy. The former is positioned as being Judeo-Christian thought,

whereas in the latter case, what is western secular thought is positioned as

universal and often to the exclusion of all other secular thought.

 

There are two parts to my claim: (1) That most philosophy departments do not

accept IP as being philosophy at all. [This is easily provable by a mundane

census; also simply ask your university's philosophy department and they are

glad to confirm. Philosophers are NOT hypocrites on this. They have defined

their field such that IP gets excluded.] (2) That this claim by philosophy

departments (about no such thing as Indian Philosophy) is false.

 

I cannot see how one could refute #1. But #2 is open to debate. One could

accept #1 and reject #2, which would amount to the following position: Yes,

IP is excluded and this is for good reasons, as it does not qualify to be

considered as philosophy. Yes, this is Eurocentric, but it is the truth of

the matter. I respect those who adopt this position for their courage and

clarity, although I disagree. They are worthy opponents for serious

discussions.

 

Far worse than exclusion is when IP is turned into a parody. Today, I

received a private email in response to my posting, in which I learn that

St. John's College started a program on the works of the East. But notice

the following from their announcement:

 

Mr. Carey compares Hindu notions of man as a herd animal governed by caste

with Aristotle's notion of man as a political animal. The two then discuss

Western efforts to adjudicate faith and reason. [Carey is Dean at St.

John's.]

Mr. Agresto: "I think the central Western idea is equality.'' [Agresto was

deputy Chairman at the NEH.]

 

Notice the way Hindu thought is caricaturized. Inden has much work to do in

his project to establish that Indians have always had agency - as opposed to

this 'herd animal' essentialism.

 

Rajiv Malhotra

The Infinity Foundation

53 White Oak Drive

Princeton, NJ 08540

www.infinityfoundation.com

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, NAYAK Anand <Anand.Nayak@u...> wrote:

 

[snip]

> for religious thought other than the judeo-christian field. They

all seem

> to be self-sufficient with the European legacies. They are ready to

accept

> that other cultures and thoughts contribut to the present-day world

culture,

> but they just dont show interest in anything solid coming from the

East.

> Still there is hope coming from the general public, often non-

adcademic

> public- who are a little fed up with the exclusive western thought.

I get

> more people for a seminar on Sankara than on St Thomas Aquinas.

 

 

I am not surprised. The following URL may be of some relevance here

 

http://www.dvaita.org/list/list_40/msg00013.html

 

Regards

NVB

 

 

> Prof.Dr.Anand NAYAK