Defininition vs hypothesis: religion
1. One confuses between a definition and a hypothesis. Definitions tell us how we use a word and which objects it refers to. In the case of the term ‘religion’,…
Read moreColonial Consciousness: M.N. Srinivas and Sanskritization
1. M. N. Srinivas (MNS) claims that “a caste was able, in a generation or two, to rise to a higher position in the hierarchy by adopting vegetarianism and teetotalism…
Read moreThe Secular State and Religious Conflict: Liberal Neutrality and the Indian Case of Pluralism
Editor’s Note: This article appeared in the Journal of Political Philosophy. Authored by SN Balagangadhara and Jakob De Roover. For an alternative research programme (paradigm) for studying India, Indian culture…
Read moreHow do we understand the concept of Communal Violence?
[Originally published at cultivasian.org on Feb 2007] We all agree that events like the Gujarat riots are tragic and terrible. But what is the role of intellectuals in avoiding similar…
Read moreDawkin’s Delusion or The God Delusion?
While re-reading certain passages from Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion (2006), I was so shocked by his combination of ignorance and arrogance. Forgive me for some Dawkins- bashing: 1. In…
Read moreSecularized Christian theology and evolutionary explanations of religion
1. People like Scott Atran and Sloan Wilson abuse evolutionary biology to produce ad hoc explanations of an explanandum whose truth they presuppose: the universality of religion. Their explanations are…
Read moreEvolutionary explanations of religion: an exercise in petitio principii
1. It is very disappointing to see how these evolutionary theorists of religion lack knowledge of religions other than garden variety Judeo-Christianity (where they seem to have at least some…
Read moreSecularized Christian theme: Hacker’s inclusivism and exclusivm
1. When we consider Paul Hacker’s story on ‘inclusivism as a typically Indian thought form’, all we can conclude is that he has used a typically Christian thought form to understand an…
Read moreDoes Europe have a civilizing mission in India?
[Appeared in Neurope on June 16, 2008] Recently, the European Parliament hosted a meeting on “caste discrimination in South Asia”. At the meeting, participants stated that “India is being ruled…
Read moreCourting controversy in the West
The sustained efforts by certain Hindu groups in the west to redefine and “correct” long existing Hindu traditions are perhaps reflective of their desire to put in place a cogent…
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