Social Thought as Conversations by Giri, Ananta K;

Rövid leírás:

This book explores the act of thinking as a living journey and re-examines the fields of social thoughts as conversations. 

Hosszú leírás:

This book explores the act of thinking as a living journey and re-examines the fields of social thoughts as conversations. It draws upon known sources of social thought in fields like sociology but cultivates it in transdisciplinary and border-crossing ways by documenting and presenting the ideas of major thinkers, their social context and histories. It argues that the act of thinking is not an isolated activity, though it has its own dimension of meditative solitude which is accompanied by different circles and movements of relational engagement. It then cultivates an Upanishadic way of social life and social theorizing planting pioneering seeds of an Upanishadic sociology and an ecology of hope which embodies planetary conversations across borders. Social Thought as Conversations: Towards a New Upanishad of Life and an Ecology of Hope is an outstanding work of our times which will be of interest to scholars and researchers of philosophy and the social sciences in general.

The power of Social Thought as Conversations brings to mind the wonderful saying of Antonio Machado, shared by Paulo Freire and Myles Horton as “We make the road by walking.” Ananta Kumar Giri’s deep, rich scholarship exemplifies this thinking, seeking conversations in social thought and those “habits of the heart” Robert Bellah so carefully examined in his work. It is an astonishing life that Ananta has led with enduring, powerful conversations with some of the great thinkers of our time.  A book for the ages, ending on what seems now an impossibility, but which Ananta has given us much inspiration for: an ecology of hope. Bravo, Professor Giri!!

                                                    - David Blake Willis, Filelding Gradute University, Santa Barbara, USA

This extraordinary volume about conversation—that criss-crosses religious, ethnic, national, and cultural lines—inspires such conversation by being an endlessly multi-valent conversation. Ananta Kumar Giri records thoughts and contacts that traverse places—mountains, valleys, rivers, oceans;topographical and political borders—and time’s own parameters to walk with and talk with minds and hearts that govern the paths of past and future. The lucky readers who join this conversational journey will find themselves rewarded in a manner reminiscent of the birds who joined the Hoopoe in his conversational journey in the magnificent classic by the mystical poet, Attar: in the palace of the Simurgh viewing a mirror reflecting all of them. Giri challenges and invites us to revel in the joy of internal vision—and, to mix metaphors, to unfurl further branches to the enduring family tree that this book has planted, watered, and nourished in ongoing growth.

                                                                                                  - Ori Z Soltes, Georgetown University, USA

Ananta Kumar Giri has gifted the world with a timely work of high erudition. Underscoring "conversation" as a necessary missing link in social thought, the book performs a repairing of our thinking in the 21st century.

                                                                                           - Sabelo J.Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Professor/Chair of Epistemologies, The Global South with Emphasis on Africa at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Author of Beyond the Coloniality of Internationalism: Reworlding the World from the Global South.

With his latest publication, Ananta Kumar Giri deepens his continuing probe into human and superhuman dimensions. Again we can eagerly anticipate his reflections. He is uniquely equipped to combine anthropology, philosophy, and experience as well as Eastern and Western queries. I for one am grateful and rather amazed at his contribution.

                                                - James Peacock, past president American Anthropological Association and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.

In his new book, Ananta Kumar Giri masterfully takes the reader on a tour to the depth of Indian philosophy by elucidating the general backgrounds of philosophical thought, equally manifested in Eastern and Western philosophy. Guiding this tour is in a sense a natural task for Giri because he himself as a philosopher is integrating the East and West in his numerous works for already several decades.

                          - Dmitri M. Bondarenko, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation

Ananta Kumar Giri infuses the personal with the political, giving voice to those often silenced or ignored.  By visiting and conversing with leaders and victims in the struggles for food justice, social justice, and earth justice, Giri develops an expansive methodology that transcends disciplines. This brave approach combines philosophy, sociology, and poetry. Bravo!

                                        - Christopher Kay Chapple, Loyola Mary Mount University, Los Angeles, USA

One of the most poignant sequences of wording here -- reiterated at the end -- bodies forth the book as a multiple.  Is a book not itself a library?  And so too whatever are our thoughts.  This volume is a veritable library of thought, full of movement, life, tenderness, clear-sightedness, not to speak of ethical and critical acumen, precisely because its multiple sources of truth are elicited through the constant company of others.   

                            - Dame Marilyn Strathern, Girton College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

This excellent book is based on the idea that open, honest dialogue is important. Giri writes "Conversations bring us near as we seat together and learn together. This is the spirit of Upanishad-sitting near and conversing together." I agree completely. When applied beyond just the more tradition Vedantic views we can use the idea of Upanishadic-conversing to the kind of experience I had when I met Vinoba Bhave. One does not have to accept a specific theology to nevertheless benefit a great deal from reading this book. Ananta Giri has had a great deal of experience and is intellectually prepared to benefit from universal dialogue and scientific thinking. If we can think of the largely secular field of sociology as an Upanishadic dialogue that illuminates not only sociology as an academic pursuit but also the Upanishads as relevant for the 21^st century. Giri also writes: "Social thought as conversation creates fields and circles of learning and encounters in which we take part as seekers and learners rather than as carriers of apriori hierarchies of knowledge..." and that is not just true for European sociological theory but also for Indic-centric or Sinitic-centric privileging of knowledge. Just as medical science, chemistry and biology are not restricted to any one language or culture, Upanishadic dialogue is for the whole world. Dialogue and empirically-based theorizing are necessary for progress in solving many of the world's problems. Beyond that, keeping an open mind about various worldviews and theological convictions is absolutely necessary as well. This provocative book will help greatly to improve that kind of wissenschaftliches dialogue. This excellent book is based on the idea that open, honest dialogue is important. Giri writes "Conversations bring us near as we seat together and learn together. This is the spirit of Upanishad-sitting near and conversing together." I agree completely. When applied beyond just the more tradition Vedantic views we can use the idea of Upanishadic-conversing to the kind of experience I had when I met Vinoba Bhave. One does not have to accept a specific theology to nevertheless benefit a great deal from reading this book. Ananta Giri has had a great deal of experience and is intellectually prepared to benefit from universal dialogue and scientific thinking. If we can think of the largely secular field of sociology as an Upanishadic dialogue that illuminates not only sociology as an academic pursuit but also the Upanishads as relevant for the 21^st century. Giri also writes: "Social thought as conversation creates fields and circles of learning and encounters in which we take part as seekers and learners rather than as carriers of apriori hierarchies of knowledge..." and that is not just true for European sociological theory but also for Indic-centric or Sinitic-centric privileging of knowledge. Just as medical science, chemistry and biology are not restricted to any one language or culture, Upanishadic dialogue is for the whole world. Dialogue and empirically-based theorizing are necessary for progress in solving many of the world's problems. Beyond that, keeping an open mind about various worldviews and theological convictions is absolutely necessary as well. This provocative book will help greatly to improve that kind of wissenschaftliches dialogue.

                                                                                          - Hans J I Bakker, University of Guelph, Canada

Ananta Kumar Giri’s Social Thought as Conversations: A New Upanishad of Life and an Ecology of Hope, his latest in an impressive line of books and edited collections, is a quite extraordinary work. It reflects perfectly his committed engagement in vivacious and thoughtful social scientific practice over the past two decades, as he presents it, but it is simultaneously much more than that. Its unconventional format signifies a unique contribution. Not only does it open an inspiring world from a fecund Indian perspective but, more broadly, it also advocates urgently on behalf of the Global South and global mutuality, cooperation and co-creation.

                                                                                         - Piet Strydom, University College Cork, Ireland 

Tartalomjegyzék:

Introduction - Thoughts Are Not Walking Alone: An Invitation and Introduction to Social Thought as Conversations

Part One: Social Thought as Conversations

1. Walking with Benedict Spinoza and Polishing Our Stubborn Lenses

2. Rethinking and Transforming Language, Self, Society and State: Walking and Meditating with Sri Aurobindo

3. A New Morning with Chitta Ranjan: Adventures in Co Realizations and World Transformations

4. Symbolic Anthropology of Clifford Geertz and Beyond

5. Sociology as Perennial Seeking: Walking with the Inspiring Hands of S.N. Eisenstadt

6. Philosophy, Sociology and History: Walking and Meditating with Karl-Otto Apel, Alain Touraine and Ranajit Guha

7. Sociology as Cultivation of Creative Personality, Freedom, and Plurality: Walking with S.P. Nagendra

8. A Conversation with Krishna Raj

9. The Calling of a New Struggle: A Conversation with Gaddar

10. Evergreen Revolution and a New Ecology of Hope: A Conversation with M.S. Swaminathan

11. C.T. Kurien: Poverty, Spirituality, and Transdisciplinarity

12. Beyond Ego’s Domain: Walking and Meditating with Ramashroy Roy

Part Two: Social Thought as Conversations: Further Explorations

13. Surrender in the Chambal Valley and Our Alternative Planetary Futures

14. Ram Mandir, Sita’s Kitchen, and Kashmir

15. Beyond the New Indian Farm Laws: Farmers Protests and Evergreen Revolution in India

16. Beyond Fear and Trembling; New Springs of Solidarity

17. Violence and Non-Violence

18. Truth, God, Justice and Ahimsa: Walking and Meditating with Gandhi

19. Towards a New Sociology of Mobilizations

20. Indigenous Education and the Calling of Transformations

21. Face to Face: Towards a New Mutuality?

22. Towards Rainbows of Identities and Planetary Realizations

23. Globalizing our Hearts: Struggles for Peace, Justice, and Solidarity

24. Dropping Out and a New Dance of Learning, Freedom, and Co-Creation

25. Sociology and the Calling of Love and Wisdom

26. National Education Policy of India: Learning, Languages and Translations and the Calling of a New Bharat Hind Viswa Yatra

Part Three: Social Thought as Conversations: Adventures of Ideas and Co-Operative Search for Truth

27. Gift of Knowledge and the Art of Seeking Together: Towards a Festival of Co-Realizations

28. Towards a New Art of Integration

Part Four: Sociology as a New Upanishad of Life

29. Poetry and New Sociological Imaginations

Part Five: Social Thought as Conversations

30. Reviews and Reflections in Borderlands and Horizons

Part Six: An Epilogue and An Afterword

Epilogue: Letter to a Young Researcher

Afterword