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Conference Presentations by monica prabhakar

Research paper thumbnail of Spirituality and Culture: Portraits

For: Progressive Connexions Conference: Spirituality and... Culture, 2019

A spiritual Connection with culture, lines Drawn from performance-Extracting from abstracts the B... more A spiritual Connection with culture, lines Drawn from performance-Extracting from abstracts the Breath of a presentation. The process of drawing is a close study in attention. The process of writing poetry, a close study in listening. Both of these influence the way we interact with one another and can create a form of transcendence, where one learns to follow what and who is being observed, rather than the illusions of familiarity: following etheric trails in a search for the observed, learning about ourselves. Positioning oneself in this middle space, is perhaps a form of shamanism. In Progressive Connexions' CFP nestles the following incipit: "other forms of participation…" This invitation to innovate was also present for the last, which was the first, session on Spirituality and… Culture, resulting in my responding to the speakers through poetry and art. I propose to repeat this experiment, building upon the previous experience to see if the result is a refinement of practice, and if the conclusions that were drawn regarding cultural bias through representation, are resolvable by adapting to the needs of difference, uncluttered by personal orientation; where the intuition, becomes material. A spiritual study, a listening transcendence, observed illusions present poetry and art.

Papers by monica prabhakar

Research paper thumbnail of The Poetic Form of the Bhagavadgītā and the Metaphor of Agency

Towards Excellence

The discourse of literature is older than the discursive discourse of philosophy but literature d... more The discourse of literature is older than the discursive discourse of philosophy but literature dynamically contains rigorous philosophy and ethics. Indian philosophy has its origins in the Vedas and the Upanishads which are in verse. Philosophy is a structured activity involving arguments, analysis and construction of hypotheses and theories. The types of discursive discourse available in ancient times were not as suited for philosophy as the highly structured discourse of verse was. The Bhagavadgītā is a religious text, recited by millions of people every day, it is in verse which can be easily memorized by anyone and thereby the text and its meaning are internalized. The Bhagavadgītā is also a tract on practical and theoretical ethics. Three concurrent narratives are at play: First, it is a literal narrative of Arjuna beginning in a state of moral anguish, which is resolved when he acquires complete understanding of why joining the battle is the dutiful action. As such it is a ps...

Research paper thumbnail of Do Ends Justify the Means? Understanding the Utilitarian Response

VIDYA - A JOURNAL OF GUJARAT UNIVERSITY

We all pursue happiness. However, in this pursuit we sometimes we get involved so much that we br... more We all pursue happiness. However, in this pursuit we sometimes we get involved so much that we breach the principles of morality. We have often heard people saying “The end justifies the means”. But if we take this sentence to be our guiding principle, we may have to exonerate not just Hitler but all the perpetrators of wrongful acts. For what they were seeking was their own happiness. Philosophically speaking one school of thought that maintains such a stance is known by the name Consequentialism. Consequentialism claims that the morality of an action is determined solely by its consequences. But a philosophical mind would resent such a thought for no justification could presumably be used to condone massacre, murder, robbery, cheating and even lying, if the consequences were felt to be good enough. In this paper I wish to defend this seemingly horrendous doctrine of ends justifying the means. For this purpose, I discuss a popular and very influential thinker John Stuart Mill whose...

Research paper thumbnail of Ronna Burger, Aristotle's Dialogue with Socrates on the Nicomachean Ethics . Reviewed by

Philosophy in review, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of Christopher Bartley , An Introduction to Indian Philosophy . Reviewed by

Philosophy in review, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of P.F. Strawson And Arindam Chakrabarti, Eds. Universals, Concepts And Qualities: New Essays On The Meaning Of Predicates

Research paper thumbnail of Delbert Reed, The Origins of Analytic Philosophy: Kant and Frege . Reviewed by

Philosophy in review, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Christopher Bartley , An Introduction to Indian Philosophy . Reviewed by

Philosophy in Review, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Delbert Reed, The Origins of Analytic Philosophy: Kant and Frege Reviewed by

Philosophy in Review, Feb 11, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of P.F. Strawson and Arindam Chakrabarti, eds. , Universals, Concepts and Qualities: New Essays on the Meaning of Predicates Reviewed by

Philosophy in Review, Feb 19, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of Spirituality and Culture: Portraits

For: Progressive Connexions Conference: Spirituality and... Culture, 2019

A spiritual Connection with culture, lines Drawn from performance-Extracting from abstracts the B... more A spiritual Connection with culture, lines Drawn from performance-Extracting from abstracts the Breath of a presentation. The process of drawing is a close study in attention. The process of writing poetry, a close study in listening. Both of these influence the way we interact with one another and can create a form of transcendence, where one learns to follow what and who is being observed, rather than the illusions of familiarity: following etheric trails in a search for the observed, learning about ourselves. Positioning oneself in this middle space, is perhaps a form of shamanism. In Progressive Connexions' CFP nestles the following incipit: "other forms of participation…" This invitation to innovate was also present for the last, which was the first, session on Spirituality and… Culture, resulting in my responding to the speakers through poetry and art. I propose to repeat this experiment, building upon the previous experience to see if the result is a refinement of practice, and if the conclusions that were drawn regarding cultural bias through representation, are resolvable by adapting to the needs of difference, uncluttered by personal orientation; where the intuition, becomes material. A spiritual study, a listening transcendence, observed illusions present poetry and art.

Research paper thumbnail of The Poetic Form of the Bhagavadgītā and the Metaphor of Agency

Towards Excellence

The discourse of literature is older than the discursive discourse of philosophy but literature d... more The discourse of literature is older than the discursive discourse of philosophy but literature dynamically contains rigorous philosophy and ethics. Indian philosophy has its origins in the Vedas and the Upanishads which are in verse. Philosophy is a structured activity involving arguments, analysis and construction of hypotheses and theories. The types of discursive discourse available in ancient times were not as suited for philosophy as the highly structured discourse of verse was. The Bhagavadgītā is a religious text, recited by millions of people every day, it is in verse which can be easily memorized by anyone and thereby the text and its meaning are internalized. The Bhagavadgītā is also a tract on practical and theoretical ethics. Three concurrent narratives are at play: First, it is a literal narrative of Arjuna beginning in a state of moral anguish, which is resolved when he acquires complete understanding of why joining the battle is the dutiful action. As such it is a ps...

Research paper thumbnail of Do Ends Justify the Means? Understanding the Utilitarian Response

VIDYA - A JOURNAL OF GUJARAT UNIVERSITY

We all pursue happiness. However, in this pursuit we sometimes we get involved so much that we br... more We all pursue happiness. However, in this pursuit we sometimes we get involved so much that we breach the principles of morality. We have often heard people saying “The end justifies the means”. But if we take this sentence to be our guiding principle, we may have to exonerate not just Hitler but all the perpetrators of wrongful acts. For what they were seeking was their own happiness. Philosophically speaking one school of thought that maintains such a stance is known by the name Consequentialism. Consequentialism claims that the morality of an action is determined solely by its consequences. But a philosophical mind would resent such a thought for no justification could presumably be used to condone massacre, murder, robbery, cheating and even lying, if the consequences were felt to be good enough. In this paper I wish to defend this seemingly horrendous doctrine of ends justifying the means. For this purpose, I discuss a popular and very influential thinker John Stuart Mill whose...

Research paper thumbnail of Ronna Burger, Aristotle's Dialogue with Socrates on the Nicomachean Ethics . Reviewed by

Philosophy in review, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of Christopher Bartley , An Introduction to Indian Philosophy . Reviewed by

Philosophy in review, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of P.F. Strawson And Arindam Chakrabarti, Eds. Universals, Concepts And Qualities: New Essays On The Meaning Of Predicates

Research paper thumbnail of Delbert Reed, The Origins of Analytic Philosophy: Kant and Frege . Reviewed by

Philosophy in review, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Christopher Bartley , An Introduction to Indian Philosophy . Reviewed by

Philosophy in Review, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Delbert Reed, The Origins of Analytic Philosophy: Kant and Frege Reviewed by

Philosophy in Review, Feb 11, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of P.F. Strawson and Arindam Chakrabarti, eds. , Universals, Concepts and Qualities: New Essays on the Meaning of Predicates Reviewed by

Philosophy in Review, Feb 19, 2010