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Misconceptions about Ayurveda: Dismissal and glorification in contemporary debate

Ayurveda today is a historically layered medical tradition rather than an unchanged ancient science. Its classical Saṃhitā framework is comparable to other premodern systems such as Galenic medicine; however, unlike Europe where such traditions were replaced by experimental biomedicine, contemporary Ayurveda retains continuity with its classical theories while also incorporating certain elements from current science.

Knowledge vs Knowledge Systems in Indian Knowledge Systems

This talk is the result of a pursuit of the epistemology and ontology of Academic Knowledge that we have been engaged with over the last four decades. Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) was proposed in India in the National Education Policy 2020. 

Why, then, is Ayurveda, the sciences of health, illness, and healing that originated in the Indian Subcontinent, dismissed as pseudoscience? 

Mathematics education -- an Indian view from below, and from above


While Dr. Ramanujam is a researcher in logic and automata theory, he also has been active in adult education and school science and mathematics education over the last three decades in India, mostly with the poorest sections of society. This work has also led him  to participate in committees at the national and state level. These two views of education, from high above in the committees, and from the ground in villages and urban slums, are in sharp contrast, and he will talk about his learning from this.

A Buddhist Perspective on the Environment: Karuṇā and Pratītyasamutpāda


 It is no secret that the world is facing an environmental crisis.  Why should one care? And what should we do? These are questions that concern any thoughtful person.  The answer to them depends, of course, on one’s philosophical views—most crucially, ethical and political. In this talk I will provide an answer to the questions from the perspective of Buddhist philosophy. No prior knowledge of Buddhist thought will be presumed.

Revealing India's Deep Antiquity

The focus of much of Indology in the West, unfortunately, is on the social narratives in India’s epics and ancient texts, with very little exploration of science contained within or evidentiary assessment from scientific perspective. 

We shall take a fresh, scientific evidence-focused approach to studying the history of Indian Civilization.  

India at 2047

Dr. Charan SinghIndia would be completing 100 years of independence in 2046-47. In its journey, from gaining independence in 1947 to 2022, India’s growth path has followed an interesting pattern. The country had followed a mixed economic ideology for the first few decades under centralized planning and by 1991, decided to undertake significant reforms and open the domestic market to the global economy.

Socializing the Self: The Social Nature of Personal Identity


Work on personal identity within Western philosophy has tended to be very individualistic.  There are theories that stress memories, theories that focus on autobiographical narratives, and others that emphasize agency.  Each of these is then typically described in ways that make little or no reference to social relationships. The same is true of animalist theories, which equate persons with organisms.  Unsurprisingly, work on identity in the social sciences is quite different.

Ancient India’s Contribution to Economic Ethics

Ancient India’s contribution to economic ethics is shaped by four objectives of life (purusharthas), achieved in the context of four stages of life (ashramas), four vocations of life (varnas), and four branches of knowledge (vidyas).  Hindu treatises such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas; political economy treatises like Arthashastra and Shukraniti; and law books such as Manu-Smriti, Yajnavalkya-Smriti, and a liberal digest on them by Lakshmi Devi have affected the Indian way of life, including economic life.  Emphasis on actions in harmony with univers