Reflections on Human Inquiry: Science, Philosophy, and Common Life

2017

We all wonder about the relations between science, philosophy and common life, but the topics present such a wide variety of unconnected thoughts that we despair to have any clear insights. Nirmalanghsu Mukherji's compelling book, Reflections on Human Inquiry, brings forth the relations between science, philosophy and common life in ways that are scientifically well-informed, philosophically rich and seamlessly connected to each other. The book has twelve chapters, with the initial chapters (1 to 5) dealing with what is described as the Galilean style and skepticism thereof and the later chapters dealing with the various problems that philosophers deal with regarding the nature of knowledge, belief, consciousness. Then two chapters (11 and 12, respectively) offer reflections on the relation between literature and philosophy and what kind of education is right for our species. The book has many fundamental insights. To mention just a few: an intelligible space is made for skepticism, some light is thrown on the way the history of philosophy and science are intertwined, remarks are made on the nature and history of Indian philosophy which are surprising and suggestive and a distinction is drawn between the order of things which humans inquire into and the needs of humans.

CPPIS Pehowa, 2020

The Centre for Positive Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies (CPPIS) Pehowa (Kurukshetra) celebrates World Philosophy Day every year via events or publication etc. This time we invited original, scholarly, and unpublished short articles/ideas from research scholars, teachers and academicians on the given sub-themes like Nature of Philosophy, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Ethics, Logic, Aesthetics, Social Philosophy , Political Philosophy, Environmental Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, Indian Psychology, Dalit Studies, Women Studies, Philosophical Counseling, Yoga and Mental Health, Philosophical Systems and Research Methods etc. We received several entries related to this call for paper. In this collection we are going to publish some selected entries.

2011

This paper argues in defence of the thesis that philosophy (metaphysics) is the most basic and fundamental of all scientific knowledge and is presupposed by all systematic human inquiries. At the beginning of the history of knowledge, the paper opines, philosophy (Metaphysics) was the one and only science. Thus the questions asked by philosophers at that early stage, later became the property of different fields of knowledge and inquiry. The paper maintains that it was only after the rise of modern science in the seventeenth century that the lines of demarcation between areas of investigation became more obvious and more permanent. Since it is clear, from the above, that the so-called “exact sciences” are not the most basic and fundamental sources of knowledge, what they produce have to be scrutinized and be solidly established in the light of the vision of things entire, provided by a well grounded philosophy, the paper argues. Our justification therefore, the paper maintains, for ...

Reflections on Human Inquiry, 2017

We all wonder about the relations between science, philosophy and common life, but the topics present such a wide variety of unconnected thoughts that we despair to have any clear insights. Nirmalanghsu Mukherji's compelling book, Reflections on Human Inquiry, brings forth the relations between science, philosophy and common life in ways that are scientifically well-informed, philosophically rich and seamlessly connected to each other. The book has twelve chapters, with the initial chapters (1 to 5) dealing with what is described as the Galilean style and skepticism thereof and the later chapters dealing with the various problems that philosophers deal with regarding the nature of knowledge, belief, consciousness. Then two chapters (11 and 12, respectively) offer reflections on the relation between literature and philosophy and what kind of education is right for our species. The book has many fundamental insights. To mention just a few: an intelligible space is made for skepticism, some light is thrown on the way the history of philosophy and science are intertwined, remarks are made on the nature and history of Indian philosophy which are surprising and suggestive and a distinction is drawn between the order of things which humans inquire into and the needs of humans.

Studia Gilsoniana, 2014

Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, 2016

The aim of this paper is to examine the nature, scope and importance of philosophy in the light of its relation to other disciplines. This work pays its focus on the various fundamental problems of philosophy, relating to Ethics, Metaphysics, Epistemology Logic, and its association with scientific realism. It will also highlight the various facets of these problems and the role of philosophers to point out the various issues relating to human issues. It is widely agreed that philosophy as a multi-dimensional subject that shows affinity to others branches of philosophy like, Philosophy of Science, Humanities, Physics and Mathematics, but this paper also seeks, a philosophical nature towards the universal problems of nature. It evaluates the contribution and sacrifices of the great sages of philosophers to promote the clarity and progress in the field of philosophy.

Open Press TiU, 2021

This handbook is an open educational and open-ended resource for whomever is interested in philosophical thinking. Each of the chapters is open in the sense of freely available and accessible to everyone. You may be a student who wants to get some background on a specific philosophical sub-discipline. You may be a teacher who wants to assign introductory reading for students. You may be a layperson interested in reading an overview of philosophical thinking, written in a clear and accessible way. Each of you: feel free to browse, download, print and use the collection as you see fit. We believe that open access is the future and that academic philosophy as presented in this volume is of potential worth to many of you out there. In this open-ended handbook you find two kinds of chapters. First, there are chapters that provide a broad introduction into a specific philosophical sub-discipline, such as political philosophy, epistemology or metaphysics. As this collection covers most of the sub-disciplines currently taught at Western philosophy departments, you can legitimately claim that you have been introduced to Western ‘philosophy’ as a whole, understood rather canonically, after having read the entire handbook. Second, there are chapters that introduce slightly more specific topics or philosophical approaches. You will always be able to know the focus of each chapter by looking at its subtitle. The open-ended nature of this handbook, means that new chapters will be added in the future. We hope that philosophy will change and grow with time to become more diverse and inclusive and that this handbook will do so as well. We think of philosophy and its evolution as an organic process, as a tree that branches out in many different directions, adding new directions as it goes along. In this handbook, we organize the wide variety of topics that philosophers discuss into four main branches, which represent important subject areas that philosophers have covered.First, there is ‘thinking about societies’, which includes chapters that cover philosophical approaches to matters of obvious societal relevance. How should we organize our societies? How should we treat others? What exactly are cultures and what role do they play in a globalized world? This branch covers philosophical discussions, theories and views on what binds and divides us as societies and communities.Second, there is ‘thinking about humans’, which includes chapters that zoom in on people, the members that make up those societies. Is there something like human nature and what does that look like? How do human minds and bodies relate to each other? Are we free or not? This branch covers what one could broadly call ‘philosophical anthropology’: philosophical discussions, theories and views on what it means to be human.Third, there is ‘thinking about thinking’, which include chapters that focus on the ways in which humans can relate to the outside world. How can we come to know things about that world? What is truth exactly? What are the values and limits of scientific understanding? How do we reason and argue and how do we do so properly? This branch covers philosophical discussions, theories and views on how humans come to believe things about themselves and the worlds they live in. Fourth, there is ‘thinking about reality’, which includes chapters that investigate those worlds in more direct ways. Do things have an essence? What do we mean when we say that some things exist and others do not? How can language help us access the reality out there? This branch covers philosophical discussions, theories and views on the world we, as humans, find ourselves in. If you like what is on offer in this handbook, you can let us know on the website https://www.openpresstiu.org/ and register for updates, for example when new chapters are added. Consider each chapter as a first and stand-alone introduction to the exciting and thought-provoking world of a specific branch of philosophy. The same will be true of future chapters. Like the chapters already included, these future chapters will be accessible for readers without any specific prior knowledge. All you need is curiosity, an open mind and a willingness to think twice.

International Journal of Management Studies and Social Science Research, 2022

The elevation of science and scientific knowledge above other disciplines and knowledge is not without reason or justification. Science has made life easier for people. It has reduced the level of superstition. Above all, it has made the world a global village. However, it has come with its own challenges. In a world dominated by science and technology, can Philosophy, as a discipline, play major roles in the development of a society? How progressive is the society with the rise of philosophy and science? There is no doubt that Philosophy is abstract and largely theoretical. Philosophy is also argumentative and its major tool is argument. Nothing is correct or right unless it is proved. What is however not correct about Philosophy is that it is of no use to non-philosophers and the society in general. As science has its values and usefulness to the society, so also is Philosophy. They may not play the same roles, but their roles are complimentary which eventually leads to the development of the society. Thus, for the success of this work, we shall systematically analyze the successes recorded by scientific growth, the philosophical footprints and influences of these successes and the possibility of a scientific society illumined by philosophical principles.

Nature, 1988