Concerned Indian philosophers for social action

PHILOSOPHY is a theoretical discipline but this does not mean that it has no relation to the actual situation of our everyday existence. Unfortunately there is little cross-fertilisation between philosophy and subjects like sociology, politics, economics, history and arts in Indian universities. A study of political philosophy or geography of sociology and economics can help in developing an integrated approach to these disciplines and enrich not only the humanities but also offer India’s thinkers a critical insight into the social realities.

In 1961 the University Grants Commission had appointed a Review Committee on Philosophy in Indian Universities. It published a report in 1966 according to which there were 36 universities and 33 colleges offering post-graduate teaching in philosophy with students enrolment in M.A. at 1,832 and in Ph.D at 168. The committee expressed its disappointment at the state of affairs of research in philosophy and proposed several steps to make philosophical studies in India more relevant to our present national requirements. It suggested that inter-disciplinary seminars would be of particular benefit to philosophy students and very relevant, say, in subjects like philosophy of science, philosophy of history and mathematical logic. But this recommendation, like all other suggestions of committee, was ignored by the heads of department of philosophy at the Indian universities. We are not even certain if all the heads had seen this report of the committee. There several interdisciplinary seminars were held during the last years.

But a cursory survey of Ph.D. dissertations in our universities confirm that 64 per cent of these pertained to traditional brahmanic systems out of which less than 30 per cent concern with post-modern Hindu thought. Forty per cent are devoted to the history of western philosophy or describe some new or old English or western philosopher. Only one per cent thesis had some bearing on social phenomenon. There were only two thesis on Dr Ambedkar as against more than 40 on Sri Aurobindo; merely two on Sufism, and philosophy of Islam, two on Buddhism in China, and only one on Tripura Tribal Religion and Hinduism. Aligarh Muslim University was the sole exception where one Ph.D. thesis dealt with Muslim Religious Thought in India from 1200 A.D. to 1450 A.D. one with an individual Muslim thinker and one with the Place of God, Man and Universe in the Philosophic systems of Iqbal. Nonetheless, there is an interesting thesis on a comparative study of the Philosophies of Sri Aurobindo and Dr Iqbal with special reference to the Gandhian conception of religion and its bearing on society.