2002 Indic Colloquium
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Sangeetha Menon

Contact Information

Office

Home

Address

National Institute of Advanced Studies
Indian Institute of Science Campus
Bangalore- 560 012, INDIA

 

Phone

011-91-80-3606594 / 3604351/ 3600968

011-91-80-8398443

FAX

011-91-80-3606634

 

Phone (other)

 

 

Email

smenon@nias.iisc.ernet.in, prajnana@yahoo.com

 

Web site

Home: http://www.geocities.com/prajnana
Resumé:
http://www.geocities.com/prajnana/resume/resume.htm

 

Other

 

 

Background Information

Sangeetha Menon is an Associate Fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, in Bangalore, India. She received her Ph.D in Philosophy from Kerala University in 1995, writing a dissertation entitled The Concept of Consciousness in the Bhagavad Gita--A Study, which she is currently preparing for publication. She has written and presented numerous papers, a monograph entitled Understanding the 'What' and 'Where' of Consciousness: Revisiting the Bhagavad Gita (Bangalore: National Institute of Advanced Studies 1999) and edited the volume Scientific and Philosophical Studies on Consciousness (Bangalore: National Institute of Advanced Studies 1999).

For a detailed resumé, please see the website above.

Abstract

Binding Experiences and Epistemologies: Instances from Indian philosophy (darsana sastra), Indian psychology (moksa sastra) and Indian dramaturgy (natya sastra) in the context of recent discussions on 'consciousness'

Besides the major focus on metaphysical and epistemological theories, discussions on the nature of 'self,' its nature and scope, and, ways to self-exploration form the essential characteristic of Indian philosophical thinking. This presentation will look at the instances from Indian philosophy, Indian psychology and Indian dramaturgy in the context of recent discussions on 'consciousness' in order to postulate and examine:

  1. recent trends in consciousness studies,
  2. linearities in the ways of understanding, in current discussions,
  3. linearities in the ways of experiencing, in current discussions, and,
  4. the crux of ‘binding problem' as missing the very obvious leading to its non-conceptualisation in entirety.

The ongoing multidisciplinary discussions on 'consciousness' have caused a breakthrough in terms of redefining our standards for defining truth and causal mechanisms. This also has ensued both epistemological and experiential necessity to expand the scope of understanding a complex phenomenon like 'consciousness' and to recognise the importance of non-linear methods and primacy of subjective categories of thinking. This presentation, in this context, will also look at:

  1. addressing the complexity: basics of Indian approaches,
  2. the concept of self and self-exploration in Indian philosophy, Indian psychology and Indian dramaturgy so as to facilitate:
    1. A redefinition of the concept and scope of 'experience' with the help of theories of moksa, atman and bhakti
    2. A redefinition of the concept and scope of epistemology and problem-formulations with the help of theories of jnana and natya.
    3. A redefinition of the concept and scope of 'transcendence' and the 'binding problem' with the help of the above-mentioned theories.
Read the entire paper in PDF format (60K, 15 pp.)