SV: attack on Professor S. Bahulkar

[George Thompson]

Dear List,

I myself don't really know about the role of neurophysiology or physics in
the attacks on Prof. Bahulkar and BORI, but I do agree with the point that
the issue isn't so much a matter of religion; it is a matter instead of
religious fundamentalism.  And of course we encounter it as much in the US
as anywhere.  So, it is not only a problem for traditional Asians and Middle
Easterners, or for that matter for early Christians, alone.  The latter-day
Christians who presently occupy the White House, the US Justice Dept., and
Iraq, also have a problem of this very sort.

Like Jan Houben, I think that it is regretable if this list and others like
it fail to inspire the participation of Indian scholars.  In my view, we
need to stand side by side with rational and compassionate scholars of all
sorts.  To be sure, the world needs many things from us, but as scholars at
the very least we are obliged to defend scholarship.  That is a crucial part
of our job.  I have never wanted to politicize the Indology List.  But how
can we carry on with our scholarly projects in the face of these sorts of
attacks?

When the attacks on Romila Thapar occurred we were asked not to discuss them
on this List.  That I think was a mistake.  Now that the attacks on Prof.
Bahulkar and BORI have occurred, maybe it is time, finally, to discuss them
on this list.

In these awful times, it is, in my opinion, no longer possible for a scholar
to be apolitical.

Don't you think so, too, Jan, Dominik, Madhav?

Best wishes,

George Thompson


-----Original Message-----
From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk]On Behalf Of Alfred
Collins
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 3:24 PM
To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
Subject: Re: SV: attack on Professor S. Bahulkar


Colleagues,

The issue is not only one of traditional societies being offended by science
and rationalism.  Western (US as much as European) politics are filled with
social and religious fundamentalism, and I think this has been true
throughout the 20th century at least, Hitler being a prime example (his
"volkisch"-ness, etc.).  People are seeking spiritual/religious values (and
this includes nationalistic, "epic" ones) they feel to be absent in modern
rationalist culture.  Hence the popularity of hobbits, angels, pentecostal
religion in the American south and many developing countries, Ramraj, etc.
We must find a way to be "religious" without tearing down the fabric of
science and civilization.  I am not optimistic in the short run. Over the
longer course, all depends on whether the religious/idealizing attitude has
genuine value or is merely an "illusion." This question was debated (for
example) between the Enlightenment and Romanticism, and is at issue in
William James and Jung vs. F
reud, etc. (See Eugene Taylor's books.)  Ultimately this is probably a
neurophysiological question, or maybe one for physics.  In the meanwhile,
our brave new world stumbles on and is likely to get much worse.

Al Collins
Anchorage