New Perspectives in Indian Science and Civilization

Makarand R. Paranjape is Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, India. He has been Professor of English, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India for close to twenty years. Earlier, he taught at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and the University of Hyderabad. His overseas assignments include the Eric Auerbach Visiting Chair in Global Literary Studies at the University of Tubingen, Germany and the ICCR Chair in Indian Studies at the National University of Singapore. He was educated at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi (BA Hons.) and received his Master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He is the author/editor of over 45 books, which include works of criticism, poetry and fiction, and has published over 175 academic papers. His latest works include Debating the 'Post' Condition in India: Critical Vernaculars, Unauthorized Modernities, Post-Colonial Contentions (2017), Cultural Politics in Modern India (2016), The Death and Afterlife of Mahatma Gandhi (2015), Making India: Colonialism, National Culture, and Indian English Literature (2015), and Acts of Faith: Journeys to Sacred India (2012).

"This is a much-needed volume that traces the links between science, spirituality, culture and society in the Indian context. How universal is science? Is the truth as sought by scientists absolute? What indeed is science itself? These and more questions are admirably probed by the several authors of this volume, which is ably edited by Makarand Paranjape." Gautam R. Desiraju, formerly Professor, Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India"While the scientific method is universal, the domains of scientific inquiry, the embedding of scientific results and their philosophical framings are all civilization- and even culture-specific. The present volume is an admirable attempt to elucidate many of the critical links between the domains of science and the civilization of India. It is sure to catalyze substantial further inquiry."Shailendra Raj Mehta, President, Director, and Distinguished Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, MICA, Ahmedabad, India

• Acknowledgements. Foreword. Prologue: Indian Psyche and Science. 1. Introduction 2. Science and Spirituality: Is There a Common Ground? 3. Dialectics of Culture and Science 4. Culture and Science in Twenty-first Century India 5. Modern Science in India and the Emergence of a New Worldview: Challenges and Opportunities 6. Knowledge and Science in the Context of Indian Languages 7. Indian Deductive System: The Logical Basis of Indian Sciences 8. Motion Interpreted: A Bridge between Science and Spirituality 9. Indian Science and Semiotics: Some Reflections 10. Integral Non-dualism and Modern Science: Some Reflections 11. Principles of Plant Taxonomy: A Fresh Insight into the Ancient Indian Methodology and Philosophy of Naming and Classifying Medicinal Plants 12. A Macro-Micro Systems Approach to Frame Holistic Studies on the Culture and Philosophy of Science in India 13. Reconciling Free Will and Determinism: An Indian Appropriation of Benjamin Libet’s Neuroscientific Findings 14. Science and Spirituality from the Perspective of the Mahabharata 15. Revisiting Concepts of Health and Disease: Evolution, Philosophy, and Integration 16. A Connecticut Yankee in Indira’s Court: A Brief Account of Modern Indian Science