Interfaces of knowledge

Book Review by K. Srinivas - Hindu - Chennai,India
Monday, November 13, 2006

Considering its integral approach to human knowledge, this book is highly informative, historical, and analytical. In a nutshell, D.P. Chattopadhyaya aims at showing the interface between religion, philosophy, and science. None of these disciplines is antithetical to the other. The author substantiates this point by holding that: "It is a historically evident fact that many of the great scientists of the ancient and mediaeval periods had been deeply religious but that did not prevent them from their scientific pursuit and marvellous discoveries." The archaeology of civilisations brings to the fore the integral approach to human knowledge in general. This is more so with science and philosophy. A fine blend of scientific and philosophical ideas is seen not only in the writings of the ancient Greek philosophers but also in the available literature of other ancient civilisations.

Interactions
After Islam spread to Central Asia, besides studying and writing books on Hinduism, and Buddhism, the prominent Islamic scholars became acquainted with Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Manicheaism. This is the time when Sufism started and flourished as a religion not only in Central Asia but also in India. It is interesting to note that the Islamic philosophers and Sufis professed their own view of science. As a matter of fact, the sacred texts of every religion contain the seeds of philosophical and scientific wisdom. The interaction between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity is attributed to the Babylonian, Assyrian and the Persian civilisations. The continuation of cultural space from one civilisation to the other can be attributed to the fact that, "The ideas and ideals which are germinal and axiologically unifying, i.e., purported to bring together mankind on the basis of philosophical vision and scientific truth cannot be demolished simply by the use of force or unreason."

Dialogue
The religious, philosophical, and scientific ideas of the past are traditionally attributed to Hinduism in India, Confucianism and Taoism in China, Judaism and Islam in many parts of Asia and Africa, and Christianity in Europe and, North and South America. Although these civilisations are geographically segregated they interacted with each other effectively. For instance, Hinduism, one of the most ancient cradles of civilisation, assimilated into it certain conceptual and ritual elements from other vigorous religions. In spite of the physical and geographical segregation of the civilisations of India and China, the ideas and ideals of one civilisation influenced the other. Although the human civilisation is one, its "territorial demarcations, which often undergo changes, are due to the use of human knowledge as power and possession." When knowledge is viewed as virtue, it transcends the artificial boundaries erected by the humans to pave the way for dialogue among civilisations.

Knowledge being a virtue rather than power and possession, makes our cultural space continuous. This view can be further substantiated by the idea of `linguistic universals' developed by the structural linguists such as Jakobson, Romanov, Chomsky, and their followers. Every language in the world shares these linguistic universals. Anthropologists like Levi-Strauss extended this theory to show that although the human groups are separated from one another in cultural space, yet their mental and linguistic capabilities are strikingly similar. This `pro-innatist' view is akin to the view of `linguistic universals', which supports the thesis of continuous cultural space.

Impact of imperialism
The expansion of imperialism in different parts of the world had its impact on the intellectual history of the colonised nations with regard to the spread of religion, philosophy and science. The university education system introduced by the imperialist nations had its sway on the minds of the people of the colonised nations. For example, "the educational systems and contents of the countries like South Asia, North America, Canada, and Australia could not escape the influence of the subjects and language taught in the mainland British Universities." Although the author does not deny the beneficial effects of interaction between the colonisers and the colonised people, yet the Euro-centric educational system of the colonisers had its conspicuous impact on the religious, philosophical, and scientific heritage of the colonised.

Interdependence between man and nature makes us realise that naturalism is present in various forms of human conceptualisation. Similarly, the religion of humanity propounded by Auguste Comte is an embodiment of humanism wherein humanity is treated as a surrogate of God. Beyond all this, according to the author, knowledge in its real sense is "enlightenment or realisation of what is true and of the distinction between what is true and what is erroneous or false." The astute scholarship and perspicuity of the author combined with historical and analytical precision makes this work a goldmine of knowledge.

RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE — A Sketch of a Global View: D.P. Chattopadhyaya; Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Rashtrapati Nivas, Shimla-171005. Rs. 500.