By GAYATRI PAGDI Years ago, when I decided to study what had caused me clinical depression, for some time, I came across many points-of-view depending on who you were sharing them with. The psychiatrist told me that it was an imbalance of neurochemicals in my brain. My Chinese diviners told me that my yin and […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR You’d sure be amused. And, why not — with the theme itself? What’s ‘compassionate capitalism?’ A chimera? A convenient joke? None of it. On the realistic side of things, the full meaning of the ‘eerie’ concept, or so would you think, looks like a contradiction of terms — of not only belief structures, […]
BADRINATH DURVASULA As our day begins, there is frenzied activity in each of our lives. It all points to a bagful of actions to be performed during the course of the day. The pace at which it all gets packed is also amazing. We often fail to realise what is accomplished during the course of […]
PREKSHA DOSHI-MEHTA Most of us may have felt that we are done with people in our life, or with everything going on in it, at some point. Or, we may have felt claustrophobic with a strong urge to escaping from everything and everyone. The irony is: when such a thing happens, we aren’t sure how […]
ALEX HORSMAN The Libertarian vs Liberal debate is confusing for some, but once you understand it, it’s clear as day. While both of these political thought processes have some areas that overlap, you’ll soon understand the fundamental differences between the history, modernization, and 20th century belief systems behind them. DEFINING A LIBERTARIAN The foundation of Libertarianism is […]
ALEX HORSMAN Robert Nozick was one of Harvard’s most distinguished professors, a president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association, and the author of several influential books. Robert Nozick quotes, while not as numerous as those of better-known libertarian thought leaders [Murray Rothbard and Friedrich Hayek come to mind] are nevertheless illuminating. Nozick was born to […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Most successful people, we know, pursued their dreams, not just academics. This was, indeed, their ticket to success and eternal glory. Picture this. Most of our great, successful men and women never went through the 12-year educational ‘expedition’ our kids currently go through, along with their much-glorified percentage points. But, the best part […]
VENKATESH GOVINDARAJAN The tussle between the neoclassical economist — that stubborn, unyielding breed and the ecological economist — the rebellious change-seeking breed — has been going on for several decades now. It has just reached a climax. As per the former — Robert Solow, Joseph Stiglitz and John Hartwick among them —capital has to be […]
GAYATRI PAGDI Each time the old year trots away, the new comes galloping in. As wishes surge, better times are hoped. If you appreciate Vedic imagery, the white steed of the Sun shows up on the New Year’s daybreak. As you inventively look at the horizon, several powerful milky-white steeds draw the Sun’s golden chariot […]
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Madhvacàrya, or Madhva, in the context of Indian philosophy, holds a pre-eminent place as the proponent ‘absolute’ of the Dvaita, or Dualist, school of Vedanta. A philosopher among philosophers, Madhva was no straight-line thinker. He was a pioneer — one who went against a host of established standards, or norms. What led him […]