The Imbecile’s Guide to Public Philosophy

255 Pages·2021·4.393 MB·English

by  Murzban Jal (editor), Jyoti Bawane (editor), Muzaffar Ali (editor)

THE IMBECILE’S GUIDE TO
PUBLIC PHILOSOPHY
Edited by
Murzban Jal, Jyoti Bawane, and Muzaffar Ali
THE IMBECILE’S GUIDE TO PUBLIC
PHILOSOPHY
This book studies the role of serious philosophizing in everyday life and looks at how autho-
ritarianism negates philosophical and public reason. It sheds light on how philosophy can go beyond
its life as a discipline limited to an esoteric group of academia to manifest itself via radical discursive
practices in public life which enable us to understand and resolve contemporary socio-political
challenges. It studies philosophy as a discipline which deals with one’s orientations based on
experience, the logic of reasoning, critical thinking, and most of all radical and progressive beliefs.
The book argues that the contemporary rise of capitalism in modern society, resonating Émile
Durkheim’s cautions on “anomie”, has favoured individualism, differentiation, marginalization, and
exploitation, balanced on an eroding collective consciousness and a steady disintegration of humanity
and reason. Taking this into consideration, it discusses how philosophy, both mainstream and marginal,
can revive democracy in society which then is able to confront global authoritarianism led by the figure
of the imbecile. Finally, it also provides a range of new perspectives on the questions of civic freedom,
hegemony of language, social justice, identity, invisible paradigms, gender justice, democracy, multi-
culturalism, and decolonization.
This book is an invigorating compilation of essays from diverse disciplines, engaging the need to
create a humanistic public philosophy to transcend the state of imbecility. It will be of great interest
to students, scholars and researchers of philosophy, contemporary politics, history, and sociology, as
well as general readers.
Murzban Jal is Professor and Director at the Centre for Educational Studies, Indian Institute of
Education, Pune, India. He was Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla and Senior
Fellow at the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, India. He is the author
of twelve books including The Seductions of Karl Marx (2010), (ed.) Zoroastrianism: from Antiquity
to the Modern Period (2012), The New Militants (2014), Why We Are Not Hindus (2015), (ed. with
Zaheer Ali) What Ails the Indian Muslims (2016), (ed.) Challenges for the Indian Left (2017), In the
Name of Marx (2018), Zarathushtra and the Inmates of Paradise (2018), Yusuf and Zuleika: On the
Return of the Despot (2019), The Prison House of Alienation (2019), Theory and Praxis: Reflections
on the Colonization of Knowledge (ed. with Jyoti Bawane, 2020), and The Legacy of Karl Marx
(2020). He has published extensively in various national and international journals.
Jyoti Bawane is Associate Professor at the Centre for Educational Studies, Indian Institute of
Education, Pune, India. Her areas of research are teacher education, critical pedagogy, online edu-
cation, and tribal education. She writes on critical perspective of education, especially relating to
teacher education and educational practices. She is a Fulbright Scholar and Erasmus Scholar. She is
the author of Ashram Schools: Teacher Context and Challenges (2012) and coeditor of Theory and
Praxis: Reflections on the Colonization of Knowledge (2020).
Muzaffar Ali is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Savitribai Phule Pune University,
Pune, India. His focus in research and teaching is on social and political philosophy and contemporary
Indian philosophy with an emphasis on the idea of the public sphere and its normative implications. He is a
DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) scholar and has published in international journals of
repute such the JICPR, Sophia, Culture and Dialogue, and Journal of World Philosophies.

THE IMBECILE’S
GUIDE TO PUBLIC
PHILOSOPHY
Edited by Murzban Jal
Jyoti Bawane and Muzaffar Ali
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Murzban Jal, Jyoti Bawane and
Muzaffar Ali; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Murzban Jal, Jyoti Bawane, and Muzaffar Ali to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
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registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-72464-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-07540-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-20756-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003207566
Typeset in Sabon
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
CONTENTS
Contributors vii
Acknowledgements ix
Preface: Philosophy in the era of Global Evil x
MURZBAN JAL
Introduction: Why public philosophy? Why now? 1
JYOTI BAWANE AND MUZAFFAR ALI
1 Imbecility and its discontents 9
MURZBAN JAL
2 Public philosophy as critique 38
SIBY K. GEORGE
3 What could be called the philosophical “other”? 69
KARILEMLA
4 Redistribution, recognition, and participation—Nancy
Fraser’s theory of justice in Indian social context: An
exploration 87
ALOK TANDON
5 Contestations that refuse to die: The battle for
language as a primary marker of identity 98
HARJINDER SINGH “LALTU”
6 Schooling: The invisible paradigm 117
JYOTI BAWANE
v
CONTENTS
7 De-colonizing solidarity and reciprocity 130
AMRITA BANERJEE
8 Understanding the “other”: A case of Kolkata
Marwaris 154
MEHA THAKORE
9 Public-private boundary: Conceptual debates on
privacy 181
TAHIRA KHATOON
Index 198
vi
CONTRIBUTORS
Amrita Banerjee is Assistant Professor of philosophy at the Department of
Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
India. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy and the Graduate Certificate
in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Oregon, USA and
was Assistant Professor of philosophy at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania,
USA prior to joining IIT Bombay. She specializes in ethics and social and
political philosophy, which she approaches from the perspectives of feminist
philosophy, classical pragmatism, and twentieth century continental philo-
sophy. Her publications have appeared in prestigious journals such as
Hypatia, the Journal of Speculative Philosophy, The Pluralist, and Philo-
sophy in the Contemporary World. She is co-editor of the special issue,
‘Mothering from the Margins’ with Philosophy in the Contemporary World.
Siby K. George is Professor of philosophy at the Department of Humanities
and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He writes on
development, technology, pain and dying, political ethics, education and
subjectivity, employing resources of contemporary continental philosophy,
and specifically emphasizing nonwestern and Indian contexts. He is author
of Heidegger and Development in the Global South (2015) and is an editor
of Cultural Ontology of the Self in Pain (2016).
Karilemla is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Savitribai
Phule Pune University, India. She received her Ph.D. from the Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay, and her thesis won the Award for
Excellence in Thesis Work from IIT Bombay in 2017. She researches and
publishes in the areas of continental philosophy, philosophy of technology,
and philosophy of culture. She also works in the interdisciplinary fields of
care ethics and cultural studies. She was a Fulbright scholar at Emory
University, Atlanta, USA in 2013–2014. She has also held a visiting faculty
position at the University of Porto, Portugal under the Erasmus Mundus
Fellowship in 2017.
vii
CONTRIBUTORS
Tahira Khatoon is Assistant Professor at the Central University of Kashmir,
India. She teaches political science in the Department of Politics and
Governance. Her research interests are contemporary political theory,
political philosophy, and feminist theory. She works on concept of
liberalism, autonomy, and privacy.
Harjinder Singh ‘Laltu’ is a scientist (molecular and chemical physics)
currently teaching at International Institute of Information Technology,
Hyderabad, India. He has a PhD from Princeton University, USA, and is
also a writer and poet with the pen name Laltu.
Alok Tandon completed his doctorate on Man and his Destiny in Marx and
Satre and has published three books in Hindi, Vikalpa Aur Vimarsh
(2012), Samay Se Samvad (2015), and Asmita Aur Anyata (2018). He
worked on ‘Religion and Violence’ with an ICSSR fellowship and is
currently working on an ICPR project on ‘Identity and Difference in the
Modern Context’.
Meha Thakore is Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology in
Miranda House, University of Delhi, India. Her research interests include
community studies with a keen focus on gender and space. Her doctoral
research dwells on the cultural articulation of identity amongst the Kolkatta
Marwaris.
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book has been inspired by many, many people. We would like to thank
the Indian Institute of Education, Pune and the Indian Council of Social
Science Research, New Delhi, both institutes that were founded by the
bohemian educationist J.P. Naik and all thinking friends attached to these
great institutes. We would also like to thank Savithribai Phule Pune University
and the academia related to this University.
Thanks also to Bhuvan Chandel, Surinder Jodhka, Daniel Raveh, Surendra
Jondhale, Muskaan-Sudiksha Bawane, Vidya Bawane, Satyabhama Kharat
and Mangal Devkule for the continuous inspiration and support in thinking
creatively. Special thanks to Aakash Chakrabarty and Anvitaa Bajaj for their
great precision and eagle eye in perceiving and understanding human reason
and passion for good learning.
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