One of the many reasons that make the farming community different from others, is the rules that govern them. Farmers know that when the rains start they have to sow the seeds. Rice seedlings transplanted in the absence of rain will die, and no amount of argument will bring the rains sooner. The rules that govern them are absolute, and in most case, in harmony with nature. They are different from the daily protocols or the moral values which we live by. Continue reading
Category Archives: Philosophy
Rules for harmony
Posted in Nature, Philosophy
Science, society and dialectics
From Galileo to Einstein, scientists who have questioned the popular thinking, have faced the wrath of the establishment. It is also interesting to note that wars have had a tendency to accelerate the process of scientific inventions. May it be the atomic power, or computers, wars have been the reason behind the great leaps in technology. The point is – society and science are inseparable. While philosophers of the past have tried to build bridges between the two, the complexities of modern science seldom allow to so. The gap between science and philosophy is growing fast. Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Technology
Materialism and sacrifice
I remember reading Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Bet‘ in school. The story brilliantly emphasizes the idea that human life is far more valuable than money. It begins with an argument at a party over which is more moral – capital punishment or life imprisonment? A rich banker believes that capital punishment is more moral. A young lawyer at the party argues any life is better than no life at all. The banker, feeling insulted, bets the lawyer two million rubles, that he cannot last fifteen years in solitary confinement. As the years pass, the lawyer discovers the significance of human life. Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Philosophy
Justice of speech
“I may disagree with what you say but I will defend to death your right to say it.” I often hear friends and readers say that Voltaire said it. In-fact, teachers of history, political science and believers of democracy absolutely love Voltaire for writing this in one of the 20,000 letters or 2,000 books and pamphlets he wrote. But if you ask them which book, they’d probably not know. While Voltaire remains one of the greatest advocate of freedom of religion and expression, it’s time we realize that Voltaire did not really write this quote. Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
Let me think
Let me think
just for a while…
In that withered garden,
more bare than even a desert now,
which branch first burst into blossom?
And which was the first to lose its colors
before everything succumbed to regret?
At what exact moment
were the trees drained of blood
so when the veins snapped,
nothing could be saved?
Oh, let me think… Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Philosophy
सौरभ राय | Sourav Roy 