Using recontructive ideas available in classical Indian original works, this book makes a departure in the style of modern writings on Indian moral philosophy. It presents Indian ethics, in an objective, secular, and wherever necessary, critical manner as a systematic, down-to-earth, philosophical account of moral values, virtues, rights and obligations. It thereby refutes the claim that Indian philosophy has no ethics as well as the counter-claim that it transcends ethics. It demonstrates that moral living proves that the individual, his society and the world are really real and not only taken to be real for behavioral purposes as the Advaitins hold, the self is amoral being a non-agent, moksa is not a moral value, and the Karmic theory, because of involving belief in rebirth, does not fuarantee that the doer of an action is also the experiencer of its results, contrary to what is commonly held, and Indian ethics can sustain itself even if such notions are dropped. Rajendra Prasad calls Indian ethics organismic because, along with ethical concerns, it also covers issues related to professions, politics, administration, sex, environment, etc. Therefore, in one format it is theoretical and applied, normative and metaethical, humanistic and non-humanistic, etc., of course, within the limits of the then cognitive enquiry.

Contributed articles.

This volume examines a variety of philosophical approaches that seek to formulate practical guidelines or norms for human actions and behavior in different areas of society, including politics, cultural traditions, the environment, business management, architecture, and medicine. Written by a team of international authors, this volume features thirteen surveys. It begins with an exploration of ethics in politics and cultural traditions. From genocide to the unequal distribution of wealth, it examines many of the harms that currently affect societies throughout the world and considers a way that those in politics can follow to provide better care for all their populations. Next, the book looks at the relation between ethics and cultural traditions. It features a paper that examines the tension that often exists between the past and the present, with a special focus on the history of India. This volume also considers the idea of a universal system of ethics, presents a practical approach to value-based management in private and public organizations, and examines ethics in medicine. In addition, this volume includes coverage of a new type of ethics called Eco-ethica, proposed by the Japanese philosopher Tomonobu Imamichi, which seeks to answer the question of how men and women can “live better” or “live together with each other” in a systematized, technological age. ​

The Mahabharata is at once an archive and a living text, a sourcebook complete by itself and an open text perennially under construction. Driving home this striking contemporary relevance of the famous Indian epic, Mahabharata Now focuses on the issues of narration, aesthetics and ethics, as also their interlinkages. The cross-disciplinary essays in the volume imaginatively re-interpret the ‘timeless’ classic in the light of the pre-modern Indian narrative styles, poetics, aesthetic codes, and moral puzzles; the Western theories on modern ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, psychoanalysis, and philosophy of science; and the contemporary social, ethical and political concerns. The essays are all united in their effort to situate the Mahabharata in the context of here and now without violating the sanctity of the ‘written text’ as we have it today. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of Indian and comparative philosophy, Indian and comparative literature, cultural studies, and history.

This book presents a novel interpretation of major problems of Indian ethics from an applied ethical perspective. It approaches prominent theories like Dharma, Karma and Purusarthas from a critical point of view, so as to render them logically consistent and free from some standard limitations. Ethical theories are meant to provide guidance for life, but quite often many of our celebrated theories appear to be inapplicable or difficult to apply in practical life. Indian ethical theories are of special significance to this problem because they have in them rich potentials of applicability as much as many of them typify inapplicable abstract theories of morals. The book incorporates a wealth of research on ethical theories, keeping in view the spirit of ethics and the demands of the situations; for a reasoned balance between the two is the key to applied ethics. The book argues that ethical theories are objective but defeasible in overriding circumstances where competing values deserve preference. Such justified exceptions are warranted by the very spirit of ethics, which is to promote the good life. The argument from defeasibility and justified violation in the book helps bridging the gap between ethics and its application and makes Indian theories of value appear in fresh light- workable, practically applicable and effective as incentives for morality. With uncommon virtue of contemporized presentation of Indian ethics, this book should be of interest to scholars and researchers working on Indian ethics and moral philosophy, as well as to those interested in Indian culture and value tradition.

Christian ethics is a wide and varied field; so diverse are the methods and approaches, theological perspectives and starting points, and scopes of inquiry and purposes—dare we even call it a discipline?—that the field is rarely considered as a whole. Christian ethics includes historical, descriptive, critical, constructive, and applied projects on countless topics. Lending creative energy to this field of study are a range of partner disciplines, including, most prominently, theology, philosophy, and sociology, each containing multiple schools themselves. To envision the entire field of Christian ethics is a difficult task; to reenvision the entire field may perhaps be impossible for one person. Thus, this publication includes original research by multiple scholars, each offering a distinct perspective from their primary partner discipline. Chapters include Roman Catholic and Protestant voices from Europe, Asia, and North America. In aggregate, these writings contribute to a composite reenvisioning of Christian ethics, refracting our collective vision through the prisms of diverse academic and methodological perspectives in this vast field of inquiry, study, and practice.

Can tragic views of the human condition as known to Westerners through Greek and Shakespearean tragedy be identified outside European culture, in the Indian culture of Hindu epic drama? In what respects can the Mahabharata epic's and the Bhagavadgita's views of the human condition be called 'tragic' in the Greek and Shakespearean senses of the word? Tragic views of the human condition are primarily embedded in stories. Only afterwards are these views expounded in theories of tragedy and in philosophical anthropologies. Minnema identifies these embedded views of human nature by discussing the ways in which tragic stories raise a variety of anthropological issues-issues such as coping with evil, suffering, war, death, values, power, sacrifice, ritual, communication, gender, honour, injustice, knowledge, fate, freedom. Each chapter represents one cluster of tragic issues that are explored in terms of their particular (Greek, English, Indian) settings before being compared cross-culturally. In the end, the underlying question is: are Indian views of the human condition very different from Western views?

This Volume Is A Modernist Study Of India'S International Relations, Which Traverses Pre-Colonial, Colonial And Postcolonial Perspectives. Its Fourteen Chapters Discuss Varied Subjects Related To South Asia'S Regional And International Relations, Like: (I) The Institutionalization Of British Paramountcy In India And Its Effect On The Region'S External Relations, As Well As Indigenous Responses To Colonial Rule (Ii) The Influence Of Domestic Variables Upon India'S International Relations (Iii) The Interspersing Of Ethnic, Economic And Religious Factors In The Making Of The British Indian Empire, And Later, Of The Indian State (Iv) The Paradigms Of Nature, Culture, State-Making On The One Hand, And Political Ecology And Cultural Politics Of Natural Resources On The Other (V) The Changing Character Of Foreign Corporate Involvement In India (Vi) The Development Of Science And Technology In India And The Activities Of The Armed Forces In India (Vii) The Fostering Of Formal Arrangements Such As Saarc Or Safta In South Asia And Informal Challenges To India'S Security From Non-State Actors (Viii) The Economic, Political And Cultural Consequences Of Globalization For India During The Imperial-Colonial Phases (Ix) The Evolution, In Creative Writing, Of A Discourse On The World Outside India And On India'S Relationship With It. This Volume Will Be Of Interest To Scholars And Students Of South Asian Studies, History, Political Science And International Relations, And Defence Studies.