Abstract In recent decades scholars in every major religious tradition have been commenting on the relationship between their own tradition and science. The subject in the context of Hinduism is complex because there is no central institutionalized authority to dictate what is acceptable Hindu belief and what is not. This has resulted in a variety of perspectives that are touched upon here. Historical factors in the introduction of modern science in the Hindu world have also influenced the subject. The reflections (...) in this paper are based on these. (shrink)

Discussions on the congruence, compatibility, and contradictions between science and religion have been going on since the rise of modern science. In our own times, there are many efforts to build bridges of harmony between the two. Most of these are anchored to particular religious traditions or denominations and also to specific disciplines, notably cosmology, physics, and biology. Though these discussions serve commendable purposes for members of specific faiths and/or disciplines, they are also, for precisely this reason, of restricted appeal. (...) There are not too many discussions of the topic that consider science and religion from a global perspective. It will therefore be useful to define science and religion in terms of their unique characteristics, draw the line of demarcation between them, and show where they overlap. This is what this paper attempts to do. (shrink)

Food is a sine qua non for life on Earth. It has more significance than nutrition and sustenance, more variety than many aspects of human culture. Food has religious as well as historical dimensions. The complexity of the food chain and of the related ecological balance is one of the wonders of the biological world. In the human context, food has found countless expressions and regional richness. Food has provoked feasts, as its lack and maldistribution have caused famines. While being (...) a source of physical satisfaction food has also had environmental impacts. Some of these matters are explored in these reflections. (shrink)

. To achieve peace on our planet we must bridge the gap not only between science and religion but also among faith traditions. Accepting the doctrine of multiple paths can reduce interreligious tensions. Every view of the Divine is partial, every faith system rests upon supreme spiritual experiences, and each one provides fulfillment in the yearning to connect with the Cosmic Mystery.

Every religious tradition has a spiritual basis. Hinduism is no exception. In this paper the spiritual framework of Hinduism is discussed, after a brief historical background, with reference to scientific worldviews. Particular attention is paid to the notions of objective knowledge, transcendental reality, and the Hindu view on the meaning of human existence.

I comment on some of the points made in John Caiazza's thesis on techno‐secularism and offer some of my own further reflections on the subject. Tertullian's rhetorical question about Athens and Jerusalem has universal relevance, not just for Western culture, and, notwithstanding the many positive contributions of science and technology to human culture and civilization, they may not take the place of religion of one kind or another in the foreseeable future. What is needed is to transform religions in ways (...) that meet the challenges of a world drastically transformed by science and technology. (shrink)

Definitions of nature and transcendence are given, and the framework of Hindu thought is presented. The levels of reality as discovered by physics are then discussed, which leads us to revise our notions of reality and objectivity. Transcendence is defined as something beyond matter‐energy in space‐time and is explored in several contexts of modern science, as in pre‐Big‐Bang state, negative entropy, information, complexity, and others. Finally, a philosophical reflection on consciousness is presented.

This essay is a commentary on Helmut Reich’s recently published book on relational and contextual reasoning (RCR). Reich’s ideas are relevant in contexts of conflict, and they enable us to consider the notion of objectivity differently. He makes us see the constraints in individual perspectives. His book also can enable people to formulate problems of human concern in a wider and richer framework, which may lead to solutions not obtainable on the basis of binary logic.

As we develop a global ethic in the context of diseases, we need to reconsider the wisdom of the religious traditions, for there is more to ailments than their material causes. In the Hindu framework, aside from the Ayurvedic system, which is based on herbal medicines and a philosophical framework, there is the insight that much of what we experience is a direct consequence of our karma (consequential actions). Therefore, here one emphasizes self–restraint and self–discipline in contexts that are conducive (...) to self–hurting behavior. (shrink)

Time is an element that each of us experiences in the core of our being. Yet it also is one of the great mysteries in our conceptual grasp of reality. The notion of time has therefore been reflected upon and explored by thinkers and scientists since ancient times. In this essay I relate the multiple ways in which Antje's Jackelén's scholarly and stimulating work Time and Eternity analyzes the historical, philosophical, theological, and scientific perspectives on the notion of time lived (...) and its relation to the conceptual endless time that we call eternity, and offer some of my own contextual reflections on the topic. (shrink)

Buddhist teachings and modern science are analogous both in their approach to the search for truth and in some of the discoveries of contemporary physics, biology, and psychology. However, despite these congruencies and the recognized benefits of science, Buddhism reminds us of the dangers of a tendency toward scientific reductionism and imperialism and of the sciences’ inability to deal with human moral and spiritual values and needs. Buddhism and science have human concerns and final goals that are different, but as (...) long as the boundaries between them are not trespassed, they can be mutually corrective and allied to benefit humankind. Buddhism must be open to the discoveries of science about the physical world as must all religions today, but no matter how much it may have to modify some of its ancient beliefs, its basic truths—the truths about human suffering and its release—will remain untouched. (shrink)

“We can avoid, above all, the mistake of thinking that unless one is big one is negligible.”This paper tries to think about the contexts of scientific practices in peripheral spaces, spaces that exist outside the domain of the resource-rich and well-established scientific communities. I ask the question whether contributions from such modest circumstances can give rise to any creative expertise that is capable of producing novel outcomes in science, and whether exploring such contexts might give us reasons for changing our (...) current mental model of what we take science to be. I assume, of course, that scientific thinking can be present in modest as well as in resource-rich circumstances, and little-known episodes... (shrink)

Purpose. The knowledge influence analysis on the formation process of new anthropological images of man in the contexts of scientific achievements and innovative technologies is the basis of this study. It involves the solution of the following tasks: 1) explication of the ontological content of knowledge in the anthropo-cultural senses of the epoch; 2) analysis of the knowledge influence on the process of forming a new type of man; 3) characteristics of the modern anthropological situation in the context of digital (...) culture; 4) substantiation of interrelation of phatic communication with post-truth society in the dimensions of anthropo-social transformations of the present. Theoretical basis. Ontological content of knowledge determines the anthropo-cultural context of the epoch by forming a system of intellectual, value, social meanings of human life. The assertion of new anthropological types of man is caused by the changes in social and cultural space in the context of the growing influence of achievements in scientific knowledge and technology. Digital revolution as the process of expanding the possibilities of informational-digital reality, the substitution of knowledge for information gives rise to Homo digitalis – the digital man. He focuses on phatic communication, which in its intellectual meaninglessness is commensurate with the anthropological dimensions of post-truth society. Originality. It is substantiated that Homo digitalis is the result of a complex set of heterogeneous effects of scientific knowledge, which in modern post-truth conditions appears as different communicative practices. A condition for the formation of a new anthropological type of man in the perspective of scientific and technological progress is the affirmation of ethical wisdom. Conclusions. Knowledge in the process of evolution of socio-cultural life acquires constitutive significance for the process of formation of anthropological situations that manifest themselves in new images of man. Today, he is commensurate with the demands of digital culture, in which human life practices are increasingly becoming information and digital clusters embedded in the reality of a post-truth society. The means of overcoming the passivity of digital man is the formation of a new anthropological type based on a rethinking of the value system. (shrink)

Purpose. The article deals with the consideration of certain types of value models of human creation from the standpoint of philosophical anthropology and social philosophy. It is about certain models that fulfill the worldview-semantic modes of a person. Theoretical basis. The authors cover peculiarities of such models in the process of creation of "the new types of a person". The process of reformatting these types and its means are studied. The process of valuing metamorphoses of Ukrainians is taken as an (...) example. The research is limited to the Soviet period and the period of independence, which is reflected respectively in Thesis I – The Phenomenon of Homo Sovieticus and Thesis II – A Person in the Situation of Post-Homo Sovieticus. The emphasis is on the peculiarities of the value matrix of these types and their ideological potential. Originality is in the disclosure of anthropological models that correspond to the value functionality, that is, the determination and expression of the essence of a person. It is shown that certain projects, under the conditions of forced reformatting, by their value reduction are classified as inhuman. They are based on the narrative of ideological myth and deprived of the projection of the complete development of a personality. The proposed approach allows to revise the current trends of such projections and, most importantly, to predict their value potentials in the dynamics of the transformational progress of the essence of the modern Ukrainian. Conclusions. The essay reflects the process of transformation of the worldview-semantic modes, which are represented by two situations-products – the Soviet person and the contemporary. The first type is formed by the mythology of political ideology. This person is deprived of himself or herself. Their collective identity is brought up by the anthropological effect of violence and fear. The second type is very similar. This person finds himself or herself in the situation of value disorientation, nostalgic impulses and instrumental thinking. Their task is to move towards the "monad personality". This is possible by means of formation of the "own philosophy", "inherent teleology of a breakthrough", as well as by taking into account the problem of consolidation and radicalism of external factor. (shrink)

Russkai︠a︡ t︠erkovʹ i drugie statʹi -- V temnykh religioznykh luchakh.