INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON HUMANISTIC IDEOLOGY
VOL. 2 NO. 2 AUTUMN-WINTER 2009

TOPICS: REASON AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITY


EDITORIAL: Mihaela GLIGOR, Reason and Religious Identity. The Problem, 7

ARTICLES:
Amartya SEN, The Reach of Reason, 13
Abstract: W.B. Yeats wrote on the margin of his copy of The Genealogy of Morals, “But why does Nietzsche think the night has no stars, nothing but bats and owls and the insane moon?” Nietzsche outlined his scepticism of humanity and presented his chilling vision of the future just before the beginning of the last century – he died in 1900. The events of the century that followed, including world wars, holocausts, genocides and other atrocities that occurred with systematic brutality, give us reason enough to worry whether Nietzsche’s sceptical view of humanity may not have been right.
Keywords: reason, philosophy, Enlightenment, humanity, history

Wolfgang WELSCH, Nietzsche on Reason, 37
Abstract: Nietzsche is thought of as someone who destroys reason. As such he has been attacked by authors ranging from Lukács through to Habermas. In the following I would like to introduce his attempt at a restoration of reason. I will provide a short reconstruction of Nietzsche’s theses on reason. First of all, I will set out Nietzsche’s pragmatic reinterpretation of reason, secondly the relationship of reason to different types of life and then, thirdly, the relation between reason and passion. Following this, I will move on to Nietzsche’s “restored reason”.
Keywords: Reason, Nietzsche, knowledge, philosophy, “restored reason”.

Piyali PALIT, Reasoning and Religious Identity: A Formal Approach, 51
Abstract: Indian religious tradition being a Veda-oriented one is found to be grounded strongly on reasoning. It made human civilization rich by way of understanding one’s own self and relation to the world in which he lives. In this article an attempt has been made to highlight this feature of Indian religious tradition following Formal Ontology of Navya Vaisesikas, developed by Prof. Navjyoti Singh in modern era, as well as other traditional texts to prove the efficacy of Vaidika value system in resolving crux of reasoning and religious identity.
Keywords: Vaidika, Manana/reasoning, Darśana, Dharma, Manuşya, Punctuator, Pankti, Nyāya, Ānvīkşikī, Bhāva.

Michael DUSCHE, Modernity, Nation-State and Islamic Identity Politics, 63
Abstract: The history of perceptions between the West and the Islamic world does not begin with the recent terror attacks in the US, Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. These in a way only mark the moment in the West when awareness became overwhelming that something is fundamentally amiss in its relations with the countries of so-called Islamic world.
Keywords: globalization, modernity, identity politics, Islam, culture, social structure.

Atashee Chatterjee SINHA, Identity, Religion and Morality, 81
Abstract: In this article I have intended to make an analytical study of the concept of human identity from the perspective of religion, with special emphasis on morality, thereby showing the connection between identity, religion and morality. Unlike the theoretical ideologies given by sociologists and theologians, the various forms of violent practices of religious groups observed in the present century are far from establishing a globally peaceful environment through religion. The problem of conflicts and oppression and moral degeneration on the basis of religious violence might be resolved only if we take into account the centrality of self, freedom, individual choice and moral responsibility. For that purpose that I found it relevant to take note of some of the philosophical views and some remarkable practices of Indian thinkers who show the possibility of synthesis between spirituality and harmony, and the connection between religious identity and non violence.
Keywords: Identity, religious identity, God-belief, morality, self, other, freedom, religious conflict, violence, dharma, equality of religion, moral choice, responsibility.

Liviu ANTONESEI, The Phenomenology of Eliade and Archaic and “Exotic” Religious Identities, 101
Abstract: This study emphasizes the cultural-ecumenical dimension of Mircea Eliade’s phenomenology as it is connected with archaic and “exotic” religions. The last part of this article deals with Eliade’s analysis of Geto-Dacian (ancient Romanian) religion and its surviving elements in popular mysticism.
Keywords: ecumenism, sacred and profane, religious identities, archaic religions, “exotic” religions.

Sarunya PRASOPCHINGCHANA & Dana SUGU, Distinctiveness of the Unseen: Buddhist Identity, 115
Abstract: All major systems of belief claim to have a distinctive understanding and relation to whatever they may consider the unseen divine entity. Present neuropsychological theories are divided between the possible existence of “God-modules” hardwired in the brain, on one hand, and God as a construction of the brain’s incapacity to explain unknown and unidentified events. In Theravāda Buddhism there is no personal deity; one experiences the ultimate as impersonal. The idea of self is also rejected and a Buddhist identity is pointing out towards “othoproxy”, “the right practice”, what could be called “action identity”.
Keywords: action identity, neuropsychological theories, religion, Buddhism, reality.

REVIEWS, 145
Namit ARORA: Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian Culture, History and Identity, Penguin Books, 2005, 409 pp, ISBN: 0-141-01211-0
Santosh Kr. SINGH: Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice, Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2009, 468 pp, ISBN: 978-1-846-14147-8
Michel ESPAGNE: Ursula Wokoeck, German Orientalism: The Study of the Middle East and Islam from 1800 to 1945, London and New York: Routledge, 2009, 352 pp, ISBN: 978-0-415-46490-1
Asghar Ali ENGINEER: Rudolf C. Heredia, Changing Gods: Rethinking Conversion in India, Penguin Books India, 2007, 400 pp, ISBN: 0-14-310190-0.
Mihaela GLIGOR: Michael Dusche, Identity Politics in India and Europe, New Delhi, SAGE, 2010, 375 pp, ISBN: 978-81-321-0304-2
Prabhleen Kaur PABLA: Gezim Alpion, Encounters with Civilizations: From Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa Chapel Hill, NC, Globic Press, 2009, xxiv + 303 pp, ISBN: 978-0-9801896-2-9

CONTRIBUTORS, 183