Department of Philosophy

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The Department of Philosophy, University of North Bengal has been awarded Special Assistance by UGC to carry on research on ‘The Problem of Meaning in Classical Indian Philosophy and Contemporary Western Philosophy’ including translation of Sanskrit texts into regional language.
Department of Philosophy, North Bengal University, Siliguri, is one of the very accomplished centers of learning and research in Philosophy. Siliguri is surrounded by four countries and the nearest Bagdogra airport is five KM, and the New Jalpaiguri railway station is 18 KM away from University campus. We pride ourselves in being a department where equal emphasis is placed on quality research as well as on development and training of students through teaching/learning and extensive teacher-student interaction.

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    Perspectives on Humanism: Swami Vivekananda and Deendayal Upadhyaya (Comparative study)
    (University of North Bengal, 2025) Parida, Alakananda; Sahu, Sangita
    ‘Humanism’ underlines the centrality of human agency. It offers a philosophical and ethical perspective against which individual and society are viewed. It came as a revolt against religious authoritarianism, prevailing dogmas and asserted the freedom of man and encouraged critical thinking, leaving no room for the ‘transcendental’ or ‘mystical’. True to his Vedantic conviction he considered ‘man’ as the highest manifestation of divinity on Earth. As everyman is potentially divine one deserves fair opportunities to grow into perfection. He was critical of the traditional dogmas, social discriminations and poverty of the mass. He was in favor of the synthesis of the East and West and encouraged ‘Education’ as the potent means as it promotes awareness among the people. He articulated the idea of ‘universal religion’ because for him cardinal values constitute the secular core of the ‘sacred’ and envisioned a society without distinction and dogma, where the Vedantic ideals are translated into day today living. Deendayal Upadhyaya, a philosopher sociologist, economist and politician in one, articulated a socio-economic model in which human beings remain at the centre of development. He was in favor of a sustainable consumption of natural resources such that the resources can be replenished and diversity can be preserved. He was critical of both Capitalism and Communism because both make room for individualism and consider the body and mind to be the only realities. He envisages a classless, casteless social system based on the cardinal values such as Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksa. He was a strong advocate of the view that an ideal society and political system can be in place when it is based on dharma. Dharma for him is a sustaining principle of the society and universe. The highest good of man consists in living for the wellbeing of others (lokasamgraha). Different religions have shared objectives, irrespective of the way they pursue different paths leading to the highest goal.
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    Ecological rift and human alienation from nature: a materialistic understanding
    (University of North Bengal, 2024-03) Terence Samuel, M. P.
    A deep chasm is felt in the relation between nature and human due to excessive depletion of nature with the aid of modern technological advances that coincide with the capitalist growth process. The chasm is described by John Bellamy Foster as ‘ecological rift’. With the growing awareness about the ecological rift, the environmentalists try to address the issue in various ways –ranging from the advocacy of moralistic use of nature by humans to the minimal/austere use of nature, from gazing back on the conceptions and use of natural resources by the pre-modern and indigenous communities to the suggestions about transplanting them in the present epoch, and from the advocacy of preservation of natural resources to the consideration of nature as a separate entity that needs the positive intervention of humans to restore its pristine growth. However, what is lacking in such future-oriented prescriptive endeavours is the lack of scientific and materialistic understanding of the complex web of nature-human-society relationship. Hence natural history needs to be studied along with the social history, in spite of the fact that there is an active change within the nature itself. This paper attempts to propose that the ecological rift cannot be addressed through moralistic compass nor techno-capitalism, without addressing the contradictions that exist in the nature-human relationship in the capitalist mode of production and its social praxis.