Sessional Cannonisation And Doxography.docx

NAME: SAMANNEETA CHAKRABORTY REGISTRATION NUMBER : 1830621009 SUBJECT :

ROLL NO : HIST24.

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ABSTRACT.

INTRODUCTION. Human sciences has been governed following the model of natural sciences, although John Stuart Mill acknowledges the fact that human sciences has its own logic and self-reflection is a part of it. To Mill, the term ‘ Geistewissenschaften’ implies that the conclusion of an argument is probable , based upon the evidence given. Human sciences are inheritors of the intellectualism of German classicism which not only brought to light criticizing aesthetic art but gave birth to the idea of reasoning.1However, it is wrong to assume that philosophy is a natural science and philosophers main aim remains to identify the fundamental questions that make philosophy. .THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TECHNOLOGIES OF THE SELF IN ACQUIRING TRUTH. Pliny, the Greek Philosopher asserts that one could take care of onself by engaging in writing. Michael Foucault states that the self became a subject of writing activity, whose origin can be traced to Greco- Roman philosophy. ‘Alcibiades’, Plato’s first treatise contends that dialogue is an important feature in discovering truth in the soul. However, by the time of Plutarch, the art of listening and silence becomes crucial in finding out the difference between falsehood and truth.2 On the other hand, H.G Gadamear uses the term ‘gehoren’ whose root word is ‘horen’ which

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Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall, eds., Truth and Method( New York :Continuum Publishing House, 1989),pp.3-8. 2 Luther H.Martin, Mark Gutman and Patririck H. Hutton, eds., Technologies of the Self (London :Tavistock Publications, 1988),pp.16-27.

means listening to. Hence, listening reads to reasoning, as pointed out by Plutarch. Stoicism, is a school of Hellenistic philosophy contends that human beings are social beings and the only path to happiness is accepting the moment as it presents itself, and not being controlled by pleasures and using logic to understand the mind. Hence , Gadamear argues that the author and the reader engages in a conversation with each other , as they discuss the subject of their discussion and become part of a dialogical process. ‘Askesis’ is only obtained through the acquisition and assimilation of truth The principal feature of askesis is where the subject puts himself in situation and question his preparedness to confront them ,where as ‘paraskeuazo’ are a set of practices by which one is able to transform truth into a principle of action. The Greeks used two binary terms to describe these exercises known as ‘melete’ and ‘ gymansia’. The term ‘melete’ means “meditation” or meditatio deriving its root from the Latin translation and has the same root as ‘epimelestbai’ which means “taking pains with oneself”. Melete is a task which one undertakes to prepare a trajectory by thinking over previous arguments. This is an imagined situation were one would think about past memories and imagine oneself reacting a particular way. Judging one’s reasoning in order to test an event or action is known as reasoning. The most famous meditation exercise had been practiced by the Stoics known as ‘premeditatio mallorum’ . This exercise would preach a pessimistic version of the future and has three parameters to it. The first parameter tells one to imagine the worst to happen in future. The second warns us that these worst events are already taking place in our present. The third teaches us to accept these misfortunes and this eidectic reduction consists of present as well as future events. Thus, melete trains our thought process through the creation of an imagined situation. Gymansia, on the other hand is an exercise of training oneself in a real

situation even if it is artificially created. However, for the Stoics this exercise measures an individual’s response in accordance with the external world. 3 Epicetus, the Greek philosopher teaches us to evaluate our idea by vigilantly testing them through some rules. The first exercise he uses is question and answer games whose end motive is to teach us a moral lesson, where as the second exercise is self-examination. Hence, Stoicism asserts that the examination of self is achieved through self-knowledge which one can gain through memory. Thereafter, Seneca’s “De Ira” is an examination of conscience is achieved through errors which have been committed throughout the day by distinguishing what has already taken place and what measures can be taken to correct these errors. This is coined by the Greeks as “logismoi” which can be defined as cognitions and reasoning.4 In Plato’s treatise ‘Alcibades I’ , Socrates seeks to lead Alcibades to a knowledge of himself who wishes to enter political life and hence, self-knowledge becomes the core of Western ethical thought, might be termed as the theoretical knowledge of self. This tradition emphasizes seeing oneself in the eyes of the other. The Eastern tradition asserts the deciphering of the self by listening and later, through reading . John Staurt Mill in his book ‘Logic’ states that the human sciences is not independent in having its own logic but the inductive method is applicable in this field too. David Hume, on the other hand argues that human sciences works with predicting individual phenomena. According to H.G.Gadamer , the main aim of the human or moral sciences is to understand the individual

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Luther H.Martin, Mark Gutman and Patririck H. Hutton, eds., Technologies of the Self (London :Tavistock Publications, 1988),pp.28-38. 4 Luther H.Martin, Mark Gutman and Patririck H. Hutton, eds., Technologies of the Self (London :Tavistock Publications, 1988),pp. 20-46.

phenomena in its historical context. Herman Helmholtz asserts that human sciences arrives at conclusions through psychological conditions such as memory. HERMENUTICS : THE ART OF INTERPRETATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE TECHNOLOGY OF SELF. Hermenutics is defined as the science of interpretation and stresses the individuality of each human expression and allows us to choose the meaning of utterance. However, hermeneutics plays a major role in the interpretation of religious texts. F.D.E Schleiermacher argues that language is a fluid, growing medium whose meaning cannot be completely known, although he uses hermeneutics to understand an author’s words. Nevertheless, Schleimermacher hermeneutic ambition is to find a language of creativity, which is not determined by rationalized scientific procedure to gain insight of one’s vocation. William Dithley, on the other hand asserts that the aim of hermeneutics is to understand what the author might have said by judging oneself aesthetically and historically. Bildung is defined by Herder as ascending to humanity through culture and is associated to developing one’s natural talents and capacities. The word Bildung evokes a mysticism according to which man carries in his soul the image of God after whom he is shaped and which man must nourish in himself. G.W.F. Hegel asserts that Bildung defines the concepts of Universality. To Hegel, a man who is unable to turn himself towards something universal, he is lacking in the power of abstraction. Hence, he points out that acquiring a skill, man gains a sense of himself. Every single individual raises himself out of his own natural desires and needs to the spiritual finds in language, customs which he makes his own. However, to Hegel, Bildung can only be achieved through alienation and appropriation of surrending one’s desires and the dissolution of

it reaching only in the absolute knowledge of philosophy. Helmholtz , on the other hand describes how human sciences work such as philosophy and history based on artistic feeling and memory which he terms as ‘tact, formed and is an essential element in the of the “ finite” element of a man. Humanism brought with itself the revivalism of the Greek language and an emphasis on rhetoric. However, Vico asserts the importance of “sensus communis” or common sense as an ideal which the Greek philosophers proclaimed. By referring to the epistemetic tradition of the Greeks, were Aristotle distinguishes between practical (phronesis ) and theoretical knowledge which is based on circumstances. Hence, phronesis is an intellectual virtue which co- exists with ethical vitues . This leads man to a code of conduct and formation of his moral attitude by which he judges what is right and wrong. Bacon, on the other hand argues that historia exists in its own right as human passions cannot always be governed by reason and sees history as a philosophy.5 Fredrich Meinecke states that in Europe arose a resistance to the idea that human beings observe laws of their own nature that are invariable and constant. Voltaire writing a history on Universal history argues that citizens in different socities aimed to govern with the help of natural law.The development of the concept of common sense is closely intertwined with common understanding whose feature is marked by judgement and plays an important role in aesthetics. Taste, on the other hand marks a balance between sensory judgement and intellectual capability as man distinguishes between the necessities of life through cognition and sense. AESTTHETICS AS THE WORK OF GENIUS AND THE CONCEPT OF EXPERIENCE.

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Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall, eds., Truth and Method( New York :Continuum Publishing House, 1989),pp.3-17

Kant states that the beautiful engages our interests and emphasizes the advantage of natural over artistic beauty. Therefore beautiful depends on suitability of the thing represented to our cognition and this arouses interest leading to the cultivation of moral sensibility. According to Kant, natural beauty teaches man that he is the ultimate goal of creation. This he coins as “aesthetic ideas” which lies beyond all concepts.

CANNONISATION AS ‘GEISTESGESCHIHTE’. Contemporary philosophers wish to reconstruct the arguments of great dead philosophers in the hope of able to understand their views. According to Richard Rorty, one should describe the philosophers of the past in their own context were their thoughts had flourished. However, the reader is influenced by his own opinions and thought process in which he describes the dead, while reading the text of the author who attempts to construct his predecessor in his own approach. Rorty coins the term ‘un-reudacted’ or original.6 Hence, knowing what the great philosophers would have talked about helps in knowing an epistemtic tradition. However, who is counted as a great philosopher is of great importance to the history of philosophy. Quentin Skinner asserts that a historian who enquires into intellectual traditions asks himself what the fundamental question is while he is interpreting a text. However, to Skinner there are two conflicting answers; one been that religious, political and economic ideas play a role and the second been the autonomy of the text which allows it to be an object of inquiry and understanding. For a historian it is essential to concentrate on Greek philosophers such as Aristotle , to understand fundamental questions of their time and their opinion on politics. This has a problematic outcome that the opinion of the classical writer is given the position of a doctrine and the immediate focus being on the individual thinker.7 However, the philosopher was confined in his time and therefore his ideas need to be re-interpreted. This is described as “geistesgeschichlitch” . On the other hand, “geistesgeschihte” can be defined as seeing the philosopher’s work as a totality rather than focusing on his arguments.

Richard Rorty, “The historiography of philosophy :four genres”, in Philosophy in History, ed. Richard Rorty, J.B. Scheenewind and Quentin Skinner ( New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984) pp. 49-51. 7 Quentin Skinner, “Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas”, History and Theory, Vol.8, No.1 (1969): pp.3-5. 6

Nevertheless, it is true that cannon- formation can be synonymously defined as a norm when contemporary philosophers refer to great dead philosophers while pointing to a philosophical question or a debate. DOXOGRAPHY AS A GENRE . Hermann Diels coined the term ‘doxographers’ or writer of opinions as a binary against ‘biographus’ or writer of lives. The origin of Greek doxography can be traced to Theophratus’s work “ Tenets in Natural Philosophy”. 8 Michael Focault asserted that doxography can be traced to the dialectical method of Aristotle who had sought to argue that one should begin an inquiry on onself by reflecting on the opinion of others.9 According to Olle Qvarnstrom, doxography in the Indian context can be seen as writings who attempted to provide a comprehensive and impartial account of an opponent’s views. Scholars of Indian philosophy define doxography as a genre of Indian texts using the Sanskrit term “samuccaya” or collection. The Jaina doxographer, Haribhadra classifies the philosophical schools according to deity. Richard Rorty claims that the great late philosophers should be discerned in the light of the fundamental problems that are now being scrutizined by contemporary philosophers. In Rorty’s view, philosophy is not a natural science as it deals with metadhological and conceptual issues that are posed by other disciplines, such as history. Nevertheless, philosophy is believed to deal with fundamental philosophical questions and therefore, each generation of philosophers is assumed to study these questions just as their predecessors.10 However, the reader is equally

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Andrew J.Nicholson Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History(New York: Columbia University Press, 2010),pp.144-146. 9 Luther H.Martin, Mark Gutman and Patririck H. Hutton, eds., Technologies of the Self (London :Tavistock Publications, 1988),pp. 10 Richard Rorty, “The historiography of philosophy :four genres”, in Philosophy in History, ed. Richard Rorty, J.B. Scheenewind and Quentin Skinner ( New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984) pp.61-65.

imfluenced by their own intellectual tradition while reading texts that are criticizing another author’s opinion on a certain argument that they envisioned as the principal problem of their time.