Papers by Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach
Journal of World Philosophies, 2024
ToC, Winter Issue 2024
Teaching Philosophy, 2024
To step up the activity level of academic philosophizing, ‘Teaching World Philosophies’ will prop... more To step up the activity level of academic philosophizing, ‘Teaching World Philosophies’ will propose that one first engage in a thorough housecleaning before teaching world-philosophical traditions today. In the path that will be sketched as an example in this regard, I will critically engage ‘the West,’ a concept that looms over an adequate academic engagement with world philosophies today. Bringing into the conversation Humayun Kabir’s (1906-1969) analysis of philosophy as a space that can generate and foster critical independent thinking within a society, I will argue that a change in ingrained patterns of conducting a social activity like academic philosophy can be changed. This change might, in fact, be urgent especially in those locales in Europe in which academic philosophy as it is practiced today was crafted.
Fordham University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2024
Philosophy east & west/Philosophy East and West, Apr 1, 2024
In the first part of my response to Arvind-pal Mandair's Sikh Philosophy (2022), I will b... more In the first part of my response to Arvind-pal Mandair's Sikh Philosophy (2022), I will bring into this conversation Mandair’s philosophical orientation to ask whether and how he would contribute to that debate. In the second part, I will project the haumai—one concept doing much of the work in Sikh Philosophy—as one viable path that may be able to contribute to the correction of the epistemophilia currently afflicting a judicious study of world-philosophical traditions.
Philosophy East and West, 2024
In the first part of my response to Arvind-pal Mandair's Sikh Philosophy (2022), I will bring int... more In the first part of my response to Arvind-pal Mandair's Sikh Philosophy (2022), I will bring into this conversation Mandair’s philosophical orientation to ask whether and how he would contribute to that debate. In the second part, I will project the haumai—one concept doing much of the work in Sikh Philosophy—as one viable path that may be
able to contribute to the correction of the epistemophilia currently afflicting a judicious study of world-philosophical traditions.
Brill | Fink eBooks, 2007
Trames, 2001
Today, political philosophy is witness to liberal justifications of nationalism. Liberal national... more Today, political philosophy is witness to liberal justifications of nationalism. Liberal nationalists regard nationalism as a fundamental good which is instrumental in forming individual identity. They argue that liberals should not dismiss nationalism as a primitive, tribal urge but instead learn from it. In fact the sense of belongingness and relatedness which is so constitutive of nationalism could help counteract liberal maladies. Liberal nationalists urge one to consider nationalism not as opposed to reason but as an enriching force which can eliminate the alienation associated with modernity. This paper tries to show that a normative justification of liberal nationalism proves to be problematic on various counts. It does not fare well with liberal morality with its emphasis on reason and reflection. Moreover, a priority to the nation, as opposed to the state, could also have consequences for liberal institutions. They would have to take a back seat and hope that in crucial times individual nations decide to stand by them. "What is the Nation? It is the aspect of a whole people as an organised power. This organisation incessantly keeps up the insistence of the population on becoming strong and efficient. But this strenuous effort after strength and efficiency drains man's energy from his higher nature where he is self-sacrificing and creative. For thereby man's power of sacrifice is diverted from his ultimate object, which is moral, to the maintenance of this organisation, which is mechanical (...) He feels relieved of the urging of his conscience when he can transfer his responsibility to this machine which is the creation of his intellect and not of his complete moral personality" (Tagore 1995: 66-67). Liberal nationalism-a critique Justifications of nationalism seem to be making a headway in political philosophy 1. Its proponents contend that liberalism and nationalism are not 1 See especially Hurka 1997; Miller 1997; Tamir 1993. Kymlicka (1995) offers a similar view although he carefully avoids the term 'nationalism' and favours the term 'community' instead. In Nielsen's (1999) "rooted" cosmopolitanism, social liberal commitments are considered to be more weightier than nationalistic ones.
Brill | Fink eBooks, 2007
Confluence
In the following thematic introduction, we seek to situate Confluence within the field of compara... more In the following thematic introduction, we seek to situate Confluence within the field of comparative philosophy and substantiate why we deem a new publication necessary. For this purpose, we reconstruct the salient stages in the development of comparative philosophy in Section I, and then proceed to expound the rationale underlying Confluence in Section II. Our reconstruction of these stages pursues an exploratory rather than a documentary approach.
Dialogue with Classical Indian Traditions, 2019
In different ways, bhakti traditions seem to be antithetical to circumscribing fixed boundaries o... more In different ways, bhakti traditions seem to be antithetical to circumscribing fixed boundaries of a community. For one, their inclusionary impetus would render most boundaries potentially fuzzy. In principle, any other human being (or rather living being) can become a practitioner, a devotee of god. For another, traditional beliefs, be they religious, social and/or political, have to be tested on the basis of direct individual experience. This experience, furthermore, cannot be studied by academic or textual analysis. Rather, fellow sojourners, who seek to understand and interpret their own experiences with the divine, are called upon to actively engage with and interpret such claims. In this paper, I will briefly dwell on three santakaviyatrīs of the Maharashtrian Vārkarī tradition and analyse how they attempt to negotiate boundary crossing. This tradition, which thrives in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, traces its lineage back to the thirteenth century. I will attempt to shed light upon the manner in which Muktābaī, Janābāī and Bahiṇābāī “relate to contexts of gendered constructions” (Pechilis 2014: 102). If the reading offered in this paper is plausible, it would allow feminist scholarship in India to broaden its scope and dock onto indigenous sources which are hitherto understudied.
Gibt es ein Menschenrecht auf Immigration?, 2007
Gibt es ein Menschenrecht auf Immigration?, 2007
Gibt es ein Menschenrecht auf Immigration?, 2007
Humanistic Ethics in the Age of Globality
The main aim of this essay will be to examine humanistic values in the Indian and Chinese philoso... more The main aim of this essay will be to examine humanistic values in the Indian and Chinese philosophical traditions and to argue for the need for an awareness of these positions in business ethics. From the point of view of business, one could doubt the relevance of these traditions. Indian philosophical systems are commonly thought of as preoccupied with otherworldly concerns; moreover, the feudal backdrop of ancient Chinese positions appears unsettling today. Could anything at all, one could ask, be gleaned from them, even in debates which try, for example, to develop transnational ethical norms to guide one’s business conduct? In section four, I will attempt to dispel such doubts.
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2023
We live in highly complex, diverse societies. These are nested in our interdependent world, a wor... more We live in highly complex, diverse societies. These are nested in our interdependent world, a world in which regional events impact distant locations. A closer look at the gadgets we use for our social media networks, the clothes we hereby wear and the munchies awaiting us during these sessions of internet exploration are some reliable indications of this interconnection. But do practices in academic philosophy reflect this correlative way of existing? This chapter will argue that this query cannot be affirmed at this point in time. I will draw from relational knowing to ground my position. This body of work draws our attention to the concrete processes through which knowledge is made. Knowers are doers. They are not abstract individuals dealing with discrete conceptual schemes and beliefs. They stand in concrete relations to the specific spatiotemporal contexts they inhabit. One would, arguably, need multiple, local standpoints to tease out the interconnectedness of our world through relational knowing adequately.
Religion, Menschenrechte und Menschenrechtspolitik, 2010
Im Folgenden stehen Menschenrechtsbegrundungen im Mittelpunkt, die fur den interkulturellen Konte... more Im Folgenden stehen Menschenrechtsbegrundungen im Mittelpunkt, die fur den interkulturellen Kontext konzipiert wurden. In der Analyse dieser Begrundungen ist der Begriff des Menschenrechts unverzichtbar; dieser wird daher zunachst skizziert. Im Anschluss soll die Struktur einer interkulturell-philosophisch tragbaren Menschenrechtsbegrundung entwickelt werden.
The aim of my essay is to show that the standpoint of Nishida Kitaro's early theory of "pure expe... more The aim of my essay is to show that the standpoint of Nishida Kitaro's early theory of "pure experience" remains intact throughout his philosophical development to the later period, through examining the notion of the "eternal present." Pure experience is not "subjective, " nor is it a state of "consciousness, " but rather an ontological opening in the Here/Now, which Nishida reinterprets as the "eternal present." The eternal present is a concrete actuality as our present; as such, it is the current historical moment in the "dialectical world." As selves in this dialectic of the Here/ Now, we are responsible for the decisions we make today (in the Here/ Now) for the making of our reality in the present.
Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 2022
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Papers by Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach
able to contribute to the correction of the epistemophilia currently afflicting a judicious study of world-philosophical traditions.
Part I: https://brill.com/view/journals/jcph/49/1/jcph.49.issue-1.xml
Part II: https://brill.com/view/journals/jcph/49/2/jcph.49.issue-2.xml
Part III: https://brill.com/view/journals/jcph/49/3/jcph.49.issue-3.xml
able to contribute to the correction of the epistemophilia currently afflicting a judicious study of world-philosophical traditions.
Part I: https://brill.com/view/journals/jcph/49/1/jcph.49.issue-1.xml
Part II: https://brill.com/view/journals/jcph/49/2/jcph.49.issue-2.xml
Part III: https://brill.com/view/journals/jcph/49/3/jcph.49.issue-3.xml
virtue theory of knowledge, and cross-cultural philosophy. The brief conclusion braids together different strands of the argument.
This article deals with new interpretations of liberal ideals. It pursues two goals: Using Charles Taylor’s intercultural narratives as a lens, it firstly attempts to ascertain whether such interpretations can be captured by using the perspective of specific, historically situated, political communities. Secondly, it seeks to address the question, whether state measures aimed at rectifying structural inequality can be conducive to the development of such interpretations.
Panel Discussion with: Douglas L. Berger, Pete Groff and Leah Kalmanson
The issue itself is can be downloaded from the journal's site: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jwp/issue/view/37
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jwp/index
Aiming to shed critical light on the potential diversity holds for structuring the field, the workshop will bring together international scholars to think through these and other relevant questions.
Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach's and Leah Kalmanson's introduction marks a break from conventional approaches. Instead of assuming philosophy has always operated with a single, easily identifiable conceptual framework across space and time, which we call-and have always called-philosophy, they attest to the plurality of concepts and methods adopted at different times and places.
The book serves as a practical teaching guide to the theoretical and methodological diversification of philosophy as practiced in academia today. Complementing the Bloomsbury Introductions to World Philosophies series, it covers a variety of traditions featured in the book series, exploring how Anglo-American, Chinese, Indian, African, Islamicate, and Maori thinkers have all addressed fundamental questions such as:
· How do we understand ourselves and our relations to others?
· How do we understand our world?
· How do we seek knowledge, share knowledge, and, importantly, intervene in the norms of received knowledge when needed?
Featuring teaching notes, discussion questions, and a list of further reading, this is a book packed with the background, guidance, and tools required to teach different philosophies. Through it we come to see why making room for different conceptual frameworks improves our understanding of ourselves and the worlds we live in.