Reports from Abroad: Dr. Krishna Mani Pathak (Part 1)

This series questions and complicates what ‘reporting from abroad’ can mean in a globalised world that faces interconnected and local crises alongside forces grappling with how to liberate our beings from oppressive structures rooted in past and present (neo)colonialism and imperialism. We can take this as a chance to collectively and constructively consider both broader and different conceptions of philosophy than those more widely studied within USA institutions and culture—and the conditions that shape such studies around the globe by APA-related thinkers. We can learn how local institutions and global contexts shape the possibilities of research, speech, and our visions of philosophy.

Meet Krishna Mani Pathak:

Currently, Dr. Krishna Mani Pathak is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Hindu College, University of Delhi, India, and serves as a member of the APA’s Committee on International Cooperation for a three-year term from Jul 2020-Jun 2023. His research interests include history of Indian and Western metaphysics, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Gandhian philosophy, comparative philosophy and religion, European philosophy (mainly German tradition), moral and political philosophy, and global issues. With an MA and MPhil in Philosophy from the University of Delhi, he completed his doctoral dissertation on Kant’s moral philosophy at Heidelberg University, Germany, in 2010. He taught two courses on Classical Indian Philosophy at Heidelberg University before joining Hindu College permanently in January 2011. In 2017, Dr. Pathak was an International Academic (Visiting Professor) at the School of Indological Studies of Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI), Mauritius, teaching courses on classical and contemporary Indian philosophy and Western ethics alongside theme-centric research. During his last ten years at Hindu College, he served as Department Chair for three terms, as Deputy Dean of Students’ Welfare at the University of Delhi for two years, and as a Managing Committee Member of the University’s Gandhi Bhawan for more than two years, amongst other administrative committees of the university and college. In the past, Dr. Pathak has also served as an external assessor for Insight Grants applications of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada. Since 2020, Dr. Pathak sits on the editorial board of The Acorn: Philosophical Studies in Pacifism and Nonviolence and serves as a reviewer of numerous reputed philosophy journals. 

PART I.

Please describe the research that is your primary area while in or reason for being in this location.

Although my teaching includes a variety of courses on classical Sanskrit texts, Later Greek philosophy, logic, philosophy of religion, contemporary Indian philosophy, moral psychology, existentialism, philosophy of science, German idealism, modern western philosophy, and Indian and western ethics, my academic research is primarily comparative with two main components: metaphysics and ethics. I deal with metaphysical and ethical questions pertaining to the existence of the world (the cosmos), philosophical interpretations of life, and the limits of human knowledge. My writings engage readers with philosophical parallels between Indian intellectual history and western philosophical discourse on questions of life, self, identity, mysticism, the knowability problem, human agency, free will, and rational choice-making. 

My inquisitive mind seeks to locate the existing ideological gaps between traditions and searches for how our metaphysical (knowledge) can help us make ethical decisions in life. Since India has a rich philosophical history and is blissfully my home country and a land of all major religions of the world, I love to conduct my research here. Thus India is the centre of my life and research activity. However, since I believe in a philosophy beyond borders and in global citizenship, I welcome every corner of the world as my home. That means wherever I go for teaching or research, no matter where, I very much feel as though I am in my homeland.

How does your current research there relate to other research, areas of interest, or activities you are pursuing? Please describe them.

If you look at my major publications including the two latest ones—Quietism, Agnosticism and Mysticism: Mapping the Philosophical Discourse of the East and the West (Springer, 2021) and ‘Selfhood and the Problem of Sameness: Some Reflections’ (JICPR, Springer, 2022)—you will realize that every problem or topic that I take up for my research demands and demonstrates the comparison of philosophical views. This is evident in all my published works and conference presentations. No one will deny the fact that we live in a globalized world where every piece of research or experiment carried out in any corner of the world has connections and references to other research, whether natural sciences, social sciences, or liberal arts. 

The growing trend of comparative studies in philosophy, cultural studies, religions, cognitive science, and life sciences is a positive impact of intellectual globalization on our thinking and research. Some of my comparative research done so far gives an idea of the strength of the intellectual bonds between Indian philosophical history and German philosophy on the one hand and between the ‘East’ and the ‘West’ on the other. This has also helped international researchers shift their focus from the philosophy of the Euro-centric world to that of ‘eastern’ minds. I think my works reflect this inter-traditional connection and inclusiveness of philosophical ideas quite clearly. 

How do you see this research contributing to larger philosophical discussions and/or your own future—or current other areas of—research?

Correct me if I’m wrong but the truth is that ‘western’ philosophical thoughts have occupied a major portion of the ‘world’ history of ideas. Anything that we used to talk about in science, philosophy, and art a few centuries ago, with the exception of Buddhism, referenced predominantly ‘western’ minds or theory and has to a larger extent intellectually colonized the rest of the world. This has now changed—thanks to cross-border collaboration, intercontinental faculty mobility, and comparative research. Research carried out in the ‘eastern’ world and global south has encouraged ‘western’ scholars to revisit their histories and worldviews with a holistic approach and to confront cultural bias. My research sheds potentially thought-changing light on points of intercultural fusion. For example: my papers, ‘Nishkama Karma and the Categorical Imperative: A Philosophical Reflection on the Bhagwad-Gita’ (IJAE, 2013), ‘The Quintessence of the Upanishadic Wisdom and the Solace of Schopenhauer’s Life’ (Springer, 2017/18), and ‘Intuition is a Blend of Cognition and Consciousness: An Examination of the Philosophies of Kant and Krishnamurti’ (Routledge, 2018). In these, I size up the strength of the intellectual connection between Indian philosophical schools and German philosophers. My work in the field of comparative philosophy highlights that many major ‘western’ ideas—Idealism, Materialism, Atomism, Transcendentalism, and Evolutionism—are present in classical Indian texts. Such connections are vital to the east-west relationship. Thus my research, in drawing inter-traditional connections, contributes to opening up larger philosophical discussions alongside enhancing my academic profile and global career prospects. 

Please describe the style of writing, steps within research, modes of feedback, and academic community in your place of research.

Honestly speaking, the research environment and work culture in India are not as good as we find in western countries where creative ideas and innovative research are not compromised but promoted at every cost. India has a different story. Let me tell you the fact: the western world that colonized India and took away its wealth and prosperity depicts India as a poor nation on the world map, and this leaves a negative impact on young Indian minds. The new generation of post-independent India, unaware of India’s philosophical wealth and history, ironically started to believe that India is a poor nation where research and innovation cannot happen due to a lack of resources and funding. Unfortunately, this belief in an impoverished India adversely affected pedagogical and research activities at India’s higher educational institutions. I am disheartened to share that the academic community in India and in my place of research, particularly in philosophy and other Liberal Arts subjects, is disengaged in healthy debates and discussions, and is highly obsessed with obnoxious politics.

Due to my workplace’s lack of resources and growing hatred and jealousy internal to the academic community, many are not able to study, research, and write as they would have expected. Few manage to do systematic research and paper-writing; most have developed no proclivity for genuine academic research. The academic community lacks a sense of appreciation for passionately pursued research. Although the government claims that research in higher education is among its top priorities, the reality of research at Indian higher institutions tells us something else. These conditions adversely affect my own research. Academics like me feel deeply demotivated and disappointed. Creative exchange hardly ever occurs at my workplace. From this, I admit with a heavy heart: (1) whatever little research I do is not what I could produce if I were in a favourable research environment, and (2) India is not poor but is an economically sound country—its poverty is in its academic vision and implementation of policies.  

Are there any stories about your research experience you would like to share? If so, please do.

I have one story from Germany to share: When I joined Heidelberg University as a PhD student in 2007, I was surprised to find that there was no course offered on Indian Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy. When I met and spoke to my supervisor and then-Director Prof. Dr. Peter McLaughlin, I found out that the department had never taught a course on Indian philosophy because most people didn’t even know about the rich tradition of Indian philosophy—from classical to contemporary. To them, what we call Indian philosophy was simply the history of Indian religions that was being taught in the Department of Classical Indology at the South Asian Institute (SAI) of Heidelberg University. I had thought that maybe Indian philosophy, besides Indian religions, would have been taught at the SAI.

In early 2008, I made a few visits to SAI in the Neuenheimer Feld, across the north side of the Neckar River, to speak to Prof. Dr. Axel Michaels who is a great scholar of classical Indology with profound knowledge of Indian theology. He told me that the SAI taught and researched primarily Indian theology and rituals, not philosophy, reminding me of how Indology in Germany has primarily been accepted as a subdiscipline of linguistics and/or religious studies. My shock increased even more because, as far as I was aware, all the universities and colleges of India that taught philosophy featured (and features even today) a 60-70% Western philosophy curriculum. Virtually no one in India questions this proportion. 

I was disappointed to learn how Heidelberg University neglected Indian philosophy. I assumed that was the situation at all other European universities. I felt dismayed to think that the rich and enlightening ancient philosophical tradition of India was actually missing at Western universities, despite many eminent German scholars—namely Heinrich Roth (1620-1668), August Wilhelm Schlegel (1772-1829), Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835), Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866), Max Müller (1823-1900), Paul Jakob Deussen (1845-1919), Hermann Georg Jacobi (1850-1937), Johannes Nobel (1887-1960), Heinrich Robert Zimmer (1890-1943), Paul Thieme (1905-2001), Paul Hacker (1913-1979), Wilhelm Halbfass (1940-2000), Georg Feuerstein (1947-2012), and Lambert Schmithausen (1939–)—having found the tradition philosophically fascinating and a source of ancient human wisdom.

Well! Prof. McLaughlin accepted my offer to teach a course on Classical Indian Philosophy in the 2008 Winter Semester (WiSe). It was a historic moment and a moment of great joy for me as an Indian researcher. I designed a one-year course on three different thought systems, or schools, in classical Indian philosophy of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism in 2008-2009 for two consecutive semesters in collaboration with the SAI for Bachelor’s and Master’s students. Interestingly, 25-30 students took both of the successful courses. Incidentally, in 2009-2010 the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) under the Government of India established The Heinrich Zimmer Chair for Indian Philosophy and Intellectual History at Heidelberg University. Prof. Dhruv Raina, a renowned science historian from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, was the first recipient of the ICCR Chair and spent a year at Heidelberg University teaching a couple courses in the Department of Philosophy while I was there. 

Although the student response to my proposed course on Krishnamurti was encouraging, in 2010-2011 I had to leave Germany to join Hindu College. When I returned to Heidelberg to finalise my transition to Hindu College, the students’ foremost question was whether there would be a course on Indian philosophy and taught by whom. I had no positive answer to the dismay of previous and hopeful students.      

I am sharing this incident to help western researchers realize how the Western world takes the knowledge system of the Eastern world (and also the Southern Hemisphere). The situation described is still similar today. Not much has changed. I would like to submit loudly that Western universities and scholars should come out of their field to look at every philosophical tradition in the world so that they can evaluate their own philosophical wealth in a fairer and more holistic way. This would surely help them to refine their knowledge—for their students and for the world at large.

Part 2 of this Reports from Abroad interview will be published Monday, Sept. 12.

Krishna Mani Pathak

Associate Professor of Philosophy at Hindu College, University of Delhi, India

Dr. Krishna Mani Pathak is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Hindu College, University of Delhi, India, and serves on the APA Committee of International Cooperation. He received his MPhil from University of Delhi and completed his doctoral dissertation at Heidelberg University, Germany. He has taught philosophy at both these institutions, including Indian philosophy and Western ethics. He has served on numerous committees and positions including Department Chair at the former. He also sits on the editorial board of The Acorn: Philosophical Studies in Pacifism and Nonviolence.

alicehank winham

alicehank winham studied BA Philosophy and Theology at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, where ze is now pursuing an MPhil Buddhist Studies at Lady Margaret Hall through the Faculty of Oriental Studies soon to be renamed the ‘Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.’ Ze focuses on philosophy of logic and language and social epistemology across traditions, including classical Buddhist philosophy and its modern interpreters, feminist philosophy, and the Black Radical Tradition. alicehank is also dedicated to critical pedagogy, philosophies of transformation and liberation, and social and environmental activism, such as through mentoring programmes, publishing journals, and direct action. In philosophy, ze works on expanding our disciplinary and interpretative horizons for a more caring and considered world through oxfordpublicphilosophy.com and Philiminality Oxford. Ze also works to reflect and act upon zer values through Biblionasium, environmental activism, and Lift Economy’s Next Economy MBA.