Reports from Abroad: Dr. Krishna Mani Pathak (Part 2)

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 consider 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.

Part 1 of this Reports from Abroad interview was published on September 5th 2022.

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 II.

What are the expectations and the role of philosophy in academic institutions, the culture, and/or the broader public there? What responsibilities and expectations come along with your research in this country?

The 7th–6th BCE Greek word philosophia (philosophy), defined as ‘love(r) of wisdom,’ does not actually capture the holistic role philosophy plays since it refers to only one particular kind of human love for Sophia (translated as ‘wisdom’ in philosophy). Sophia, prior to Plato, referred to artistic and/or technical human skill, brilliance, or intelligence, and lacked the dimension of engaging in activity. However, the Sanskrit word ‘darśana’ (darśana śāstra for ‘philosophical treatises’) etymologically denotes the human activity of seeing/realizing Truth or Reality (दृश्यते यथार्थ तत्वमनेन) and can apply to either the mundane world (the physical world) or the transcendental world (the divine world of deities/God, in some understandings). From a darśana perspective, philosophy plays a significant role in shaping individual worldviews, human psychology and behaviour, the objectives and features of academic institutions where we teach and research, and the dynamics of local and global human culture in order to better serve the public. (See more about how this is vital to students’ development in my short article on News18.)

In India, both laypeople and the majority of academics at Indian higher education institutions often talk about spirituality and mental peace, which they feel can be better realized by seeing human life through a philosophical lens. Perhaps, this is why elements of spirituality, peace, and mindfulness can be seen in most research presented or published by Indian scholars working in India today. Ironically, though, philosophy in India has become like a ceremonial ritual glorifying some conventional beliefs while garlanding their supporters. Philosophical endeavours seem to have been lost to cultural and religious formalism. Rigorous and pure philosophical research has become as rare as water droplets in the desert. Most Indian faculty and scholars of Indian philosophy at Indian institutions seem to believe in such a ritualised philosophy. Some of them did their PhDs in philosophy simply to get a job, some to teach with no proclivity for research, and some to enter politics. 

I am certainly not encouraged by philosophy’s position in Indian institutions for two reasons: Firstly, the proper study of philosophy here starts at the undergraduate level and in only a few institutions. For example, out of 91 UG/PG colleges of Delhi University, only 20-21 colleges have a Philosophy Department. Some of those colleges offer both undergraduate and graduate philosophy courses and others offer only undergraduate. Secondly, philosophy in India is not taught alongside the natural sciences, engineering, economics, commerce, and management before university. The general public perceives that other subjects afford better opportunities and decent job avenues while philosophy and indigenous literature lead to unemployment. Students and their parents are reluctant to encourage pursuing philosophy. Some colleges and universities even that have philosophy departments have no students to teach, foreclosing the possibility of continued research in philosophy. 

Fortunately, my current institution —Hindu College of Delhi University— is among the top three premier colleges in Arts and Sciences in India and a dream college for prospective students. Every department, including philosophy, always has surplus students. Philosophy is in high demand – thanks to a teaching community known for meeting students’ expectations. However, very few teachers here are engaged with productive research in the field, although Indian higher education institutions expect a lot from research-oriented faculty. 

As a member of the Hindu College of Delhi University, I take producing and sharing quality research with students, future researchers, and the general public as my utmost responsibility. This motivates me to keep doing research, utilizing whatever limited resources I have in India. For example, using a generous Berry Fund for Public Philosophy awarded by the American Philosophical Association, I organised a one-day philosophy workshop entitled, ‘Enhancing Cognitive and Ethical Sensitiveness: School Students in a Philosophy Class’ for school students in my home district in 2021. This exemplifies a contextually unusual academic motivation supported by external resources. Philosophy thus could definitely support the desired positive future change in Indian academia if Indian policymakers, educators, academicians, and philosophers were to change their approach towards supporting philosophy similarly. 

Could you compare what it is like to do philosophical research there versus in the USA, and any other locations you’ve done philosophy? How do different countries understand and treat your area of specialisation and research topics?

To your first question, the qualitative philosophical research in the USA cannot be compared with that in India. I have been in and exchanged thoughts on teaching with academics from Germany for more than three years, in Mauritius for almost a semester, and in the USA, Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong, Netherlands and Switzerland during academic visits. I extensively gather that their institutions provide academics with suitable working space, physical and electronic resources, sufficient funding opportunities, and, moreover, academic motivation and a generative research environment. This supports a voluminous production of research projects, case studies, books, journal articles, and policy documents. In Indian colleges and universities, inadequate infrastructure, scarcity of resources and funding, lack of research motivation, members’ non-collaborative approach, administrative failures and mismanagement, and politically stressful work culture are common. I have learned that philosophical research outside India in places where I have studied and worked (therefore excluding mainland Africa, Latin America and Oceania) is more highly standardized than research in India.

To your second question: I am more familiar with the philosophical community outside than inside India due to my frequent collaborations with foreign scholars. My doctorate from Germany, publications in comparative philosophy, foreign visits, and professional association with the APA and other organizations have popularized my academic credentials. My research topics and areas of specialization are received positively by the international philosophy community, as evidenced by my academic profile. Philosophers, including friends at foreign institutions, appreciate my research and plans for future collaboration. Although not a native English speaker, I write and publish in English as much as I can in order to help western minds understand the richness of Indian philosophical thought. During my time outside India, I realized that even some well-established western scholars suffer from many misconceptions about and misinterpretations of Indian philosophy due to ‘western supremacy’ or inadequate knowledge of eastern philosophical treasures. I usually strive to elucidate Sanskrit terms, texts, and contexts in my work. 

Has researching there changed the way you think about philosophy? Please elaborate.

No. I don’t see any logically necessary connection between a particular place and a person’s philosophical thought. I believe that philosophers and philosophical texts, irrespective of their cultural roots, guide new researchers. Any philosopher or thinker should be able to see and/or think about Reality (if there is any – small or big, physical or nonphysical), existence (of Beings/things around us), and truth that we do or can know, such as reflected on by Aristotle in his Metaphysics. I often tell my students that philosophy is the only discipline that you can do even without paper and pencil and in any physical location, whether cafeteria, classroom, cremation site, under a tree, or Disneyland. To practice philosophy simply requires thought, insight, revelatory reflection, and nothing else. That is to say that only thinkers are/can be philosophers. See how easy and fascinating philosophy is or could be if thus understood.

Of course, if researching Social, Moral, Religious, or Political Philosophy, then methodology and contextual references cannot remain unaffected and uninfluenced by a thinker’s country’s living conditions. This applies to every thinker and philosopher who engages with socio-political philosophy and non-metaphysical questions. Yet a thinker does not have to live in a particular place or country to think about metaphysical questions; she can perform metaphysics in any part of the globe. Perhaps this is why, despite the cultural differences, it is possible to find a great degree of intellectual resemblance between prominent western and eastern philosophical ideas. I understand this as essential to philosophy. It is not that if I were in the United States of America or Germany or Bhutan or South Africa, my way of seeing the world would change. No, not at all. For instance, I do not find that differences in space, time, or religion forge an inseparable gap between Kant‘s rationalistic philosophy and Śaṅkara‘s ontology. If Kant was born in India, do you think this alone would have made his philosophical method and theories fundamentally different? I don’t think so. Similarly, if Śaṅkara (or Gautama Buddha!) was born in England, do you think he would have been essentially different? I don’t think so. To me, what seems unique is that both of these philosophers reach high levels of thought to portray different shades of a monistic picture of the world. I see these as fairly good reasons to believe that space and time (or, region and condition) play no fundamental role themselves in affecting what it is to do metaphysics. When doing metaphysics —my main philosophical focus— the question of being ‘here’ or ‘there’ does not arise for me.

How do the institutional structures and daily routines there affect the philosophy you do? Have any cultural practices or living experiences influenced your research there?

In my immediate experience, institutional structures and pedagogical framework here have a greater impact on my philosophical work than my daily routine does. On a grander scale: if institutions do not work properly, then every person associated with them, no matter how directly, is certainly affected somehow. A person’s own interests that drive her research can, however, mitigate devastating institutional effects, especially in a philosophy. This applies to me. My focus on pursuing my own research has meant that in the last few years I have avoided paying attention to the flux of Indian institutions because I know that their future is determined by Indian politics, not by academics like me. As long as I am not involved actively in politics, I can do nothing substantive to bring out the revolutionary or necessary change that I have identified as desirable. Despite my wishes, I cannot change these institutions’ working styles or futures. Instead, I spend whatever amount of time I can spare during nights and weekends on research. In this narrower view, my daily routines come to affect my research, mainly my writing. Let me explain.

If I understand correctly: at universities in North America and Europe, professors (assistant, associate, or full) are required to do 8-10 hours of teaching work in a week and otherwise can rest or research. In India I am required to teach and perform administrative work for 14-16 hours (unofficially, 18 to 20 hours, and seemingly 24/7). This leaves virtually no time for research and writing. Faculty who are married and/or have children find this even more difficult. Thankfully both my wife and 6-year-old daughter are supportive of all my work. Nonetheless, such required constraints upon my daily routine mean that I have more than a dozen pending manuscripts, 50-60% written, that I am unable to complete. What to do! Sometimes I think that if I had been at any American, European, or British university, I might have written and published a lot more.

Please don’t think that I am complaining about this experience in my homeland. I know this is how things are in India, though they could be made better. Nonetheless, I would like to recall that —referring to the philosophy of (Lord) Krishna given in the classical Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā— this is the Land/world of karma or action (Karmabhūmi) where every person should discharge deeds and duties faithfully. According to Krishna: “Yoga is skill in action” (बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते। तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् (2.50). As a philosopher and an inquisitive researcher, I have always endeavoured to fulfil my teaching and research duties. This is my practice of yoga-with-thought. So, this Krishna (my name!) is following the teachings of (Lord) Krishna or Krishna Consciousness. That’s it. (Anyone interested in Gita’s philosophical wisdom from a modern perspective can have a glimpse of it in ‘Comparison of the Conceptualization of Wisdom in Ancient Indian Literature with Modern Views’)

What special opportunities have you found doing research beyond the USA?

Since I haven’t had the opportunity to do research in the United States yet, I can’t make personal comparisons with what it is like to do research there. I can share two valuable opportunities from my academic career so far. Firstly, I found doing my doctoral and teaching in Germany very special. This maybe even has aided my acquiring a permanent position at Delhi University upon completion of my doctorate. Therefore, Germany and my friends and colleagues from Germany hold a special place in my academic life. I am grateful to Prof. McLaughlin, a Kant scholar, who encouraged me, both institutionally and personally, and provided me with the opportunity to research and teach at Heidelberg University. Whatever I am today comes from his superb mentoring at Heidelberg University and my academic training by Priyedarshi Jetli and a few other teachers from Delhi University. 

A second potential opportunity came in 2014-15 when the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius invited me to be an International Visiting Professor for one year. However, unexplainably, my institution’s administration did not sanction my leave. Such scenarios are quite common for faculty in India; so, I lost the opportunity. McLaughlin compared this loss to the inertia of the heavy motion of an oil tanker (a German saying). Two years later, in Dec. 2016, the Mahatma Gandhi Institute invited me again but for one semester. Yet after my administration took almost 2 months to sanction my leave, I could only go for the semester’s remaining months. The academic environment and facilities provided by MGI enabled me to publish a couple papers and to design two new courses for the Mahatma Gandhi Institute: 1) Business and Professional Ethics -BPE and 2) Gandhian and Peace Studies – GPS. I am very happy that the Mahatma Gandhi Institute runs these courses successfully.

Nonetheless, I wish to fulfil my research dreams with American scholars in the United States one day. I’m thinking optimistically. Let’s see. 

“To be honest, in the last few years I have avoided paying attention to how Indian institutions are doing because I know that the future of Indian institutions is determined by Indian politics and as long as I am away from active politics, I can do nothing substantive to bring out any revolutionary/necessary change. Even if I wish to do so, I cannot change the working style of the institutions and their future. Whatever amount of time I can spare from my teaching and daily routines, I spend on my research during nights and weekends.”

Given that this is one of your listed roles of philosophy, why do you think you cannot or, even though you cannot, should not strive to affect the working style of institutions and their future? Do you mean all institutions or only higher education institutions in India (if the latter, what about them in particular causes this belief?)

Firstly, this is a very pertinent question you have asked. The global community of philosophers should ask similar questions if serious about philosophy: Why is philosophy under the shadow of politics, and why has philosophy (even philosophers of today) failed to deliver as expected? I leave these questions for readers to answer. What I must speak about is the undeniably crucial role of politics in governance. This cruciality must also be philosophically checked to ensure better political decisions and their implementation. When I question ‘politics,’ I refer to ‘bad politics,’ ‘anti-institutional politics,’ or ‘non-progressive politics.’ Sometimes I feel that the pseudo-intellect of some political scientists at Indian educational institutions contributes to ideological crises in politics. Politics should be determined and modelled by philosophical thought to be as free from biases and prejudices as possible. Leaders should be inducted into politics on the basis of their merits and commitments to their duties and responsibilities. Unfortunately, my country needs to go a long way to realize such healthy conditions. 

Secondly, I totally agree with you and sturdily believe that philosophical thinking pivotally prompts change in personal and professional affairs. In that sense, nothing can be out of philosophical focus, including socio-political matters. When philosophy is prioritized over or shapes politics, the state and its systems work to help people and citizens to strive against not only political polarization, malfunctioning institutions, and ideological slavery; but also, to strive for the highest human pursuits and the achievements of greater academic ends. When politics dominates and dilutes philosophy, societal ills and sufferings proliferate locally and globally. 

Thirdly, to answer your question: politically-designed working conditions across the spectrum of Indian educational institutions make exercising individual freedom to enhance pedagogical exercises and advance quality and creative education difficult. Eventually, most education practitioners fall in line, becoming highly demotivated and demoralized. Let me share a philosophical elaboration. In the Republic, Plato promotes a view that the state must have philosopher (Intellectual) kings in order to realize the vision of a just society; and in the Mahābhārata, Lord Krishna’s vision was that the ideal human society must be based on dharma (duties). Indian institutions of today are missing both of these driving ideas. Instead, the most academically myopic determine the political provisions which likewise determine academic visions here. 

Although 20th century modern India has produced many visionaries, intellectuals, and philosophers –such as the modern Indian philosopher and politician Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi known as Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)– who could change the academic system, they have not simply because either they kept themselves away from active political decision-making or they didn’t realize the future-to-come of philosophy in India. Those who were actively political failed to promote philosophy-centric, healthy politics. I am not saying that educational institutions in India are not doing anything. All I am saying is that they are not doing as much as they should be. The reasons for and charge of responsibility are open to debate. How can it be that this country, well-known for its Guru-Shishya tradition in education that illuminated the world with ancient universities like Nalanda, Vikramshila University, and Taxila, struggles to find a place in the world ranking? These are upsetting conditions in the Indian education sector. And let us not forget that the commercialization and privatization of education and educational institutions cannot guarantee quality education if these upsetting conditions persist. 

Thus, I believe that, despite working in academic philosophy, unless I get involved in active politics or hold a decision-making position, I can bring about desired changes neither in the country’s politics nor in its education system. 

alicehank, I know I can be a changemaker for the Indian education system but perhaps change is a matter of time (or luck). With a Gandhian soul, I underwent an indefinite hunger strike in Delhi University for a whole week in September 2006 to fight against administrative injustices and atrocities on hostel residents with much success. I have made smaller efforts like writing an e-letter to the current Cabinet Minister of Education requesting the introduction of philosophy to higher secondary schools as I believe that children’s holistic development can happen only by inculcating in them critical thinking, rational decision-making, a habit of philosophical and scientific orientation, and high moral standards. I even go so far as to say that everyone should study philosophy or read philosophical texts. But this can be done only if education is the first priority, not the last. 

If your department was able to encourage and support more research in Indian philosophy, what avenues do you think are in the most need of research and/or are promising areas of research in relation to philosophy today? What sort of research might excite young philosophy students in India? 

There are many promising areas and avenues for research in Indian philosophy, including: philosophical historiography and methods, the meaning of life, metaphysical mysticism, the science of Ṛta, devotional philosophy of the Bhakti movement, rationalistic spiritualism, the metaphysics of causation, science in cosmological theories of Samkhya and Vaiseshika, the science and metaphysics of Yoga, monistic epistemology, environmental love in Hinduism, environmental spiritualism, philosophy of letters and words, philosophy of Ayurveda, Death and Divinity, philosophy of meditation, psychology of the enlightened, philosophy of rites and rituals, the history of agnosticism, and the history of materialism etc. Besides, there are many philosophically rich Sanskrit words and claims in classical Indian texts that can stimulate young minds and generate research interests in India.

In America and England, there is much discussion of the relations between science and philosophy whether that means philosophy modelling its methods on scientific methods or virtue, or approaching big new topics in ethics like AI, bioethics, and future existential risk. In fact, Buddhist philosophy in particular is increasingly discussed in relation to consciousness studies and physics.

Could you address if such similar discourse has a place in India currently, or could, and if so what this would look like? Might this affect social attitudes towards philosophy there?

There are two reasons for increased discussion on the relation between philosophy and science in America and England: One is that (theoretical) science –which has historically emerged from philosophy one way or the other– has greatly enriched the history of western philosophy and fostered new methods of enquiry and explanation. Modern western philosophy from Descartes’ rationalism to Nancy Cartwright’s philosophy of science of today, for instance, displays huge amounts of rationality, logic, critical thinking, and argumentations. A second reason is that both Europe and North America have been the main beneficiaries of the results of recent scientific discoveries. The focus, supported or supplemented by science, more on models and methods than on human myths and metaphors was instrumental to the intellectual blooming of western philosophers. This is what fascinates me the most. 

Philosophical research in India during the same period missed such scientific developments. The effects are visible today. Until recently, in India one could find hardly any philosophical discussions on emerging topics like AI,  bioethics, technological ethics, future existential risks, philosophy of war and human survivability, and sustainability. But globalization, particularly in telecommunication and virtual media, has drastically changed the patterns of philosophizing and research in India in recent decades. Eventually, we came to feature some of these burning topics in our curriculum and continue to consider others. Even the government promotes AI research and the study of risk management. So, there is enormous scope in India for philosophical scientism and scientific philosophization. 

However, philosophy in India is currently academically deprived of progress in the areas of cognitive science, philosophy of science, consciousness studies, meta-philosophy, medical ethics, and philosophy of technology. Encouragingly, the philosophical and scientific academic communities in India today realize the need for such research although designated centres for philosophy of science/cognitive science or centres for AI and robotic research at Indian universities and colleges remain rare. I believe that in America, England, and Europe such research centres are quite common in order to promote science-driven philosophical inquiry and discourse. I am sure that in the next few years Indian educational institutions will do the same for serious collaborative and interdisciplinary research between science and philosophy. This I can assure you. 

What role can and should Eurocentric institutions and philosophers outside India play in not only introducing Indian philosophy to their own curricula but also in supporting philosophical research in Indian institutions both for its own merit and to help ameliorate some of the wrongs inflicted by colonialism and imperialism?

This last question is a million-dollar question since it hits the mark. In fact, Eurocentric institutions and philosophers have the larger role to play in discouraging cultural biases and correcting the mistakes that they committed under the shadow of colonialism and modern forms of imperialism. I strongly suggest that western institutions must introduce India’s philosophical history and the knowledge systems of various traditions to their teaching curricula and must encourage their students to do research on classical and modern Indian philosophy. Likewise, they should widen the scope of academic collaboration with Indian institutions to partner and support trans-cultural and comparative research and to encourage faculty mobility and student exchange programmes. It is the need of the hour that western scholars assess their own assertions and claims about non-European philosophy to better realize philosophical practice as an intellectual and reflective tool that mirrors reality and truth. Not doing so makes them like prisoners of Plato’s allegorical cave. 

Thank you, alicehank.