Table Of ContentCalibrating Western
Philosophy for India
This book proposes a new way of reading modern Western philosophers
in the Indian context. It questions the colonial methodology, or the
practice of importing theories of Western philosophy, and shows
how its unmediated application is often incongruent, irrelevant, and
unproductive in local frameworks.
The author shows an alternative route to approaching philosophers
from the West – Rousseau, Derrida, Deleuze, Guattari, and Bergson –
by bending and reassembling aspects of their ideas and theories to
relate with the diversity and complexity of Indian society. He also
offers insights on the politics of non-being and negation from a
neglected modern Indian philosopher, Vaddera Chandidas, as a step
forward from the Western philosophers presented here.
An intervention in philosophical research methodology, this
volume will interest scholars and researchers of philosophy, Western
philosophy, Indian philosophy, comparative studies, postcolonial
studies, literature, cultural studies, and political philosophy.
A. Raghuramaraju is Professor at the Department of Humanities
and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, Andhra
Pradesh, India. His books include Debates in Indian Philosophy:
Classical, Colonial and Contemporary (2006), Enduring Colonialism:
Classical Presences and Modern Absences in Indian Philosophy
(2009), Modernity in Indian Social Theory (2011), Philosophy and
India: Ancestors, Outsiders and Predecessor (2013), and Modern
Frames and Premodern Themes in Indian Philosophy: Border, Self and
the Other (2017). He has edited Debating Gandhi: A Reader (2006),
Debating Vivekananda: A Reader (2014), Ramchandra Gandhi: The
Man and his Philosophy (2013), The Seven Sages: Selected Essays by
Ramchandra Gandhi (2015), and Desire and Liberation by Vaddera
Chandidas: Biography of a Text (2018). He also co-edited Grounding
Morality: Freedom, Knowledge and Plurality of Cultures (2010).
Calibrating Western
Philosophy for India
Rousseau, Derrida, Deleuze,
Guattari, Bergson and Vaddera
Chandidas
A. Raghuramaraju
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2019 A. Raghuramaraju
The right of A. Raghuramaraju to be identified as author
of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Raghuramaraju, A., 1957– author.
Title: Calibrating Western philosophy for India : Rousseau,
Derrida, Deleuze, Guattari, Bergson and Vaddera
Chandidas / A. Raghuramaraju.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018058192 | ISBN 9781138607101
(hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780429020698 (ebk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Philosophy, Comparative. | Philosophy—
India—History—20th century. | East and West.
Classification: LCC B799 .R29 2019 | DDC 109—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018058192
ISBN: 978-1-138-60710-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-02069-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To
Kalidindi N. Satyanarayana
and
Kalidindi Girija Kumari
In gratitude and admiration
Once a passer-by found Mulla Nasrudin searching
for something under a light. Upon his return, he still
found the Mulla continuing his search. When asked
what he is searching for, Mulla replied that he is
looking for the key that he had lost. The passer-by
joined him in the search to help him, but in vain.
He asked Mulla whether he knew where he lost the
key. Mulla replied that he had lost it somewhere
else. When asked, why then he is searching here, he
replied, because there is light here.
The scene in Indian academic humanities and social
sciences is similar to that of Mulla. This asks a
further question: what if Mulla continues to search
even after this, either along with the passer-by or
without? Is it possible to search where he lost the
key, given the fact that there is no light there? An
attempt is made here to move some part of the light
to the place where the key was lost.
Contents
Introduction 1
1 Rousseau: the founder of the institution of the
old age home 12
2 Derrida and the two forms of the word: writing
West and speaking India 35
3 Bending Deleuze and Guattari for India: major
and minor literatures 55
4 From Bergson to Vaddera Chandidas: excavating
the relation between non-being and permanence 70
Conclusion 90
Bibliography 95
Index 100
Introduction
Philosophy may or not be related to reality. However, it is largely
related to the immediate or distant context of earlier philosophies.
Modern Indian philosophy has been confronted with a unique situ-
ation such that it has to relate both to its immediate inside – that
is, modern India – and to the distant outside – that is, colonialism
and modernity, or colonial modernity. In undertaking this enormous
task, it faced several problems and regularly failed in accomplishing
the work it intended to accomplish. At times, modern Indian philoso-
phy leaned too much towards the West and neglected its Indian roots.
Those who chose to focus on Indian texts from the past found them-
selves isolated and risked being considered outdated.
One way to understand this complexity surrounding modern Indian
philosophy is to contrast it with modern Western philosophy. Modern
Western philosophy rejected classical Western philosophy and sought
to start afresh with new foundations and axioms. This is clearly avail-
able in Descartes and Locke, particularly in Locke’s idea of tabula
rasa. This is also evident in Macaulay who in his “Minutes” on edu-
cation for India clearly rejected not only Sanskrit and Arabic, but
also Greek philosophy and Christian theology. The main argument
of his “Minutes” is to implement in India what was implemented in
the West. That is, he was recommending modern education based on
modern science and rationality in India.1 Unlike many who paid atten-
tion to what he said about knowledge systems in India, as available
in Sanskrit and Arabic, there is a need to pay equal attention to his
emphasis on promoting modern education in India. Therefore, I find
it difficult to criticise him from the point of view of the West vs. India.
Thus, instead of looking at the “Minutes” through the binary of the
West vs. India, recognising his emphasis on modern education, I see
that the binary that is operating in the “Minutes” is modern vs. pre-
modern, or classical. Alternatively, instead of reading these “Minutes”
