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International
Seminar on Neoplatonism
and Indian Thought New Delhi, India December 29, 1992 to January 3, 1993 Co - Chairpersons Prof. Baine Harris (USA) Dr. Paulos Mar Gregorios 2 Tughlakabad Inst. Area New Delhi - 110 062 Organizing Secretary Dr. Rajan K. Ghosh Indian Council of Philosophical Studies 4th Floor, Rajendra Bhawan 210, Deen Dayal Upadhya Marg New Delhi - 110002 August
1, 1992 Esteemed
scholar and friend, Namaskar
and pranaams, May
we, on behalf of the international organising committee, extend this
special invitation to the four - day International Seminar on
Neoplatonism and Indian Thought, to be held at the Nehru Memorial
Museum and Library, Teen Murti House, New Delhi, from December 29th, 1992
(day of arrival) to January 3rd, 1993 (day of departure). The invitation
is extended only to a select number of scholars, and judging from the
response to the idea so far, we may have to restrict the number of
participants to less than half those invited. It
was in the thirties of our century that E. Brehier, the renowned French
philosopher, asked the question about an oriental and specifically Indian
element in the thought of Plotinus, the fountainhead of Neoplatonism in
the 3rd Century A. D. In his introduction and notes to La Philosophie
de Plotin (Paris, 1938, pp 107 - 133) Brehier suggested that certain
elements in Plotinus could not be derived from Greek thought, for example
the absence of any line of demarcation between the human self and the
Divine Principle. In
general a large number of western scholars are of the other view, that
Plotinus can be explained strictly within the bounds of Greek thought.
This was expressed in H. K. Mueller’s paper in Hermes 49, (1914),
pp 70 - 80. The British scholar A. N. Armstrong argued the same way in his
paper "Plotinus and India'', in Classical Quarterly, 30
(1936), pp 22-28. For us in India the debate was admirably summarized by
J. F. Staal in his Advaita and Neoplatonism. A Critical Study in
Comparative Philosophy (University of Madras, 1961). O. Lacombe’s
judgement is in the Silver Jubilee Commemoration Volume of the Indian
Philosophical Congress (Calcutta, 1950, pp. 45-54) ‘Plotinus stands
at the junction of the two currents of influence - Greek and Indian.” Our
goal in this seminar is not to settle this dispute, but to go beyond it,
to the question of contemporary meeting of European and Indian thought
that looks behind so called Modern Philosophy, to find common meeting
points. We need to do this as part of our own search in India for a more
acceptable and less one-sided assessment of the identity of our own nation
and culture. In our country the western ideology of secularism sits rather
awkwardly with its twin forms, liberalism and marxism, on the broad
shoulders of a magnificent heritage of highly creative Indian thought. We
will be assisted in this process by 15 distinguished international
participants from USA, Canada, U. K. and Japan. We enclose a list of these
persons and their paper topics. There will be room only for at the most
half a dozen Indian papers, (see list of possible topics) which will have
to be briefly presented. It is not obligatory for you to write a paper at
all, but we would be glad to have short 4 - page texts by you distributed
to the participants. Longer papers are also welcome, since these are to
form the bulk of a publication in the future. Our
budget is severely limited - unless someone comes up with a generous
offer. We want to offer hospitality to all our participants, national as
well as international. The international participants are paying their own
travel, and we except our Indian participants to do the same.
Accommodation will be provided for those coming from outside Delhi, but it
will be modest. What
we need immediately from you is a reply on the enclosed slip. If you want
to present a paper, please let us have the topic not later than September
15, 1992, and the paper itself by the end of November 1992 or earlier if
possible. Dr.
Ranjan K. Ghosh Organizing
Secretary
Dr.
Paulos Mar Gregorios Convenor |
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