Social Thought as Conversations

A New Upanishad of Life and an Ecology of Hope
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-64034-1
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 396 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 730 g

This book explores the act of thinking as a living journey and re-examines the fields of social thoughts as conversations. It draws upon known sources of social thought in fields such as sociology but cultivates it in transdisciplinary and border-crossing ways by documenting and presenting the ideas of major thinkers and social activists in their social contexts and histories. It argues that the act of thinking is not an isolated activity, although it has its own dimension of meditative solitude which is accompanied by different circles and movements of relational engagement. It then cultivates an Upanishadic way of social life and social theorizing planting pioneering seeds of an Upanishadic sociology and an ecology of hope which embodies planetary conversations across borders. Social Thought as Conversations: A New Upanishad of Life and an Ecology of Hope is an outstanding work of our times which will be of interest to scholars and researchers of philosophy and the social sciences in general.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Giri, Ananta Kumar

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Westliche Philosophie: Neuzeit
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Hinduismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ethik, Moralphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Nicht-Westliche Philosophie Indische & Asiatische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction - Thoughts Are Not Walking Alone: An Invitation and Introduction to Social Thought as Conversations

Part One: Social Thought as Conversations

1. Walking with Benedict Spinoza and Polishing Our Stubborn Lenses

2. Rethinking and Transforming Language, Self, Society and State: Walking and Meditating with Sri Aurobindo

3. A New Morning with Chitta Ranjan: Adventures in Co Realizations and World Transformations

4. Symbolic Anthropology of Clifford Geertz and Beyond

5. Sociology as Perennial Seeking: Walking with the Inspiring Hands of S.N. Eisenstadt

6. Philosophy, Sociology and History: Walking and Meditating with Karl-Otto Apel, Alain Touraine and Ranajit Guha

7. Sociology as Cultivation of Creative Personality, Freedom, and Plurality: Walking with S.P. Nagendra

8. A Conversation with Krishna Raj

9. The Calling of a New Struggle: A Conversation with Gaddar

10. Evergreen Revolution and a New Ecology of Hope: A Conversation with M.S. Swaminathan

11. C.T. Kurien: Poverty, Spirituality, and Transdisciplinarity

12. Beyond Ego’s Domain: Walking and Meditating with Ramashroy Roy

Part Two: Social Thought as Conversations: Further Explorations

13. Surrender in the Chambal Valley and Our Alternative Planetary Futures

14. Ram Mandir, Sita’s Kitchen, and Kashmir

15. Beyond the New Indian Farm Laws: Farmers Protests and Evergreen Revolution in India

16. Beyond Fear and Trembling; New Springs of Solidarity

17. Violence and Non-Violence

18. Truth, God, Justice and Ahimsa: Walking and Meditating with Gandhi

19. Towards a New Sociology of Mobilizations

20. Indigenous Education and the Calling of Transformations

21. Face to Face: Towards a New Mutuality?

22. Towards Rainbows of Identities and Planetary Realizations

23. Globalizing our Hearts: Struggles for Peace, Justice, and Solidarity

24. Dropping Out and a New Dance of Learning, Freedom, and Co-Creation

25. Sociology and the Calling of Love and Wisdom

26. National Education Policy of India: Learning, Languages and Translations and the Calling of a New Bharat Hind Viswa Yatra

Part Three: Social Thought as Conversations: Adventures of Ideas and Co-Operative Search for Truth

27. Gift of Knowledge and the Art of Seeking Together: Towards a Festival of Co-Realizations

28. Towards a New Art of Integration

Part Four: Sociology as a New Upanishad of Life

29. Poetry and New Sociological Imaginations

Part Five: Social Thought as Conversations

30. Reviews and Reflections in Borderlands and Horizons

Part Six: An Epilogue and An Afterword

Epilogue: Letter to a Young Researcher

Afterword

Über Autor(innen)

Ananta Kumar Giri is the Founding Honorary Executive Trustee of Vishwaneedam Centre for Asian Blossoming, Puducherry and Chennai and a former professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, India. He has taught and done research in many universities in India and abroad. He has an abiding interest in social movements and cultural change; criticism, creativity, and contemporary dialectics of transformation; theories of self, culture, and society; and creative streams in education, philosophy, and literature. Professor Giri has written, edited, co-edited, and translated more than six dozen books in Odia and English, including Global Transformations: Postmodernity and Beyond (1998), Knowledge and Human Liberation: Towards Planetary Realizations (2013), Bahudhara Barnabiva (Splendrous Beauty of the Plural, 2021), The Calling of Global Responsibility: New Initiatives in Justice, Dialogues and Planetary Realizations (2023), Rethinking Satyagraha: Truth, Travel and Translation (Editor, 2025), Cultivating Gardens of God: A Paradigm Shift in Faith (Editor, 2025), Contemporary Contributions to Critiques of Political Economy (Editor, Routledge, 2024), Social Healing (2023), Cultivating Integral Development (2023), Corporate Spiritual Responsibility (Co-Editor, 2026) and Quest for Planetary Well-Being: Essays in Honor of MV Nadkarni (Co-Editor, 2026).