Nilanjan Das joins host Melissa Gismondi for a conversation about the philosophical prowess of Udayana, a Sanskrit philosopher from the late 10th and early 11th centuries, who Das compares to Immanuel Kant and Aristotle in terms of his influence on Indian philosophy. Das also discusses the need for a broader understanding of philosophy that includes different traditions and perspectives, arguing for the importance of studying Sanskrit philosophy in philosophy departments rather than religious studies departments. Nilanjan Das was one of the JHI's 2023-24 Faculty Research Fellows and his research focused on the problem of induction in the history of Sanskrit philosophy—the problem of how we can justifiably draw conclusions about what we haven’t observed on the basis of what we have observed.
Humanities at Large is a podcast from the Jackman Humanities Institute that features conversations with our Fellows—scholars, artists and thinkers—who explore how the humanities can offer fresh perspectives on historic and contemporary issues. Organized around an annual theme, Humanities at Large is a must-listen for anyone passionate about the power of ideas! Series 1 includes conversations with Teresa Heffernan, Chloe Bordewich, Nilanjan Das, Jane Wolff, Olivia Shortt and Kamari Maxine Clarke.
Host Melissa Gismondi (she/her) is an award-winning writer and audio producer. She holds a PhD in American history and was the 2020-2021 New Media Public Humanities Fellow at the Jackman Humanities Institute.
Listen now above or on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Deezer or Player FM. For a full list of all available episodes visit out podcast page.
Series 1—Absence
Absence takes many forms - absence as loss, abandonment, and omission; absence as exile, separation, and unbelonging; and, paradoxically, absence as boundless, infinite, and transcendent. Ways of knowing, communal memory, as well as personal and cultural identities are all shaped, challenged, and even denied by various types of absences. Voids, silences, privations, gaps and solitudes are forces in themselves. What is not there can be even more powerful than what is there. How does absence affect our views of and place in the world? What meaning can we make of those “blank void regions”? What happens when absence is present? How are today's technologies and our networked world challenging the binary distinction of presence and absence?