स्थितिपोषण अथवा मनभावन

समकालीन समाचारों के प्रस्तुतीकरण की स्थिति इतिहासकारिता तथा अन्य समाज विज्ञानों के उपागमों की प्रकृति के साथ मानविकी क्षेत्रांतर्गत सृजन के रुझानों को समझने का अवसर देता है। पूर्व मे भी ऐसा ही था; विमर्श के स्वरूप और स्रोतों के विस्तार से बातें स्पष्ट हो रही हैं।

 
नीरज कुमार झा

From Muscle to Machine: The Evolution of Thought

Social media has affected human psychology and social behaviour, and I believe that, on balance, this impact has been for the better. Now, with the growing use of chatbots, their inputs are also beginning to shape human thoughts and conduct. In this context, the role of public intellectuals becomes more challenging, as they need to find ways to counter mainstream and mechanised values and practices that risk overwhelming discerning and refined tastes and choices.

In fact, in earlier times, the problem was even more severe, as ideologies that mobilised men-at-arms could impose a particular way of life, eliminating opposition and overriding existing norms and mores. Now, the earlier overreach and excesses are either normalised or no longer menace society as they once did. Still, caution remains critically important.

Niraj Kumar Jha

The Public and the Private

Being public and productive are two essential features of political affairs. The political domain is public, and its purpose is to be productive. Private is private, whether it is the domain or its outcome. It comes under public scrutiny only when it forcefully involves others or affects them adversely. A healthy society devises tests for determining their domain and constraining their overreach. Evil is the result of their careless overlap. In a medieval context, or from such a perspective, the adherence to this division appears anomalous or even outrageous. It is a state of affairs reached after crossing a threshold of development, but if a mechanism for progressive differentiation between domains is not in place, it severely impedes development.

Niraj Kumar Jha 

The Eyes of the Mind

The eyes of the mind — mostly, it is they that override what one’s eyeballs directly face. They may magnify, reduce, mould, or distort an image. A good education helps one see things and events in nearly exact proportions, even cutting through the décor and drama of their presentation.

Niraj Kumar Jha

The Humanity Predicament

The withering of norms guiding international affairs leaves the present generation of humankind highly vulnerable. The reason is that even a fake idea of the commonality of interest among the people of the world has gone missing. This happened because humanity's progress towards the common good was gradually blocked, which had gained momentum in the last quarter of the twentieth century.

Niraj Kumar Jha

धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः

व्यक्ति के अधर्म का दुष्परिणाम उसके स्वयं के लिए तो होता ही है; उस परिवेश का भी होता है, जिसमें वह जीवनयापन करता है। दूषित परिवेश के दुष्परिणाम का वह स्वयं भी भागीदार होता है और उसके सगे-संबंधी भी। एक व्यक्ति का धर्मपालन सभी के हित में है और किसी का अधर्म सभी का अहित है। 

जीवन का ध्येय धर्म है और इसकी सफलता धर्मपालन की प्रवृत्ति और सामर्थ्य है।

धर्म अज्ञेय और ज्ञेय का पारिस्थितिकी की मर्यादा के साथ व्यक्ति की पूर्णता और सामुदायिक सावयवता हेतु समन्वय जनित बोध और तदनुरूप आचरण है।

नीरज कुमार झा

The Challenge: A Human Epistemology

Every working epistemology has a civilizational base, though it is evolving in nature. Civilisations are the largest human communities below the level of the human community as a whole. They are historical products. It is very difficult—indeed, almost negligible in practical terms—for any epistemological project or approach to make sense of what drives another. What is an aberration for one may be the mainstay of another. Alternatively, one can only accept as legitimate whatever the other does, recognizing it as the fixity of civilizational conditions. I strongly believe that post-Enlightenment epistemology in Europe does little to account for the innate nature of religion, which once dominated their lives. This is only an example. At the same time, a civilisation also engenders ideologies, whose origins may lie in both earthy and ethereal premises, often with cross-civilizational reach. Notwithstanding this, a global human project to identify good and evil from an ethno-neutral perspective is still missing. Can we take up this challenge?

Niraj Kumar Jha