ZHCES Seminar Series
Science, Reason and Democracy: Reading Ambedkar
Dr. Shiju Sam Varughese
Assistant Professor, Centre for Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy,
School of Social Sciences,
Central University of Gujarat
DATE: 25th September, 2018 (Tuesday)
TIME: 11:30 am
Room No. 207, School of Social Sciences II
Dr. Shiju Sam Varughese is currently an assistant professor at the Centre for Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (CSSTIP) in the School of Social Sciences of Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar. He is the author of Contested Knowledge: Science, Media, and Democracy in Kerala (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2017). He has also edited (along with Satheese Chandra Bose) the volume, Kerala Modernity: Ideas, Spaces and Practices in Transition (Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 2015; paperback edition: 2017).
Abstract : The paper attempts to understand Babasaheb Ambedkar's perspectives on modern science and its role in democratic societies. The starting point for discussion is Meera Nanda's argument in Prophets Facing Backwards (2003) that Ambedkar's project was to bring together Deweyan pragmatism and Budddhist philosophy to situate 'scientific temper' at the core of associated life. Nanda pitches 'the Ambedkar-Dewey synthesis' to reclaim the central role of "modern science as a force for demystification and democratic enquiry" against the cultural relativist defence of 'local knowledges' as emancipatory for subaltern social movements in the Global South. The paper develops a critique of Nanda's standpoint via a close reading of Ambedkar's writings to suggest that there is a nuanced and rich understanding of science, reason and democracy available in Ambedkar's thought.
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