IN THE present study, I have attempted to develop and elevate the notions of the unity and diversity from their ethical and cultural status to globalization and multicultural level. The objective of the study is to acknowledge the diversity of values developed in teleology, deontology, consequentialism, purusarthas, etc. and allow them to inform and reinforce each other for the possible foundations of multiculturalism specially cosmopolitanism in the globalized world. With interdisciplinary approach and the methodological interface between philosophy and political theories, I have argued that the normative aspect of globalization such as universalization and liberalization can be compared and contrasted with liberal notions of individuality and communitarian conception of collectivity. The perspectives involved in the formulation and implementation of the policies towards globalization are neoliberals, the reformists, the radicals and the revolutionaries. These can be compared with the perspectives of multiculturalism like descriptive and normative.
I have developed the cultural transformations in the era of globalization, criterion of identity, i.e. inclusion in terms of respect, right, justice, public reason, etc. identifying the areas of consensus with the view that no consensus is permanent, reasonable exclusion on broader values (such as Kantian will does not accept Christian love), and Indian response to all these themes from pluralistic perspective.
I am thankful to Jawaharlal Nehru University for its UGC scheme University of Potential for Excellence-II (UPE-II) for giving me the financial support which led to the completion of the project.
I have had the opportunity to participate and present papers on the theme of the project in various international and national conferences, seminars, symposiums and workshops held in India and abroad. Most of the papers presented have been published in anthologies, proceedings of the seminars, national and international journals and online journals. I express my gratitude to the editors for their kind permission to incorporate those papers as different chapters of the project. I have acknowledged those articles with full details.
I am thankful to the authors whose works have directly or indirectly helped me. I have always tried to supply exact quotations and full references to original works and, in the footnotes, I have also furnished suggestions for further reading. In referring to the Vedas, Upanisads, the Gīta and the works of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Gadamer, Habermas and others, I have used the most accurate available English translations. I am thankful to those translators of the texts.
I am also thankful to my wife Smt. Rita Singh, though she hates to be thanked in print and our son Vivek Singh for their care and emotional support. Finally, I am grateful to D.K. Printworld, New Delhi, for the timely publication of the manuscript.
THE present study is an attempt to develop unity in diversity in the context of globalization and multiculturalism. There are contending positions on values from the domains of philosophy, culture, theology, etc. Philosophically speaking, the concepts of unity and diversity have been contested in classical and modern theories; for instance, Plato's idea of harmony and goodness and Aristotle's phronesis or practical wisdom (teleology), Kant's categorical imperative (deontology), and Mill's views on act and rule utilitarianism (consequentialism) on the one hand and puruşārthas divided into abhyudaya and nihsreyasa, etc. on the other. Each of these theories separately has the concept of diversity and jointly somehow they have given rise to unity in diversity. In the era of globalization and multiculturalism, teleology, deontology, consequentialism and so on have been described, critiqued and even appreciated and appropriated from pluralistic perspective. With globalization and multiculturalism, human life is affected not only insofar as market is concerned, but also the ethnic, cultural and linguistic identities are getting affected.
The objective of the study is to acknowledge the diversity of values developed in teleology, deontology, consequentialism, purusarthas, etc. and allow them to inform and reinforce each other for the possible foundations of multiculturalism specially cosmopolitanism in the globalized world.
The work plan is to articulate moral, cultural and political situations which are required to facilitate globalization involving economic factors with trade-linked technology and finance liberalization, on the one hand, and multiculturalism which raises questions on the liberal notions of freedom, equality, citizenship, politics, etc. and reformulates its assumptions, on the other. Like globalization, multiculturalism is not a single doctrine in the sense that there is no settled or agreed view of how multicultural society should operate. Multiculturalists disagree both about how far they should go in positively endorsing cultural diversity, and about how civic cohesion can best be brought about. But unlike globalization, multiculturalism endorses the role of the state in protecting and safeguarding rights of diverse cultural groups, values and practices, marriage and settlements, property and inheritance, etc. so that members of each cultural community should become the valid participants in the civil and democratic life in the globalized world. The perspectives of, and the conflict between, individual needs and rights; and group needs and rights; have been conceptualized under as liberalism vs communitarianism.
The novelty of the study lies in its interdisciplinary approach and the methodological interface between philosophy and political theories. The normative aspects of globalization such as universalization and liberalization can be compared and contrasted with liberal notions of individuality and communitarian conception of collectivity. The perspectives involved in the formulation and implementation of the policies towards globalization are the neoliberals, the reformists, the radicals and the revolutionaries. These can be compared with the perspectives of multiculturalism like the descriptive and the normative.
The expected outcome is to develop cultural transformations in the era of globalization, criterion of identity, i.e. inclusion in terms of respect, right, justice, public reason, etc. identifying the areas of consensus with the view that no consensus is permanent, reasonable exclusion on broader values (such as Kantian will does not accept Christian love) and Indian response to all these themes from pluralistic perspective.
Vedas (1204)
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Goddess (508)
Bhakti (247)
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Shiva (383)
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Vedanta (370)
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