The department of philosophy, New Alipore College organized a daylong international seminar on Saturday on the Indian philosophical system from the ancient period to modern times and how these systems help people to meet contemporary challenges.
The seminar was held with the financial assistance of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR). It was held in a blended mode. There were five resource persons and approximately 35 paper presenters across different states of India and abroad.
Professor Jaydeep Sarangi, principal of the college presented the relevance of this seminar and its academic importance in today’s world. He expounded the importance of understanding the notions of Indian values in the holistic academic sphere and encouraged the audience to promote this kind of programmes for inculcating multidimensional approaches.
Prof Indrani Sanyal, Prof Sabita Samanta, Prof Aparajita Mukhopadhyay and Prof Preetam Ghoshal attended the seminar. Prof Jayita Dutta, head of the department, introduced the theme of the seminar.
Professor Indrani Sanyal, former professor of Jadavpur University and the present director of the Centre for Comparative Religion and Culture, NCE Bengal gave the keynote address. She highlighted the philosophical significance of the theme of the seminar. The conceptual and critical intricacies of the two concepts idealistic and pragmatic were amply clear in her deliberation. She briefly traversed the history of the Indian value system from the Vedic age Mahabharata, Dharmashastra to contemporary Indian philosophy.
Not only textual and contextual deliberations, practical and social aspects of this theme like war, non-violence and day-to-day problems of our daily life were the chief themes of her lecture. Value system and related philosophical problems enshrined in orthodox and heterodox philosophical systems were highlighted in her lecture.