Contents: Preface/D.P. Chattopadhyaya. General introduction/D.P. Chattopadhyaya. I. Science and philosophy: 1. Some considerations on philosophical consciousness and scientific knowledge: conceptual linkages and civilizational background/Sibajiban Bhattacharyya. 2. Philosophical consciousness and scientific knowledge: conceptual linkages and civilizational background/D.P. Chattopadhyaya. 3. Philosophical consciousness and scientific knowledge: proper place of reason/Mohini Mullick. 4. On identifying a substantive give and take between philosophy and science/Rajendra Prasad. 5. Paravidya-Aparavidya--a reconstruction: towards an objective phenomenology of consciousness/Amita Chatterjee. 6. Philosophical consciousness and scientific knowledge: problem of their interrelationship/Kireet Joshi. 7. Developing a science for consciousness: philosophical underpinnings/A.K. Mukhopadhyay. 8. Is science alone likely to unravel the mystery of consciousness?/P.N. Tandon. 9. Is philosophical doctrine of consciousness obsolete?/N.S.S. Raman. 10. Subjective and objective in knowledge/Ramakant Sinari. 11. A new vision of purusarthas and quantum entanglement/Raja Ramanna. 12. Science, philosophy and consciousness: reassessing the connections in the light of quantum theory/Ravi Gomatam (a.k.a. Rasaraja dasa). 13. Facets of quantum entanglement/Dipankar Home. 14. A rational critique of standard quantum theory: overview, Popper's trail and new results/C.S. Unnikrishnan. 15. Springs of scientific creativity/R.A. Mashelkar. 16. Germination and legitimation of science/D.P. Chattopadhyaya. 17. Till science transcends the scientist: role of human factor in science/Rajesh Kochhar. 18. Logic of metaphors and scientific discovery/A.V. Afonso. III. Interplay of science on consciousness: 19. Model-makers versus algorisers: some thoughts on the Indian half of the Needham question/Roddam Narasimha. 20. Structure of philosophical knowledge: in defence of the metaphysics of first principles/R.C. Pradhan. 21. Reappraisal of the civilizational question: why the scientific revolution did not take place in China or India?/Prajit K. Basu. 22. The notion of absolute (Whatever is 'is of' the as well as 'in' the absolute) Sankara, Kant and Hegel, Lyotard, Derrida and Habermas/Raghwendra Pratap Singh. 23. Reason and tradition: two strands of knowledge/Mahasweta Chaudhury. 24. Scientific approaches to consciousness studies/B.V. Sreekantan. 25. Is the physical world real and deterministic?/Partha Ghose. IV. Traditional linkage of philosophy and science: 26. Science, spirituality and philosophy: their distinct domains and complex interplay in society/T.R. Anantharaman. 27. Science approaches Vedanta/Swami Jitatmananda. 28. Vedanga astronomy and mathematics/Subhash Kak. 29. Some aspects of scientific inquiry in Indian tradition: Vijnana, Pramana and Vaisesika/C. Ramanathan. 30. Tantric theory of consciousness: a phenomenological and critical study/Kamalakar Mishra. 31. Indian atomism: some reflections/B.V. Subbarayappa. 32. On historicism: reconstructing the relationship between science and philosophy/Amitabha Dasgupta. 33. Philosophy, civilization and conceptual categories in sociology/Yogendra Singh. 34. Cultural and ethical response to science: Indian methodology/S. Panneerselvam. 35. Consciousness in science and scientific "Omnijectivity"/Minakshi Roy Choudhuri. Index of names. Index of subjects.
"The main issues that figure in the very title of this volume are indicative of its scope and contents. First, philosophical studies in consciousness have their presuppositions as well as implications. Secondly, in order to understand clearly the said presuppositions and implications, the intended reader group needs to be introduced at least to some core concepts of philosophy and science in their modern sense. Thirdly, since this work is cross-disciplinary in its orientation, the conceptual linkages between science and philosophy have been explored by distinguished philosophers and scientists in several contributions to this publication. Finally, a conscious attempt has been made in many papers of this work that every branch of valid knowledge, philosophy or science, however theoretically abstract it may be, has its practical moorings and the same are temporarily traceable.
From the available history of philosophy and science it is found that these disciplines were integrated in the ancient times. Differentiation has been due to endlessly increasing specialization within each discipline. Even today many philosophers and historians of science are studying carefully the relation between different strata of disciplines.
The emphasis on the above issues in intended, among other things, to avoid the extremes of reductionism, mistakes of value-fact dualism, and to clarify the connection between theory and practice, experience and experiment, discovery and legitimization of truth-claims.
In an anthology like this, difference in presuppositions and conclusions of the contributors, cannot be ruled out. Respect for the freedom of thought, a hallmark of the project, has been tempered by commitment to reasoning.
This book, primary meant for fairly educated readers, is likely to be of interest to the researchers in the areas of social and natural science, and the reading public." (jacket)
