'Process Theodicy':A Postmodern Alternative to Problem of Evil
'Process Theodicy' provides us with a constructive postmodren alternative to the 'tradtional' theodicity ,by redefining the omnipotence of God(one of the elements of the incompatible triad) from a 'metaphysical' consideration of the nature of the world upon which the power is exerted.Unlike the traditional theists,who maintain that all apparent evil is really ,from the utimate perpective ,a means to good ,process theists hold the view that the possibility of genuine evil is rooted in the metaphysical characteristics of the world.
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 1 No. 2 (2003): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; 161 - 182
Centre for Publications, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore
Copyright (c) 2017 Artha - Journal of Social Sciences
Trade and Transport were closely related aspects in pre-modern period.In fact efficient transport system benefited furtherance of trade and commerce.two broad categories of transport were land transport and water transport.In the land transport there was the use of human labour and packed animals.In the water transport there was the use of ships and boats.They were used both in internal,inter-regional and international trade.Realizing the financial benefits of providing protection to the traders the state tried to support their cause by constructing roads,rest houses,etc.
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 1 No. 2 (2003): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; 149 -160
A Comparison of Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Needs with the Pancha Kosha Theory of Upanishads
There is a growing recognition that reductionist and mechanistic worldview that we hold of human motivation needs to be revised and transformed. Many attempts have been made in this direction including a more humanistic approach. In the Western world, Maslow‟s needs hierarchy was a first such attempt.However, not many attempts have been made to expand further the concept of self-actualization proposed by Maslow. On the other hand, there was a criticism of his approach as not being rooted in research and the real world. In this article, the authors attempt to explore the similarities between the needs hierarchy as proposed by Maslow (1943, 1954) and the model of „Pancha Kosha‟ or„five sheaths‟ theory as presented in the Taittriya Upanishad
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2016): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; 59-68
On the Question of Integrating Spirituality with Counselling in India
This paper explores the therapists’ views and experience on spiritual components in counselling. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis used. The participants were nine mental health professionals from different backgrounds with 15 to 30 years of experience in the field. The four main themes that emerged are faith in God, the power of prayer, forgiveness and wholesome treatment process
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2016): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; 35-57
Mouna Vratha: An Effective Traditional Method of Self-Regulation
Self-regulation is an important psychological skill that aims at self-realization and better self-actualization. Self-regulation directed towards behaviour is called behavioural self-regulation; directed towards emotions, inner states and cognitive function is known as emotional self- regulation. Most of the relationship or social issue in the western tradition is due to either of the two types of self-regulation failure-inadequate or misguided self-regulation. Mouna Vratha, the religious practice of vow of silence emphasizes that self-control is very important to be observed by a person. The use of Mouna vratha as a technique of self-regulation in counselling and psychotherapy will help an individual to explore themselves in the realm of silence. The present paper discusses the effectiveness of self-regulation and how it can be implemented through the practice of mouna vratha.
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2016): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; 17-34
The Impact of Attachment Styles on Social Competence of Adolescent Students
Attachment styles are indispensable elements in evoking human behavior. Precious and priceless social relations or social behavior of every individual is ever more determined by these styles only. Adapting to positive well-being at home, school and peer adjustments are the essential social capabilities expected from the adolescents in order to have effective behavior potentials. Mostly, accomplishments and achievements of academic pursuits of adolescents seem to get initiated by the affectionate bond they receive either from their parents or from their caretakers. Hence, the current study seeks to sketch the probable link between attachment styles on the social competence of the adolescent students. Here, sample consists of 1152 male and 1188 female adolescent students. The Attachment Styles Questionnaire and The Adolescent Social Competence Scale were used to collect relevant data. Suitable statistical analyses were adopted for analyzing the data. The findings showed that the attachment styles seem to persuade the social competence of the adolescent students.
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2016): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; 1-15
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 15 No. 1 (2016): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; v-vi
The Department of English in a country like India too often witnesses contestations of varied kinds. Debates range from Macaulay's prod to the madness of the method and beyond. Identity crisis - that of the department and that of its members - is one such problematic context. Sidestepping desires to sing notes of self-congratulation, this paper attempts to self-reflexively critique the values, aspirations, practices and its resultant consequences in the Department of English, Christ University, Bangalore. Such a critique will look at specific issues, concerns of, and about English Studies at Christ, based on three experience-enabled narratives. The first narrative aims at exploring 1. complexities of a fresh “pocopomo” (postcolonial-postmodern) English Studies teacher in such a reputed, metropolitan institution, 2. complexities of locating Cultural Studies within an English Studies framework in the institution, and 3. complexities of studentship in such a context. The personal is always treated with a sense of suspicion and accompanied by a supposition that it may not be authentic. Humanities - despite the growing disrespect it faces - is one of the last bastions where the personal is not looked downupon. However, when it comes to research, even Humanities expects the shedding of the experiential and the personal, assuming that critical rigour is likely to get compromised. As the authors of this article, it is our firm belief that listening to personal experience will open doors to unexplored critical insights. We are deeply aware of the dangerous terrain we are treading in and hence we have titled it as "narrativising...", signifying the subjective takes involved. Further, the idea of giving multiple accounts coming from different standpoints (that of a new faculty, a moderately experienced faculty and a student) is to highlight the plural nature of experiences and perspectives.
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 15 No. 3 (2016): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; 41-65
Copyright (c) 2016 Artha - Journal of Social Sciences
Who Debarred 'you'? : The Idea of “Unqualified” Public in International Film Festival of Kerala
The paper examines the idea of 'unqualified public' in International Film Festival of Kerala, IFFK. The general notions about the public in IFFK will be described by narrating incidents and tales of hindrances people faced while entering into the above-mentioned space. The criticisms leveled against cinema in the discussions, outside the space, always contributed to number of censures of the Film Festival too, spurring debates centering around who should watch a movie or who should participate in IFFK. A paper that aims to understand the notion of public, in an international festival on films in Kerala, cannot possibly neglect the typical perspectives and publicnotions about movies, especially among a select group of people in Kerala. While unpacking the notions of who these public individuals are and what their opinions on films are, the paper will also raise questions such as: Do films really imagine a homogeneous public, an idea of public without differences? What is the film‟s conception of public sphere? Do films create a new kind of public sphere? Then, what about cinema kottakas and film festivals? The paper takes note of one of the burning controversies in 2014 in the history of IFFK, that each delegate should submit a note on his/her ideas about cinema. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Malayalam film director had suggested that only those who know English can enjoy all the movies as the Festival includes movies in other languages with subtitles (Ramnath 2014). So I here look at how specifically, language becomes a key factor to determine a 'qualified public' in IFFK, among other factors that aid in the manufacturing of the 'qualified public'. For this study on IFFK the aim would be to focus on the description and analysis of (unqualified) public in IFFK in relation to the recent controversies, to reveal the multi-layered construction of the 'qualified public'.
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 15 No. 3 (2016): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; 81-96
When Modern meets Contemporary: Venkatappa Art Gallery and Informal Art Education in Bangalore
Public spaces and institutions have often been linked when it comes to art practice in Bangalore. Whether it was the large-scale earthworks or the appropriation of heritage spaces taken on by artists, the spaces occupied by the public and the public art institutions have had a strong impact on the ways art gets produced in the city. There is also an additional element of reclaiming public spaces that is the struggle of most cities today. Since February this year, the artist community of Bangalore has protested against the move made by the government to 'hand over' the Venkatappa Art Gallery to a private entity. This has spurred a lot of conversations about public spaces and public resources in the city, specifically, in relation to art. Art history and the 'teaching of art' have often been celebrated as an achievement of European scholarship. It is true that a number of institutions set up to teach art in India are a colonial legacy, but what emerged post-independence is a culture of rejecting European aesthetics and trying to form a national one if it were. And in our era of post-modern/post-colonial awareness, there is a fluidity in the conduct of the institutions and in the understanding of public spaces that have contributed to the aesthetic of the contemporary artist. In the light of the recent events, this paper will examine the ways in which the art gallery and later the freeform collectives serve as educational spaces for students and subsequently, explore the implications of the lack of such spaces in the practice of art in contemporary times. Art Education in post-independence India reflected the uniquely Indianized, modern art-making. However, this modernist or 'formal' concept of art teaching and learning, prevalent during the prior era, still prevails in the majority of art schools in the country. Here, Modernist and formal are terms used with reference to the way art is made. A formal approach to painting would be in pure painting techniques that used oil/watercolour/acrylic paint on Canvas/paper. It also refers to form in the painting where there may be an abstract or figurative subject painted but it remains in the form of a painting, unlike contemporary art where the work of art is no longer restricted to a medium. It is important for us to note at this juncture that while the city that is now known as a font of conceptual and performance-based work, still retains institutions, such as the art schools that teach a modernist aesthetic. Therefore, one could safely assume that the spaces that exist outside of the art school feed into the art teaching-learning for students. That is to say, the culture that developed since the establishment of the early art schools, fostered an environment of experimentation. This kind of art practice led to the dematerialized artworks and research-led initiatives that have become a part of contemporary art in Bangalore. The art school, the way we know it is a product of a colonial legacy and a nationalist need to 'encourage' all forms of education. But is there a school that can exist without an idea, or an inheritance? An ethics of knowledge is the foundation of any school in its essential definition as a gathering place but the complexity of what that knowledge should be, how its production is configured and unfolds, who translates it across the bridges of generations and time, whether its structure is rigid or limpid in its willingness to change, whether it is resistant to external mandates or longs for the imprimatur of an outside authority, and what status and success signify for its teachers and graduates—all of these define the place of gathering, its ethical complexion, its reasons for being, and what learning means there (Madoff, 2009). It would also be good to note here that the 20th century saw significant changes in terms of artistic practice. One significant change in the these years is a 'flattening' of genres/styles/discipline. Keeping this in mind, then one can ask, how do the art schools qualify teaching the traditional practices of painting, sculpture, print-making and such as 'visual art' and nothing else? How has it become, that the residencies and collectives that spring out of art school or exist outside of the art school have become incubators of what is contemporary? In Bangalore, there has been no dearth of alternative institutional and art making spaces. Of these, the contemporary art galleries set up in the 50's and 60's were important to the construction of the contemporary aesthetic that is a signature of Bangalore-based artists and students. This aesthetic is seen in the large number of performance works as well as the collaborations and collective formations that produce art. The Venkatappa Art Gallery, due to its eminence as an art space for young artists as well as a museum commemorating a modern Master, becomes a nodal point in the construction of contemporary art history of Bangalore. The Gallery, as seen by the artist community, is an inclusive and democratic space which can be hired at low costs by young artists and those from the provinces, and also excellent for non-commercial and experimental art projects, festivals, workshops, seminars, talks and meetings. Most of the artists who are part of the Venkatappa Art Gallery forum have had their first solo shows in the gallery. Through the years, there have been group shows, collective projects, eight state Kala Melas, retrospective of RM Hadpad, The Khoj International Artists Residency, The International Live Art Festival, Co-Lab and Ananya Drishya artist talks, and in more recent times, the IFA Public Art presentations, to name a few activities. These events have been open to the public and have been well attended. Students from local art schools, as well as those from other cities in the State, have been known to present/display here following the completion of their studies. Presenting one‘s artwork in the gallery is almost like a rite of passage and therefore has evidenced work of a number of prominent artists.
Artha Journal of Social Sciences; Vol. 15 No. 3 (2016): Artha Journal of Social Sciences; 67-80