Skeptic's Vocabulary – A toolkit for skepticism in India

Zohran Mamdani and Pinarayi Vijayan: Two Poles, Two Aspirations- The Story of Kerala’s Poverty Eradication Program Where Ideology Matters- Not charity, not bounty; but justice

Kerala's Extreme Poverty Eradication Programme (EPEP) exemplifies Jack Rothman’s locality development model, where community participation, consensus and social...

WHAT IS LEGITIMACY IN GLOBAL POLITICS? A critical study of Henry Kissinger’s ‘World Order’

(1/6) World Order, a sweeping tour of the world of high politics and diplomacy, is one of the...

SWISS MILITARY, SWISS NEUTRALITY AND SWISS BANKS Connecting the Dots

These two items are quite famous. Almost associated with the Swiss brand. But does Switzerland have a...

IN THE CRADLE OF EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE

One of the things I was fascinated by during adolescence and early adulthood was the rapid rise of...

CONSTANTINE’S SWITCH Yet Another Switch of the Western World

What lies underneath the marbles that covered the Colosseum? But you hardly see any marbles in the real...

SLEEP ,DREAMS AND CONCOCTION OF ARMCHAIR PHILOSOPHERS

Recently I was on a panel discussion on neuroscience datasets at a premier engineering institute. The discussion...

PROPAGANDA, ARTEFACTS, REASON AND LOGIC A commentary on reasoning in Languages of Common Use

Revisiting his magnum opus Brave New World, Aldous Huxley cites the story of an institute founded by...

FASHIONABLE NONSENSE Misuse of Language in the Name of Postmodernism

Fashionable nonsense is a sequel of the ‘Sokal’s hoax’ on the manner in which ‘postmodern’ writers abuse language and...

PARADIGMS OF MEDICAL PERCEPTION A commentary on the evolutionary status of Indian system of medicine through the eyes of Micheal Foucalt’s The Birth of the Clinic

Micheal Foucalt’s The Birth of Clinic is a relevant read for those who are interested in the evolution...

‘KARMA IS NOT REAL- IT’S PSYCHOLOGICAL’ Parental Lessons on Skepticism and Empiricism

Sept 2021 ‘Karma is not real; it’s psychological’ This above was the quip my 9-year old son, Siddharth...

What is the True Nature of Communists Parties in Kerala?

Leftist thinking and communism are fundamentally different. Communists are historically considered leftist because they for a significant part...

What is Totalitarianism?

A totalitarian regime is one that control every aspect of its subjects life. If the prescribed code of...

MACROECONOMICS ORTHODOXY AND POLICY MAKING IN TIME OF CRISIS Keynes, Friedman and the Spread of Covid Pandemic in India

The COVID global pandemic was one such phenomenal event that incited the deepest convictions of the politicians. Thus,...

COUNTER-ENLIGHTENMENT TRAITS

Counter-Enlightenment traits are a group of beliefs and attitudes that run counter to the values that made possible...

MATRIX OF ENLIGHTENMENT VALUES

Modern nation states and organisations are mostly run by virtue of what is known as Enlightenment values (EV)...

SADHGURU ISHA JAGGI VASUDEV: OSHO AND MAHESH YOGI FOR THE 21st CENTURY MARKET A Review of Isha Sadhguru’s Inner Engineering Program

I attended one of Isha’s online cum contact programs eager to know what he offer for all...

NARENDER MODI, INDIRA GANDHI AND THE RESETTING OF INDIAN POLITICS

Narender Modi is a charismatic leader. In the range of his influence, he is undoubtedly the most charismatic...

WHAT ARE ENLIGHTENMENT VALUES?

Enlightenment values are a set of values that have their origin in the ideas developed by European thinkers...

What is Postmodernism and what is Modernity?

Postmodernism is a heterogeneous movement in literary theory, sociology, architecture and philosophy that emerged in the second half...

THE RISE OF THE WEST An Annotated review of Niall Ferguson's 'The West and the Rest

British historian Niall Ferguson’s book Civilization: The West and the Rest ( Alien Lane, Penguin Group, 2011) is...

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT AND THE FOUNDATION OF MORALITY

social contract is the basis of all our laws and morals. Human rationality is agency that make people...

MODEL BASED REALISM

What is it like to be a goldfish in a bowl? Does the curvature of the bowl distort...

AUSCHWITZ AND THE GREAT RESETTING

Auschwitz is the location that acted as the switch which turned on a great resetting in the West...

Pseudo-communism and Pseudo-capitalism How does the social model of Kerala differ from that of Gujarat?

Kerala is a state that shows signs of an advanced application of European Enlightenment values. Its social cohesion...

AGNOSTICISM, ATHEISM, AND THE QUESTION OF ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE

Agnosticism can be explained with a simple statement. I will borrow from renowned physicist and science-writer Carl Sagan...

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONS IN INDIA THE SOCIAL CAPITAL OF CASTE

Social capital is the aggregate influence a person by virtue of his birth and social connections gains in...

WESTERN STRATEGIC DEPTHS AND THE EMERGENCE OF WEST ASIAN PETROECONOMIES The "Fist of God" in the Making of the Modern Middle East

A few weeks after my relocation to Muscat, I happened to read a controversial and now almost discredited...