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SynTalk thinks about the ontological (mind independent) aspects of Beauty and aesthetics in areas such as mathematics, arts, poetry, literature, music, sculpture, and photography, while constantly pondering whether Beauty is important. The historicity and present status of Beauty is discussed in contexts of intuition, justice, goodness, religion, and boredom. In a sense the conversation follows the opposite of phenomenological / epistemological conception of ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’. The concepts are derived off / from Advaita, Zen / Buddhism, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Ockham, Descartes, Kant, Gauss, Goethe, Schiller, Jane Austen, Weber, Coomaraswamy, Raja Rao, Tagore, Walter Benjamin, Einstein, Sri Aurobindo, Derrida, Cartier-Bresson, Nisargadatta, Warhol, and Eliot, among others. We also discuss if there are mathematical analogies to Beauty. How does the human spirit embody itself in art (say, ‘scraptures’)? What is the role of aesthetic training? When & why does boredom set in? What is an aesthetic emotion? What is the role of ‘surprise’? The SynTalkrs are: Yaron Barzilay (philosophy, New Acropolis, Mumbai), Arzan Khambatta (sculpture, Mumbai), Prof. Makarand Paranjape (literature, JNU, New Delhi), & Prof. Dipendra Prasad (mathematics, TIFR, Mumbai)

#TOOB (The Ontology Of Beauty) --- SynTalk

Speaker(s): Bruno Latour, Rowan Williams | Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams of Oystermouth and the renowned sociologist Professor Bruno Latour will discuss the role of religion in society within the context of escalating environmental crisis.

Religion and the Environment [Audio]

Vir Das History Of India

Is Colin McKenzie for real? What cannot be faked? Are fakes lies? Can copies be more valuable than the original? What is the test of something being original? Is originality a fact? Is it culturally determined? What are the ethics and aesthetics of fakes? How and at what point do we know when an experience is not real? What about reality that cannot be experienced? Is seeing believing, or is believing seeing? Is ‘seeing’ always ‘seeing-as’? Why do some of us prefer artificial flowers over fresh flowers? Does the idea of the original always imply its opposite? What kind of objects can (cannot) have copies (originals)? Can there be fake words? Or chairs? Is the copy of a copy the copy of the same original? Can there be a fake documentary film? Are there false images for astronomers? How does science ‘handle’ reality? What are the (dis)similarities between archaeology, astronomy and film-making? Is most of reality constructed, and do we really know what reality is? Does reality always depend on the technology available? Do we ‘need’ reality? Can we live (largely) with hyperreal simulacra, & will reality be dispensed with in the long run? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from philosophy (Prof. Sharad Deshpande, ex-University of Pune, Pune), film-making (Nilita Vachani, Tisch School of the Arts (NYU), New York), & astronomy & archaeology (Prof. Mayank Vahia, TIFR, Mumbai). Listen in....

#TROTO (The Reality Of The Original) --- SynTalk

Do kids understand adults? Does foetus feel pain and pleasure? What does the world look like from the crib? Is the new born infant alert, aware & awake, & not confused? What are kids pre-wired for, & is pre-wiring largely genetic? Do we learn fear? Do new-borns get bored? How do children learn, and (what) do they need to be taught? How is grammar learnt? When do kids start becoming autonomous? Have you experienced the Terrible Twos? When does a child stop being a child? Is the concept of late childhood a product of modernity? Must adolescence be a ‘productive’ period? Do children have rights? What exactly is childhood ‘innocence’, & must childhood be valourized? Can some kids be unusually cruel? Is parenthood naturally anxiety inducing? Might the absence of disclosure of love for the child be a problem? What might indiscriminate ‘limit setting’ by parents lead to? Is it hard, however, to always be a calm carefree parent? How different and similar are kids from each other, & is it alright to compare them? What is the long term future of childhood? Should kids be free? Would the basis of innateness be established in the long term? Would such a world be dystopian? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from psychology (Prof. Malavika Kapur, NIAS, Bangalore), sociology (Dr. Shilpa Phadke, TISS, Mumbai), & developmental paediatrics (Dr. Koyeli Sengupta, Ummeed, Mumbai). Listen in…


#TTAGU (The Things About Growing Up) --- SynTalk

Do you know that you are ignorant? How do you understand clouds? What would total knowledge do; could you create the entire universe then? Is the process of acquiring knowledge an iterative tussle with ignorance? Does every new knowledge also produce new ignorance? Are all descriptions answers? How is a discipline made possible? Is it possible to classify ignorance a priori? Is science primarily a representational endeavour? What is painter’s knowledge? How does biology understand nature? How do objects form? How does the connection between theory and the phenomena differ across disciplines? Do all disciplines operate at the level of (formal?) language? What is common between the sciences? And the arts? Is there a unitary underlying method? Can we understand tides as a mystery? Is nature ideal? Can we, in principle, make a zebra from fundamental particles? What is imagination constrained by? How is biology different from physics? Do disciplinary boundaries have more to do with knowledge transfer than knowledge creation? Would 21st century be the century of materials? What would be the legitimacy of the portrait in the 22nd century? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts & experiences from philosophy (Prof. Prajit K. Basu, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad), physics (Prof. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, TIFR, Mumbai), & art (Dr. Gieve Patel, Mumbai). Listen in....

#TAOK (The Appearances Of Knowledge) --- SynTalk

Can suicide bombers be farmed? Who is a terrorist? How are terrorists recruited, trained and incentivized? Do terrorists run out of weapons? What role does leadership play in the success of terrorist groups? What happens when a terrorist group is decapitated? Is it possible to dabble in terrorism? Is a terrorist attack always a mixture of violence and theatre, and always a part of a communication strategy? How are terrorist groups organised? Can terrorist groups maintain armies, and military like organization structure? Is (perceived) grievance a necessary condition for terrorism? Is a failed State and chaos always an opportunity for terrorists? Is warlordism usually the first stage in state formation? Is the State usually complicit in allowing a terrorist group to form? Is war politics by other means? Is terrorism often a result of the orthodoxy asserting itself against a reformation(?)? Are terrorist groups willing to engage in dialogues or surrender when they are in ascendancy? Is the use of force always counterproductive? Can there be just terrorism? Is terrorism inevitable? Will terrorism end as an ideological option in the future? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from political science (Prof. Dipak Gupta, San Diego State University, San Diego), & terrorism studies (Dr. Ajai Sahni, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi). Listen in....

#THOT (The How Of Terror) --- SynTalk

As robots that can weld cars give way to robots that can drive cars, what is ahead for the workforce?

As Automation Advances, Are Jobs in Danger?

What could sterile neutrinos, gravitons, and axions tell us about the Standard Model?

On the Hunt for New Particles in Physics

Framed

Culprit Runs Free

Main Theme

Do you have others working for you? Is the need to work a curse? Or, is work life? Does work establish the relationship between the ‘body’ and nature, economy & society? Do we realize and socialize ourselves via work? Are work and leisure complementary (but only when work is socially configured)? What is leisure for the self employed? How & why is much of production ancillarized? Why are most jobs made idiot-proof? Is a life with only short-term flexible jobs meaningless? Can we, then, have an automatic society (where there is no need to work)? Was the labour in the 19th century more specialized than now? Also, is labour today recruited in a manner very different from (say) in the 19th century? Is much of work always defined by the demands of (mutable) capital? However, is capital neutral to how work is organized? What impact does this then have on personhood and morality? Should survival be contingent on the ability to work? Why is there a collapse globally of the working class? What is the future of jobs, and does this depend on the interrelationship between society and economy? How might (the non-economic) social labour be configured? &, might society be conceptualized as a factory? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from critical theory (Prof. Ranabir Samaddar, Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata), & social anthropology (Prof. A. R. Vasavi, ex-NIAS, Bangalore). Listen in....

#TNTW (The Need To Work) --- SynTalk

Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust addresses graduates at Harvard's 366th Commencement on May 26, 2017 at Tercentenary Theatre. For more information, visit http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/topic/commencement-2017/.

Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust Address | Harvard Commencement 2017

Speaker(s): Professor Craig Calhoun, Professor Bruno Latour, Alan Rusbridger, Professor Judy Wajcman, David Adjaye, Professor Geoff Mulgan, Lord Richard Rogers, Polly Toynbee. | Editor's note: Unfortunately, owing to technical difficulties, the last few minutes of session 1 are missing from the audio podcast. In this exciting half-day conference two panels on 'Public Life and Public Policy' and 'Cities and the Public Realm', discuss these themes in the context of the work of Professor Sennett, the eminent sociologist whose recent books include The Culture of the New Capitalism and The Craftsman. Fri, 14 May 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Richard Sennett: The Sociology Of Public Life - Session 1 [Audio]

Sustainability is about carrying life on, not about the achievement and maintenance of a steady state. Moreover it must be for everyone and everything, and not with the exclusion of others. What kind of world, has a place for everyone and everything? What does it mean for such a world to carry on, and how can we make it happen? Environmental anthropologist, Tim Ingold, addresses these questions head on.

In this lecture leading environmental anthropologist Tim Ingold takes a closer look at what we mean by ‘everything’, he will argue that it is not the sum total of minimally existing entities, joined together into ever larger and more complex structures, but rather a fluid and heterogeneous plenum from within which things emerge as crumples and folds. How, then, Ingold asks, does such an understanding of everything affect our concept of sustainability? It can no longer be understood, as in dominant political and economic discourses, in terms of the numerical balance of recruitment and loss. It is rather about life-cycles, about things’ lasting, not staying the same. In the sustainability of everything there is no opposition between stability and change.

The more that global science has committed itself to a numerical calculus of sustainability, and to grandiose technological solutions, the more it has fallen to art to present a viable alternative. It is an alternative, as Ingold will show, that entails adopting an entirely different relation to the world, with crucial implications for the ways we think about education, community, freedom and democratic citizenship.

This keynote talk is presented in association with the exhibition A Vague Anxiety and related research of featured artist Saidhbhín Gibson whose work explores the precarious interference of human and the natural worlds.

About Speaker
Tim Ingold is emeritus professor of social anthropology at the University of Aberdeen, and a fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In his writing he explores the human as a living organism which feels its way through the world that is itself in motion, constantly creating and being changed by spaces and places as they are encountered.

Ingold began his career with ethnographic fieldwork among Saami and Finnish people in Lapland, which led him to look comparatively at hunting, pastoralism and ranching as alternative modes of livelihood in the region. This drew him to the study of human-animal relations, and thence to wider questions of ecology and evolutionary theory. In addressing these questions, he has sought to replace traditional models of genetic and cultural transmission with a relational approach focusing on the growth of skills of perception and action within socio-environmental contexts of development. Latterly he has embarked on a wide-ranging study of lines and line-making in diverse fields of creative practice, ranging from walking to drawing, writing and storytelling. Spanning the interface between anthropology, art, architecture and design, his most recent research, funded by the European Research Council, has re-examined the relations between making and knowing. He discusses his entire career in an article, “From science to art and back again: The pendulum of an anthropologist”, published in 2016.

This talk took place on Fri 9 Aug 3019 at IMMA

Lecture by Tim Ingold: The Sustainability of Everything

f(q) = Is soil a definitive sign of life? (#TCAFG)

SynTalk is a freewheeling interdisciplinary talk show with a philosophical approach to understanding the world from a long term perspective.