- ホーム
- > 洋書
- > 英文書
- > Religion / Ethics
Full Description
India is frequently represented as the quintessential land of religion. Johannes Quack challenges this representation through an examination of the contemporary Indian rationalist organizations: groups who affirm the values and attitudes of atheism, humanism, or free-thinking.
Quack shows the rationalists' emphasis on maintaining links to atheism and materialism in ancient India and outlines their strong ties to the intellectual currents of modern European history. At the heart of Disenchanting India is an ethnographic study of the organization ''Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti'' (Organization for the Eradication of Superstition), based in the Indian State of Maharashtra. Quack gives a nuanced account of the Organization's specific "mode of unbelief. " He describes the group's efforts to encourage a scientific temper and to combat beliefs and practices that it regards as superstitious. Quack also shows the role played by rationalism in the day-to-day lives of the Organization's members, as well as the Organization's controversial position within Indian society.
Disenchanting India contributes crucial insight into the nature of rationalism in the intellectual life and cultural politics of India.
Contents
Acknowledgments ; Prologue ; Introduction ; Part I: Object of Inquiry: Indian Rationalists, Modes of Unbelief & Disenchantment ; 1. Indian Rationalists ; 2. Modes of Unbelief ; 3. Rationalization and Disenchantment ; 4. Methodological Remarks and Research Setting ; Part II: History: Roots of Organized Rationalism in India ; 5. "Narrative" of the Indian Roots of Rationalism ; 6. Evolution of Rationalism in Colonial India ; 7. Influence of the English Rationalist Movement ; 8. Organized Rationalism in 20th Century India ; 9. Recent History of Organized Rationalism in Maharashtra ; Part III: Ethnography: Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ANiS) ; 10. ANiS in Action: The Science-Van ; 11. Organizational Structure and Set-Up of ANiS ; 12. Profile and Agenda of ANiS ; 13. Individual Interpretations and Applications of Rationalism ; 14. Rationalism as a Way of Life ; 15. ANiS in Context ; 16. Impact of ANiS ; Part IV Theory: The Mode of Unbelief of ANiS ; Bibliography ; Appendix
