Redefining Intellectualism For A Post-Globalized World: Why Present-Day Intellectualism Is Obsolete and Why A Comprehensive Reassessment of Intellectualism Is Required

Volume 8, Issue 8, August – 2023 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Redefining Intellectualism for a Post-Globalized

World: Why Present-Day Intellectualism is Obsolete
and why a Comprehensive Reassessment of
Intellectualism is Required
1
Sujay Rao Mandavilli
Institute for the Study of the Globalization of Science
Abstract:- We begin this paper by defining the terms contribute to the field in a much bigger and in a much more
intellectual and intellectualism and then trace the history robust and meaningful way, and from a multi-cultural
of intellectualism from ancient times onwards. We also perspective as well.
present a broad overview of present day schools of
intellectual thought and conclude that all present-day While we acknowledge that the many scholars and
schools of thought are somewhat outdated for the researchers from both the left and the right (and those
present time. We also propose the direction occupying many different positions in the divergent left-
intellectualism should take in the twenty-first century, right spectrum and continuum) have attempted to redefine
and invite other scholars and researchers to connect the themselves at times, (individual scholars cannot also always
dots and contribute in a much bigger way. While we be naturally tarred by the same brush, and no two
acknowledge that the left and the right have attempted individuals may exactly be the same, and scholars adopting
to redefine themselves at times, and agree that individual extreme and non-compromising far-left (or ultra-left) and
scholars cannot also always be tarred by the same brush, far-right (ultra-right) positions are also relatively fewer in
we believe that a complete metamorphosis in the field in number; Indeed, left-centre and right –centre positions are
imperative, and that a new generation of young scholars much more common. individual researchers and scholars
must drive the process forward. While left-leaning may also adopt different positions within the above-
intellectuals and other intellectuals from the non-left mentioned spectrum on different issues). Thus the idea of a
have also attempted to evolve and change with the times singular left-right continuum is not only an approximation,
(we owe a mountain of gratitude to them for their but a gross over-simplification as well. We also believe that
endeavours and contributions), we will still argue that a complete metamorphosis in the whole idea and philosophy
the idea of intellectualism in general needs a reboot. of intellectualism is imperative, and that a new generation of
These are still too many ideological positions taken, and young scholars from across the world must drive the process
the present state of affairs must gradually come to an forward, and birth and gestate several new schools of
end. Much of present-day intellectualism is also based on thought in the process.
obsolete paradigms like a blind opposition to
globalization and capitalism. Secondly, we also observe We may note here that the idea of the left and right
that the field is driven largely by the pursuit of arose from a seating arrangement in the French assembly in
individual interests, and more collective thought and 1789 (around the time of the French revolution); it is from
better theorization is required. We also emphasize the here that these terms spread to other parts of the world, and
need for building robust intellectualism in developing the concept is similar in different countries across and
countries such that their causes and interests are around the world, though there are indeed some differences
advanced. and variations from context to context. There is also some
consistency of interpretation with regard to the terms left
I. INTRODUCTION and right in the popular imagination, even though variations
and misunderstandings sometimes still persist. Others have
We begin this paper by attempting to define the terms sought to measure left-right orientation through the use of
“intellectual” and “intellectualism” by drawing on the work measurement techniques, but such efforts may essentially be
carried out by several other scholars particularly in the west, pointless. (Laponce 1981)
and then tracing the history of intellectualism from ancient
times onwards in different parts of the world. We also While we do understand that left-leaning intellectuals
present a broad overview of present schools of intellectual and other intellectuals from the non-left have also attempted
thought and conclude that all present-day schools of thought to evolve and change with the times particularly in the
are somewhat outdated for the complex and multi-faceted recent past (we owe a mountain of debt and gratitude to
requirements, needs and considerations of the present time. them for all their endeavours and contributions), we will still
We also attempt to define the broad contours of the direction argue that the idea of intellectualism in general still needs a
we believe intellectualism should take in the twenty-first reboot, and that the present state of affairs is far from
century, and invite other scholars and researchers to connect satisfactory. These are still too many ideological positions
the dots, take the ideas presented in this paper forward, and taken, and all current dispensations must gradually come to
IJISRT23AUG024 www.ijisrt.com 1
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an end as a new generation of scholars and researchers take This is their primary pursuit and occupation as opposed to
over the field and provide their crucial and critical inputs. other individuals like teachers, doctors and lawyers who also
Much of present-day intellectualism is also based on employ some creative thought. According to him, an
obsolete paradigms like a blind and a dogmatic opposition to intellectual had to be highly educated and erudite. He had to
globalization and capitalism regardless of whether it suits be productive in order to create cultural capital for society.
one’s own interests or not. This is particularly true of He had to be artistic to a certain degree too, and possess
countries like France and India. Secondly, we also observe creative abilities. According to the Merriam Webster
that the field is driven largely by the pursuit of individual dictionary, intellectualism is,“ The power of knowing as
interests, and more collective thought and robust back-to the distinguished from the power to feel and to will; the
basics theorization is required which must override all forms capacity for knowledge; it is the capacity for rational,
of vested interests. intelligent, complex and erudite thought. The power of
intellectualism to a great degree manifests itself in a person
We also emphasize the need for building robust with great intellectual powers.” Thus, intellectuals must be
intellectualism in developing countries such that their own “public intellectuals” to a certain degree. They must not live
causes and interests are advanced. This is somewhat lacking in self-imposed exile on the margins and fringes of society,
at the present day and time and the kind of intellectuals but actively participate in it. The term “man of letters” was
revolutions, renaissances and enlightenments that the sometimes used (as also the term “literati”) to describe
Western world has witnessed have not replicated themselves intellectuals, though these terms have now more or less
in the rest of the world. Sometimes, concepts and ideas are fallen into disuse. The term intelligentsia in another term
borrowed from the first world slavishly, and without any that is widely in use even today to describe intellectuals.
modification, adaptation or reconsideration for local Intellectual history, and the history of ideas have also been
conditions. Therefore intellectualism is still widely driven widely studied for some one hundred and fifty years;
by Eurocentric considerations and interests. All these factors Voltaire and Sir Francis Bacon were pioneers in this regard.
have apparently therefore stymied progress in other parts of
the world, and in some cases, prevented these regions from Intellectualism must also be measured in relation to
regaining their past glory. The concepts, ideas and ideals output, and must not be hidden, unexercised, unmanifested
presented in this paper would overlap with social sciences or latent. It must also ideally be of some use to science and
theory, and scholars and researchers possessing a thorough to society, and must reflect the active powers of the mind
grasp of the fundamentals of concepts in various fields of and intellect. In sum, intellectualism is a blanket, omnibus
social science and a deep-rooted and a deep-seated and an umbrella term for all kinds of intellectual activity and
knowledge in these fields should inevitably have a major creative thought. The eminent thinker Vitaly Tepikin
role to play. emphasized the importance of creativity, output, and service
and utility to society as important criteria of productive and
II. WHO IS AN INTELLECTUAL? useful intellectualism. Intellectualism is also often guided by
epistemology, which is the branch, theory, and a science of
An intellectual is an individual who engages in knowledge, which promotes what is known as “justified true
activities relating to the intellect or the understanding of belief”, (as opposed to personal unfounded opinions or
complex issues that a layperson cannot even understand or is blind, unjustified and irrational beliefs) rationality and the
not commonly interested in engaging in, or analyzing in the employment and use of a clear, and an undiluted stream of
normal course of events. An intellectual therefore, exercises reason.
and employs his mental faculties and his critical thinking
power much more than other individuals do. An intellectual Intellectuals usually comprise of a small elitist group
is also an individual who possesses an intellect or within a society, and the percentage of intellectuals in
intellectual abilities to a very high degree: and is engaged in relation to the total society is typically very small. More
or given to learning and thinking. He is also an individual evolved and scientifically aware and literate societies may
who thinks differently from other individuals, and is also have a larger percentage of individuals, who may also
engaged in different and non-trivial or non-mundane be heterogeneous in nature; in contrast, the number of
pursuits. The term “intellectual” is usually traced to a Latin intellectuals in less developed societies may be small.
origin, though in a modern sense has been reinterpreted and Intellectuals are also freethinkers, and may shun the
recast by Bertrand Russell, Arthur C. Clarke and other imposition of values, norms and diktats by force of
modern critical thinkers. authority. As such, they may be anti-establishment and anti-
authority, (and in extreme cases rebellious and
The term “intellectual” was first used in the English revolutionary) though this may not always be the case. They
language in the year 1813. The term also began to be used in often possess superior observation power, and the ability to
other European languages at around the same time. process thoughts and ideas effectively, efficiently, and often
According to the Greek philosopher Socrates, who provided in unique ways including different types of knowledge such
a very interesting definition of the term, intellectualism as knowledge-how, knowledge-where, knowledge-when,
allowed "one will do what is right or what is best, just as knowledge-which and knowledge-that. Intellectualism may
soon as one truly understands what is right or best". often have a negative connotation, and may be associated
According to Thomas Sowell, an intellectual was an with nerdism, aloofness, impracticality, or lack of an
individual whose primary occupation was to deal with ideas. emotional quotient, empathy and social skills.
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Intellectualism is often tied to Intelligence quotient tests, (and other factors such as the prevalence of (and tolerance
though this is not necessarily a reliable yardstick, parameter and appetite for) freethought)) These factors may
or indicator. Intellectuals are said to possess a higher IQ or undoubtedly change over a period in time; but for example
an intelligence quotient and a lower EQ, or an emotional there is hardly any intellectualism to speak of in countries in
quotient, and lower social skills or lower social adaptability. South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and dissent and
This is a general observation, and has been observed in the non-conformity there is often cruelly, brutally, and wickedly
case of many intellectuals like John Forbes Nash, Karl suppressed, oppressed and crushed. However, new thinkers
Popper and Albert Einstein, though it is not a rigid rule.1 2 like Wafa Sultan, Harris Sultan and Ayaan Hirsi Ali have
emerged as strong anti-establishment and anti-religious
From our perspective, intellectualism would also be forces; we would like to see what changes manifest
related to mind-orientation, and this is one type of mind- themselves in a generation or two there. Intellectualism is
orientation we had proposed in our papers. Intellectualism also a mirror of qualitative and quantitative research output,
may be fairly simple in most cases, or may be complex, (and also other metrics such as the generation of intellectual
sophisticated, and variegated in a few cases, and may pertain property rights) which for all practical purposes remains low
to the processing of highly complex thoughts and ideas. in those societies. In some societies, anti-intellectualism is
Intellectualism always requires critical thinking skills, often prominent, and intellectuals often find themselves in
vision, clarity, logical analysis, depth of thinking, breadth of the line of fire. In many societies, McCarthyism and witch-
though, and ability to mentally process large tomes of hunting is also practiced against intellectuals, and in many
complex information. Intellectualism is also therefore the different forms.
science of the gestation of ideas. Intellectualism may be
natural or innate to the individual (Gilbert Ryle and some We also have other concepts such as that of a cancel
others have argued against the idea of intellectualism itself) culture where dissidents are routinely targeted, and non-
(Ryle 1949)), or acquired through parenting, association conformism is frowned upon. Thus, we must also
with other individuals, or superior education; as such, there understand the concepts of intellectual tradition and
is no hard and fast rule in this regard. The latter point of intellectual history, and these have varied widely from
view is supported and endorsed by Jason Stanley, Timothy culture to culture and from society to society. Thus, there is
Williamson, John Bengson, Marc Moffett, Paul Snowdon clearly a cultural lag in an overwhelmingly large number of
and others. (Stanley 2001) (Williamson 2001) (Snowdon cases; while technology has progressed enormously in the
2004) We also support the latter view, in that there is not past several decades, driven largely by western enterprise,
strong and substantive evidence for intellectualism being (Technology is now widely used all over the world even
latent; on the other hand, it can be acquired thorough among remote and peripheral groups such as the Bedouins,
parenting, education, observation, and training. and in varied and interesting ways) social sciences in
general, and intellectualism in particular, have failed to play
Other theories to explain intellectualism have been the catch-up game, particularly in lag or less developed
proposed, and these include the ability hypothesis proposed societies.
by David Lewis and Lawrence Nemirow. Physicalists argue
that physical factors play a major role in the development of In India, the left is frozen and fossilized in a time-
some aspects of knowledge, though this does not constitute warp, and the right also has nothing new to offer either for
intellectualism in our view. Other thinkers have proposed India or for the world. All they can think up of are topics
novel concepts. For example, Noam Chomsky spoke of such as the ancient Indian practices of Yoga and Ayurveda
“mental organs”, (Chomsky 1983) and Jerry Fodor spoke of or India’s real or imagined past glory; (though some glory
the “modules of the mind”. (Fodor 1983) Jacques Barzun cannot of course be denied) The idea or prospect of making
differentiates between intelligence and intellect; while the India (or the rest of the developing world) intellectual,
former is an individual trait, the latter is collectively scientific, technical, or technological tour-de-forces (and
acquired in relation to society, and can even be handed then using it to promote global well-being) in not even on
down from generation. (Barzun 2002) Intellectualism must their radar. The right both in India and elsewhere is
also become practical, real-world orientated and solutions- reactionary and arose as a result of the often illogical and
driven rather than theoretical and abstract. We would like to irrational tendencies of the left (remember the “one kind of
see this kind of a change assert itself as well in the years and bias energizes every other kind of bias” analogy). But the
decades to come, in all parts of the world, including the west left is either already dead or doomed to oblivion. Hence, the
which should ideally be a role-model in this regard. rationale and basis for the more modern and contemporary
concepts of centrism or neo-centrism. Let us bear in mind
On the other hand, cultural factors can play a major the fact that the rest of the world will only admire and
role in determining the extent and degree of intellectualism appreciate India for its present-day scientific prowess,
prevalent in a society, and cultural factors would include achievements and accomplishments. Intellectualism in
linguistic factors (and proficiency) and religious factors too countries like India must reach a critical mass, but
unfortunately, we see no signs of that happening. When will
the revolution begin? Why will Indians stop seeing
[1 ]. Critical Thinking: Intellectual Standards Essential to themselves as Brahmin, Dalit, Hindu, Muslim, North
Reasoning Well Within Every Domain of Human Indians and South Indians, and see themselves as crusaders
Thought, Part Two By Richard Paul and Linda Elder for science? Why is nobody talking about this?
[2 ]. A Practical Guide to Intellectualism Yuri Cath, 2008
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Research particularly in the social sciences and the total population, and was composed on clay tablets. The
historiography unfortunately (even to this very day) is Epic of Gilgamesh is among the world’s earliest literature,
driven by obsolete (but still dearly cherished and not and is attributed to ancient Mesopotamia. Libraries are also
abandoned) notions of sectarian pride, even when it believed to have existed in Ancient Mesopotamia.
compromises scholarly objectivity. Obsolete ideas of Mesopotamians made stellar contributions to mathematics,
“Aryan” “Dravidian”, “North Indian”, “South Indian”, map making, medicine and astronomy too, though true
”Brahmin”,” Dalit” etc still overwhelm people, and lead intellectualism in the modern sense of the term probably did
them to a non-objective approach, Authors, writers, not exist then.
researchers and scholars are judged (at least in the popular
domain and sphere) not by the quality of their academic Egyptians made important contributions to new
output, but based on their ethnic background, ideological technologies and concepts such as mummification,
dispensation etc. This probably explains why India’s medicine, irrigation, agriculture, glass-making, engineering,
research output languishes at the bottom of the heap. Unless astronomy and grand architecture. They also invented paper,
attitudes to science and scholarship change in all sections of their own form of hieroglyphic writing, and built libraries,
Indian society, there can be no hope for Indian too. Indian science too took off in a big way in early ancient
intellectualism. This malaise must be remediated and times, and Indian innovation can be traced back to
rectified by intellectuals themselves; a true intellectual Mehrgarh, a pre-Indus valley civilization site, now in
creates a generation gap. However, there is a faint glimmer Pakistan. Harappans developed metallurgy, irrigation,
of hope, and the Author expects a sea change within a agriculture, architecture, their own form of writing besides
generation or two. The left had set a very bad example as far other inventions and innovations such as weights and
as objectivity was concerned by vitiating and polluting the measures. Alphabetic scripts and iron-making took off in
intellectual atmosphere, but other ideological groups have Post-Harappan cultures in the Gangetic plains, where there
since carried the baton forward. We also propose a was some continuity with Harappan cultures, and Ancient
“Horizontal model” where developing countries across Asia, Indians made contributions to mathematics, astronomy and
South America and Africa collaborate with each other in medicine too. In the fifth century BC, the grammarian
various scientific pursuits, and for mutual benefit, but for Panini made important contributions to the study of Sanskrit
this, these countries must achieve the requisite level of grammar. An account of Ancient India is provided by
scientific and intellectual maturity first.3 4 5 6 Megasthenes in his book Indica which is now considered to
be lost. Indians also contributed greatly to philosophy and
III. HISTORY OF INTELLECTUALISM intellectual thought as evidenced by the Upanishads and
Buddhism, and the term “intellectualism” in sometimes
We now provide a brief historical overview of the attributed to the Mahabharata period. In sum, Indian
terms intellectual and intellectualism. Even though these philosophical traditions include both orthodox (or Astika)
terms were not widely used in ancient times in the modern systems which include the Nyaya, Samkhya, Vaisheshika,
sense of the term, intellectual traditions did exist in some Purva-Mimamsa (or Mimamsa), Yoga and Vedanta schools
form or the other, and to varying degrees in different parts of philosophy, and unorthodox (or Nastika) systems,
of the ancient world, and in early and ancient civilizations. examples being Buddhist and Jaina traditions. Ancient
Humans have let their creative juices flow since early times; Indian scholars and intellectuals included Bhaskara,
the invention of fire, proto-writing, pottery, arts and crafts, Varahamihira, Sushruta, Bramhagupta, Aryabhatta and
agriculture and metal-making would bear ample testimony Bihana.
to this. Among early contributions to science and
technology, the contributions made by early Mesopotamians The ancient Chinese too made significant technological
are highly impressive. They made stellar contributions to advancements. Their innovations included numerous
metal-working, glass and lamp making, architecture, the advancements in the fields of mathematics, natural
production of textiles and weaving, flood control, water sciences, engineering, medicine, military
storage and irrigation. They also invented the earliest form technology, geology and astronomy. Their important
of true writing, namely Cuneiform in the middle of the inventions include paper making, the abacus, the sundial,
fourth millennium before Christ. Writing was usually and the Kongming lantern. Their four great inventions are
mastered by scribes who were small in number in relation to compass, gunpowder, paper making and printing. The
Chinese also developed their own writing system, and
contributed to literature in a big way. In imperial China,
[3 ]. Gros, Frederic (ed.)(2005) Michel Foucault: The intellectuals were termed as scholar officials or scholar
Hermeneutics of the Subject, Lectures at the College gentlemen who made important contributions to society.
de France 1981–1982. Picador: New York They had to pass examinations conducted by the king, and
[4 ]. Jeremiah Hackett, A Companion to Meister Eckhart, were then granted academic degrees.
BRILL, 2012,
[5 ]. Skinner, Quentin. (1969) "Meaning and Ancient Greece was a major centre of analytical
Understanding in the History of Ideas", History and thought and intellectualism, and intellectualism particularly
Theory flourished there between the fifth century before Christ to
[6 ]. Grafton, Anthony. "The History of Ideas: Precept and around the second century after Christ. Greek intellectual
Practice, 1950–2000 and Beyond", Journal of the traditions were even superior to, and easily eclipsed later
History of Ideas 67#1 (2006):
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Roman traditions. Inventions that are often attributed to the nations”, “A treatise of human nature”, and the “spirit of the
ancient Greeks include the gear, screw, the watermill, metal laws”. 7 8
casting techniques, the water clock etc. Greeks also made
contributions to historiography, geography, and cartography. Since then most important intellectuals have tended to
Greek thinkers have included Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, be Western-based (intellectualism has also been western-
Archimedes, Epicurus, Thales of Miletus, and many, many centric, and most important technological advancements
others. Roman intellectualism was not as sophisticated as have occurred there) even though the East has already partly
that of the Greeks, though they made some important risen. Western intellectuals like Karl Marx and Noam
contributions to military technology and the art and the Chomsky have exhibited decidedly Eurocentric approaches
science of warfare. Some time before the rise of and tendencies, and this may partly stem from a lack of
contemporary Western civilization, the Islamic golden age understanding or appreciation of other cultures. Countries
was a golden age of science and culture when polymath like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have taken off in a big
such as Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Sina were born. Baghdad was way beginning from the end of the twentieth century
then the centre of Islamic scientific traditions. Many ancient particularly in varied fields of technology. They have
works particularly from Greek, were translated into Arabic however lagged behind in true science and true
and Persian during this period. Algebra, geometry, and intellectualism. Non-western scholars and thinkers have
calculus were developed during this period. This age is also blindly copied western concepts and paradigms in their own
characterized by moderate Islam, government sponsorship contexts without modification or alteration, and this holds
of intellectualism, the adoption of new technology, and an true even for relatively much less intellectual pursuits such
openness to diverse influences. as the development of new local-specific economic models.
The modern glorious Western age of science, Thus, for example, even Chandrababu Naidu (The ex-
technology and intellectualism began with the renaissance Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh)
and the enlightenment. “Renaissance” is a French word slavishly and mindlessly copied imported economic
which means “rebirth.” This term refers to a period in development models regardless of local conditions, or
European civilization typically covering the fifteenth and without understanding the fundamental character of the local
sixteenth centuries, and following the dark middle ages that economy; this may explain his defeat at the hustings. We
was characterized by a revival of classical learning and need a new intellectualism in developing countries and the
wisdom, and the desire to revive and surpass a golden past. non-Western world, (and a rebooting and reimagination of
The renaissance is believed to have begun in Florence, Italy, several fields of sciences, particularly social sciences) and
and then spread across Europe. The intellectual basis of the one that can shape, influence, and take into consideration
Renaissance movement was an early version of humanism, global influences as well, and productively and fruitfully
derived from the Roman concept “humanitas” and the serve the needs of the present time. This is the crying need
rediscovery of Ancient Greek philosophy and values. This of the hour and day well over three quarters of a century
period is marked by a flourishing of art, architecture, after colonialism formally and officially ended in most parts
literature, science and politics. The extended renaissance of the world. 9
period saw great scientists and thinkers such as Galileo
Galilei, Isaac Newton, Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes The only interesting exception appears to be
Kepler, and Tycho Brahe emerge. Leornado Da Vinci and demographics and population studies where countries such
Michelangelo were also important polymaths of this era. as India, China and South Korea have charted their own
trajectories, but here too, there have been calls for pro-
The Age of Enlightenment also commonly known as natalism. Some people in India and elsewhere have often
“the Age of reason”, was an important intellectual probably in frustration or despair, complained of western
and philosophical movement that began in Europe, in the elitism in intellectualism, but have done very little to
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and had far-reaching generate or produce their own unique paradigms. We can’t
implications worldwide. This period saw the emergence of wait to see new schools of intellectual thought emerge in
contemporary values such as liberty, equality, fraternity, different parts of the unrepresented world. The creation of a
religious tolerance, individual rights, progress, scientific new generation of thought leaders in Asia, Africa and South
temper and a separation of the church from the state. This America is of paramount importance, and will change the
period was preceded by the scientific revolution, and the contours and dynamics of science completely; we have
works of important philosophers such ad Francis Bacon, always been working towards that singular objective for
Montesquieu, Baruch Spinoza, Immanuel Kant, Rene close to two decades now. Thus, the Indian right wing and
Descartes, Adam Smith and John Locke. These were the
important intellectuals of the period who also made several
important contributions to human advancement. Important [7 ]. Assis, Arthur Alfaix (2021). "History of Ideas and Its
published works during this era were the “Esquisse d'un Surroundings". In: Bloomsbury History: Theory and
tableau historique des progres de l'esprit humain”, Method. London: Bloomsbury Publishing
“L’encyclopedie”, “Letters on the English”, “The wealth of [8 ]. Horowitz, Maryanne Cline, ed. (2004). New
Dictionary of the History of Ideas. New York:
Scribner. ISBN 978-0684313771.
[9 ]. E.J. Hobsbawm, On Empire: America, War, and
Global Supremacy, Pantheon Books, 2008,
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the Indian public in general, must abandon their religion- forcibly deported. In the 1920’s the Bolsheviks in the newly
inspired and religion-derived constructs, and must embrace formed USSR despised the Tsarist intelligentsia, and
(and endorse) a scientific temper wholeheartedly. The most accused them of putting down the proletariat. Some of them
recent major schools of intellectual thought have been were even deported to far off places. In the USSR, some
postmodernism and poststructuralism, and these have been pseudo-scientific concepts such as Lysenkoism were
Eurocentric too, (These schools of thought and practice first sometimes promoted to the detriment of science and
emerged in the 1970’s which we may call the heyday of society.. In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil war of the
western-centric intellectualism) and have valued subjectivity 1930’s, many intellectuals were killed, and intellectualism
and interpretation over objectivity. They have interestingly was brutally suppressed. Intellectuals were also targeted
never spoken about service to society. Is this a form of later on in the USSR, were sometimes deposed, deported,
pseudo-science as well? There is however a faint glimmer of brainwashed, or subjected to mental hygiene and
hope as evidenced by the anti-religious and anti-dogma sanitization exercises. Intellectuals were infamously
movements now rising from the Middle East. This is hounded and killed during the Khymer Rouge government
however probably just the beginning as a lot more work of Cambodia headed by Pol Pot. Intellectuals were
needs to be done. 10 11 persecuted during the erstwhile communist USSR (examples
being Polish intelligentsia) and communist China too
Modern intellectuals of the public kind have included (especially during the now infamous cultural revolution and
Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Steven Pinker, Noam the much-touted great leap forward when some schools,
Chomsky, Abhijit Banerjee, Jared Diamond, Al Gore, colleges and universities were even shut down) with zero
Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Kahneman, and others, though tolerance for dissent and non-conformity. Hopefully, these
they have subscribed to some form of an ideology such as an kinds of extreme anti-intellectualism will be a thing of the
unconscious or subconscious Eurocentrism, and are as such past, as communism and most forms of fascism and
not ideal role models to emulate in other parts of the world. totalitarianism (and political dictatorship) have now mostly
receded, and democratic ideals have thankfully taken root on
 Anti-Intellectualism and the Persecution of Intellectuals most parts of the world.
Anti-intellectualism may be defined as and taken to
mean hostility and hatred towards, and a mistrust Academic anti-intellectualism has been practiced too
of intellectuals, the intelligentsia and intellectualism, both by the far-left and the far-right, examples being anti-
whether they be public or private ones. Anti-intellectualism intellectualism prevalent in Argentina during the rule of
is often accompanied by active persecution and witch- Juan Carlos Ongania. However, intellectuals seldom face
hunting of intellectuals. This kind of hostility is commonly persecution the way professionals like doctors and lawyers
expressed as condescension towards indispensible fields do, which may be in the form of lawsuits. Anti-
such as education, research and other similar endeavours. intellectualism has unfortunately thrived and flourished in
Anti-intellectuals may also dismiss fields such India too. For example, Ram Manohar Lohia called for the
as art, literature, and philosophy as undesirable and even abolition of the English language in India without
impractical, and not serving the needs of society. However, understanding language dynamics in India and beyond.
intellectualism is sometimes viewed as the preference for Likewise, Mulayam Singh Yadav called for the abolition of
art, literature and fiction over serious academic pursuits and computers and agricultural machinery not too long ago.
avocations. Intellectuals may, and in some contexts,
sometimes position themselves as champions of the The Indian Minister of State Satyapal Singh had stated
common man and as enemies of the elite. Some may even that Darwin’s theory was wrong because no one had seen an
glorify (or surreptitiously desire the continuation of endemic ape turn into man. According to the Rajasthan education and
poverty and indigence). These trends and tendencies have Panchayati Raj minister Vasudev Devnani, the cow was the
been witnessed in India as well as well-meaning scholars are only animal that ‘could both inhale and exhale oxygen’ and
either targeted or sidelined. Anti-intellectualism has been that this had a ‘scientific significance’ as well. According to
used in the past by totalitarian governments (Many the ISRO (Indian space research organization) chairman S
communist or right-wing fascist ones) to suppress political Somanath, all science originated in the Vedas which are
dissent. only unfortunately 3500 years old. According to the Chief
Minister of Tripura state Biplab Kumar Deb, internet existed
In extreme cases, anti-intellectualism has been equated in Ancient India during the Mahabharatha some 2500 years
with fascism, and has been accompanied by purges and ago. In the 1990’s, an individual by name Raman claimed to
pogroms. In Ancient China in the third century BC, the have turned water into petrol, and many believed him. At
Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang tried to quash freedom of around the same time, there was a talk of Ganesha statues
speech and dissent, and burnt many books. During the drinking milk. Public heroes (often role models) are
Armenian genocide of 1915, many intellectuals were typically religious figures (sometimes sportsmen and cinema
stars) but almost never intellectuals and scientists, not even
among a sizable minority. Yellapragada Subbarow is barely
[10 ]. Societies, Networks, and Transitions, Volume B: even known in his own state of Andhra Pradesh, and his
From 600 to 1750 by Craig Lockard contributions to medicine barely understood. All this shows
[11 ]. Lander, Brian (2021). The King's Harvest: A that we have a long, long way to go. Other developing
Political Ecology of China from the First Farmers to countries are not probably much better; many people believe
the First Empire. Yale University Press
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in Quranic literalism to this day, and voodoo, black magic concerns and considerations must be pursued aggressively.15
and witch craft are common in parts of Africa to this day. 12 16 17
13 14
 Schools of Intellectualism and Schools of Thought

Thus, in our view robust intellectualism and tolerance A school of thought, also known as an intellectual
for dissent is required for any society to grow. We have tradition, refers to the combined perspective shared by a
been speaking about this all along, particularly, in our paper group of people who share common patterns of opinion,
on Anthropological economics, where we described the beliefs or outlook regarding a particular political or non-
creative class, the intellectual class, and the entrepreneurial political philosophy, ideology of set of beliefs, economic
class. These must also be related with the concepts of socio- ideology or philosophy, etc. In sum, it refers to a group of
cultural groups, socio-economic groups and occupational people who think and act alike, or share a common
groups. For further clarity, readers may read the afore- ideology, or philosophical set of beliefs. Schools of thought
mentioned paper. It is also imperative that intellectuals are may also be categorized into orthodox and heterodox
not nerds; they must interact with society proactively and schools, and may be seen as good or bad by their proponents
dynamically. They must also be creative and eschew dyed- and opposing parties. In Ethnography for example, we have
in-the-wool approaches. They must also interact and engage the British and Chicago schools of ethnography, and in the
proactively with the government and public institutions, and field of linguistics, the Prague school is a very important
must play a critical part in the formulation of public policy, school. Therefore, schools of thought may be founded either
and the betterment of society. Intellectuals have often been on the basis of individuals who founded them, or the city,
held responsible for the formulation of disastrous public state or country in which they were founded. 18 19
policies, and hence, they must possess not only diverse
expertise in various relevant fields, but also sensitivity to  Left-Wing Politics, Ideology and Activism
different points of view. They must also be ideology-neutral Left-wing politics is the position taken by the left on
and ideology-free, and their efficacy must be judged in various issues affecting society in the wide and
relation to the quantum of their output. They must also
naturally increase the quantum of scholarly and economic
outputs of various societies too. [15 ]. Introducing Anthropological Economics: The quest
for an Anthropological basis for Economic theory,
Only this will put an end to the often pejorative growth models and policy development for wealth
connotations of the terms intellectual and intellectualism. and human welfare maximization Sujay Rao
Intellectuals must also interact with the masses at large, and Mandavilli ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Social
this would also put an end to accusations of elitism. It is also Sciences Volume 6, Issue 3 (April –June 2020)
the responsibility of education planners and pedagogy [16 ]. Introducing Anthropological Pedagogy as a Core
experts to devise strategies to boost innovation and Component of Twenty-first Century Anthropology:
creativity in this post-globallized world, and fight obsolete The Role of Anthropological Pedagogy in the
concepts such as rote learning and memorization which are fulfilment of Anthropological and Sociological
unnecessary in this day and age of internet and smart objectives Sujay Rao Mandavilli International
phones. Indian education systems for example, are still Journal of Innovative Science and Research
accused of promoting rote learning and undermining the Technology (IJISRT) Volume 3, Issue 7, 2018
importance of critical thought, and the development of (Summary published in Indian Education and
critical or lateral thinking, (or even the teaching of scientific Research Journal Volume 4 No 7, 2018)
method) though there are some promising signs of change. [17 ]. Unleashing the potential of the ‘Sociology of
We therefore, anticipate a completely new post-globalized Science’: Capitalizing on the power of science to
intellectual class shape twenty-first century discourse and usher in social, cultural and intellectual revolutions
dialogue and reflect the needs of the present day and time. across the world, anSocial ed lay the foundations of
Of course, local flavours must also be retained, and local twenty-first century pedagogy Sujay Rao Mandavilli
Elk Asia Pacific Journal of Social Science, October –
December 2020
[18 ]. Articulating comprehensive frameworks on socio-
cultural change: Perceptions of social and cultural
[12 ]. Bergman, Jay. "Was the Soviet Union Totalitarian? change in contemporary Twenty-first century
The View of Soviet Dissidents and the Reformers of Anthropology from a ‘Neo-centrist’ perspective
the Gorbachev Era." Studies in East European Published in ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Social
Thought, vol. 50, no. 4, 1998 Sciences Volume 3, Number 4 (July 2017 –
[13 ]. Bultmann, Daniel. "Irrigating a Socialist Utopia: September 2017) Sujay Rao Mandavilli
Disciplinary Space and Population Control under the [19 ]. The relevance of Culture and Personality Studies,
Khmer Rouge, 1975–1979," Transcience, vol. 3, no. National Character Studies, Cultural Determinism
1 (2012) and Cultural Diffusion in Twenty-first Century
[14 ]. Godley, Michael R. (1987). "Socialism with Chinese Anthropology: An assessment of their compatibility
Characteristics: Sun Yatsen and the International with Symbiotic models of Socio-cultural change
Development of China". The Australian Journal of ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Social Science Volume
Chinese Affairs 4, Issue 2, 201
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divergent left–right political continuum and spectrum. Left abolition of private property and inheritance, and advocate
wing ideologues are primarily focused on social equality collectivism.
and egalitarianism. Like rightwing idealogues, left-wing
idealogues are associated with their own social, cultural and Via medium positions typically include some degree of
political groups. Left wing groups usually show a great deal centralized planning, strong government intervention in
of concern for the disadvantaged sections of society, and economic affairs, and nationalization of key industries.
those who are at the bottom of the social and economic Left-wing ideologies come in various flavours and shades,
hierarchy. Social and societal change is often sought to be and can vary from context to context and nation to nation
achieved through near-violent means, and through too. Left-libertarians, or left-wing libertarians, and
revolutions. Marxists also talk about the bourgeoisie, the libertarian socialists for example, are a group of people
proletariat and the petit bourgeoisie. Equality in their view, within the left who believe in a decentralized economy run
could be achieved when the proletariat overthrew the by trade unions, workers' councils, workers’ cooperatives,
bourgeoisie, and established a classless society. This process worker-self management structures, other worker driven and
is sometimes known as revolutionary socialism, and the end worker centric programs and communes; these groups
state is the dictatorship of the proletariat or the workers’ oppose both state control and private control of the
classless society; dissenting workers and fringe elements of economy, and recommend social ownership and
society (known in Marxist speak as the lumpenproleteriat) decentralized local ownership of the economy. These groups
would also eventually drawn into the revolutionary over seek to counterbalance social equality with individual
throw of the bourgeoisie. The emeritus professor of liberty. Many Marxists have also opposed racism and have
economics Barry Clark states that left-wing politicians claim supported the civil rights movement as well. They also
that human welfare is maximized when differences in class, opposed slavery and some have fought for women’s rights,
power, position and status are abolished, and when absolute women’s emancipation, women’s suffrage and LGBT rights.
equality is achieved. Thus, mutual co-operation and Some leftists also supported prohibition in the USA in the
collaboration between social classes becomes necessary for 1920’s. Others have also opposed genocide, the use of
a healthy society, accompanied by healthy mutual respect. weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism in the recent
In the modern context, the term Left typically applies to past.
ideologies and movements to the left end of the political
spectrum. In the recent past, most left-leaning scholars and
researchers have become bitter and trenchant critics of
The left often supports some degree of democracy in globalization notwithstanding the fact that it has helped
the political sphere. Many oppose totalitarianism and developing economies to a great degree. Other schools of
dictatorship as well, but advocate a major role by the thought have included Fabian socialism which seeks to
government in economic affairs. They are thus opposed to achieve socialist goals in a gradualist manner; this school of
capitalism and laissez-faire economics, and are critical of thought was particularly popular in Great Britain early in the
liberalization of formerly socialist economics, calling this Twentieth century. Social democracy is another
approach ”neo-liberalism”. Even though Marxists today are political, social, and economic philosophy lying entirely
sometimes seen as uninnovative, some Marxists have indeed within the realm pf socialism; this school of thought
supported innovation to some degree, and have seen it as the supports political and economic democracy to some degree,
basis of a progressive society. In general, most Marxists along with market intervention, but advocates socialist goals
support income tax increases as a tool to redistribution; they nonetheless, and the presence or intervention of the left in
also oppose income tax cuts as a mechanism to growth. core and critical sectors of the economy only. This is
They also oppose the idea that trickle-down economics will sometimes referred to as the third way, but is different from
ever work. our third way; we have proposed Anthropological
Economics as a solution to myriad woes and malaises, and
Marxists also support the labour rights and worker this would also include in its domain and sphere, trickle up
movement, trade and labour unions, various forms of economic and bottom-up economics. Some left-leaning
socialism, a greater role to be played by the state, scholars believe in Marxian economics which is a school of
communism and Marxism as well. They also support a wide economic thought based on the principles of economics
range of other social movements, including the civil rights propounded by Karl Marx. Marxist economists focus on the
movement, various feminist movements, LGBT rights role played by of labor in the development of an economy
movements, various other emancipator and as such is critical of many theories and concepts
movements, multiculturalism, plurality and religious proposed by Adam Smith. 20 21 22
tolerance, anti-war movements and environmental
movement as wells. They are essentially anti-religious in
nature, and see religion and religious fundamentalism as a [20 ]. Masquelier, Charles (2014). Critical Theory and
major threat to humanity. There are a wide range of beliefs Libertarian Socialism: Realizing the Political
advocated by Marxists, and Marxist beliefs in the economic Potential of Critical Social Theory. Bloomsbury
sphere could range from a belief in the welfare state, greater Academic
and enhanced social welfare and social security to top-down [21 ]. Ojeili, Chamsy (November 2001). "The "Advance
centralized planning and statism. Some even advocate Without Authority": Post-modernism, Libertarian
Socialism, and Intellectuals". Democracy & Nature.
Taylor & Francis.
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Some intellectuals among the left-wing have advocated The left has also traditionally been anti-religion,
environmentalism too, stating it was the collective opposing the power and hegemony of the Catholic Church.
responsibility of individuals to take care of the planet. It is The left has followed the footsteps of Karl Marx, and has
said that early left-wing thinkers such as Karl Marx and supported the notion and concept of atheism. It may be
William Morris had some concern for the environment; noted here that Marx himself was an atheist, and called
Marx had even gone on record stating that individuals were religion “the opium of the masses”, “the heart of a heartless
merely occupants and inheritors of the earth, not its world”, and “the sigh of the oppressed creature”. Marxists
landlords or owners. Thus, environmentalists were present have also traditionally called for a separation between the
in many communist societies including the USSR which had Church and the state. In the USSR, Soviet authorities sought
Alexander Bogdanov, a prominent revolutionary. This was to downplay the role played by religion in society, and
in spite of the fact that Josef Stalin was seen as a notable eventually eradicate it as well. Most moderate leftists today,
anti-environmentalist and opposed some environmental however, argue for secularism and not the complete
concerns expressed by his fellow comrades. Many leading abolition of religion. Some leftist thinkers also tried to
left-wing intellectuals, ever since the 1970’s, saw reconcile the principles of Marxism with orthodox Christian
environmentalism as being increasingly important, and more religious tradition or dogma. Examples of such movements
and more left leading scholars and thinkers were drawn into include the social gospel movement, though such
environmentalism in the ensuing decades. However, many movements have been often on the fringes of mainstream
in the left-wing parties see socialism (and sometimes a non- discourse. 25
dominance of the west and north) as a solution to global
warming and environmental catastrophe. Few have Thus, the left (in the west and elsewhere) has moved
acknowledged the role technology can play in addressing away from a narrow pre-occupation with class struggle and
these issues. has energized and redirected itself greatly. The international
left in the recent past has been broadly engaged with a wide
The left has also often engaged in issues such as variety of concerns and issues, and their approach is
nationalism, anti-imperialism and nationality. During the collectively referred to as “social activism”. Some more
French revolution, the left advocated civic nationalism recent leftist movements are known collectively as the “New
which it sometimes saw in opposition to imperialism. Some left” (as opposed to the “Old left”) though their ideas and
leftists saw nationalism as an important mechanism for the ideals are still somewhat at variance with our own ideas and
state to consolidate its power. However, most Marxists do ideals, and their ideas essentially remain Eurocentric or
not consider religion or ethnicity to be valid bases for geared towards solving western problems. The “New left”
nationalism. Marxist have also often espoused the idea of an has also branched off into several new variants such as the
international class struggle and the unity of workers from American New Left, the British New Left and the Chinese
across the world. This is sometimes seen as internationalism New Left. (The Chinese new left had a different purpose and
or proletarian internationalism, and a deterrent against war, commutation and sought to restore socialism) The “New
international conflict and “bourgeois nationalism”. Some Left” has sought to make course-corrections to suit present-
leftist thinkers also thought socialist revolutions in one day circumstances and rectify mistakes made by the Old
country would have a cascading effect and spread Left, the new left has sometimes not gone down too well
throughout the entire world in a ripple-like fashion. This with the old left. Many ideological proponents of different
would lead to a “world revolution” or an “international ideologies have also sought to take a populist stance, and the
permanent solution”. Alas, this never came to pass, and terms left-wing populism and right-wing populism have
communism itself eventually collapsed. Some leftist who taken root. 26
advocated “Third-worldism” saw an artificial cleavage
between the developed and the developing world, and felt These changes in international leftist movements have
this could be resolved by eliminating capitalism and however apparently not been cascaded to the Indian left
oppression by developed countries. Many leftists therefore which still possesses antiquated shibboleths to an extreme
opposed colonialism and supported the dismantling of degree. The Indian left also blindly opposes economic
colonialism and the independence of formerly colonized reforms made in 1991. In the intervening years since then,
countries. Many leftists however opposed bourgeoisie the Indian left has virtually perished, and let itself die, but
nationalism. We particularly call for the emergence of a new without any sign of an imminent reform. Many Indian
generation of intellectuals in developing and formerly leftists still oppose multinationals, alliances with the USA
colonized countries; this is what many disparagingly refer to and Israel, and have made no attempts to address twenty-
as the “Third world”. 23 24 first century concerns. They also oppose communalism. And
[24 ]. Gauchet, Marcel (1997). "Right and Left". In Nora,

[22 ]. Ball, Terence (2005). The Cambridge History of Pierre; Kritzman, Lawrence D. (eds.). Realms of
Twentieth-Century Political Thought (Reprint. ed.). memory: conflicts and divisions. New
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. York: Columbia University Press.
[23 ]. Evans, Geoffrey; Whitefield, Stephen (1998). "The [25 ]. "Challenging the Dogmas of Right and Left". The
Evolution of Left and Right in Post‐Soviet Atlantic.
Russia". Europe-Asia Studies [26 ]. Left wing populism: The politics of the people, Oscar
Garcia, Agustin
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28 29 30
their opposition to communalism is indeed welcome. Some school of thought driven by reason, and reason alone.
31
leftist intellectuals like Buddhadeb Bhattacharya sought to
bring about reform in praxis alone, and not in theory. They
were eventually bundled and booted out of power. The  Right Wing Politics, the Real Right and the Reactionary
Indian left has unfortunately yet to learn from their brethren Right
and comrades elsewhere. Will they survive the realities of Right-wing politics refers to the range of political
the twenty-first century and the voting preferences of ideologies that hold fixed or consistent views or positions on
today’s youth? Will they emerge as a strong counter- a wide range of issues. They are often seen to be in
balancing force to the right? The answers to these questions opposition to the left which is at the extreme other end of
are unknown yet. As of today, the Indian left leans heavily the political or ideological spectrum. They are either
on other countries for its ideology or support, with virtually legitimate in their own right with well-rounded and
no original thinking. They are now however more or less consistent ideologies, or they may be reactionary, having
rudderless as communism has collapsed elsewhere. In India, arisen in steadfast opposition to the left. They may at times
Jawaharlal Nehru who was left leaning but not communist, serve a meaningful cause, though they are mostly seen as
both admired and loathed the USSR but sought to being highly regressive, both by the left and by the non-left.
implement a mixed economy based on the principles of They may champion certain social orders and hierarchies,
Fabian socialism. More left than Nehru were Netaji Subhash and may also lay great emphasis on tradition, particularly
Chandra Bose, and the Marxist historian DD Kosambi who religious tradition and also the dint of authority. Right-wing
lambasted Nehru for being too right. Mahatma Gandhi politics has been found in all-parts of the world, but took off
cannot fall into either category; he believed in the concept of in India in a major way only in the 1990’s . Right-wing
trusteeship where in the rich set up trusts for the poor or less groups are often seen as conservative, untra-nationalist,
privileged and disadvantaged sections of society..As such, chauvinistic, xenophobic, and authoritarian, though this may
this concept is not even on our radar as it has never been put be seen as an over-generalization. Right-wing groups may
into practice.27 oppose other religious groups innately as a part of their
ideology. For example, the Indian far right is seen as being
There have been extreme manifestations of leftism too, anti-Muslim, and the European right-wing group PEGIDA
as evidenced by the formation of the Communist Party of opposes immigration of Muslims to European nations and
India (Marxist Leninist) which was founded by Charu Islamism. Nazism and the German Third-Reich is widely
Mazumdar in the 1960’s. This party opposed democratic considered to be right-wing. It is associated with fascism
process, and saw violent revolution as the only way to just like Mussolini’s government was. The Old Klu Klux
achieve equality. Naxalism and Maoism are also seen to be Klan movement is sometimes viewed as belong to this
manifestations of left-wing politics and policies in India. category, though this position is contested. Thus, the right
Right wingers in India included C Rajagopalachari and may be reactionary, low, moderate or severe. British
Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Extreme and dogmatic hatred for academics Noel O'Sullivan and Roger Eatwell have also
communism has also manifested itself from time to time, proposed very similar but somewhat different
and many movements to thwart and annihilate have been in categorizations. We have modified them for our purpose and
operation particularly in the United States. Note the need.
movements led by Senator Joseph McCarthy and the anti-
red movement; they falsely accused many people of being Right wing groups include the social conservatives,
pro-communist, and sought to target them. Left and right who are based on the promotion and propagation of
wing advocates also differ widely and fundamentally in traditional values (some of their beliefs include the idea of
many different ways with respect to the principles and “intelligent design” as opposed to the liberals, the liberal
concepts of different fields such as historiography and conservatives who support some ideas of liberalism and
political science, and to a small extent and degree, in other some ideas of conservatism, the fiscal conservatives who
fields of the social science; we have sought to address this in support reduced and restricted government spending, and
several other papers we published in the past. It is now time right-wing libertarians who support laissez-faire economics.
to scrutinize and if necessary challenge and negate cherish In India the Right wing is represented by the Bharatiya
notions of intellectualism. The term and the aphorism “the Janata Party or the BJP, and its associate, the RSS or the
end of ideology” has been used since at least the 1960’s to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Extreme right-wing
refer to a post-ideological society, though the predictions of proponents in India have succumbed to the idea of
this school have not come to pass. We had proposed the irredentism, revanchism, and the idea of an Akhand Bharat.
term “neo-centrism” to supersede the already in use term
centrism, and we still swear by this concept, and will back it
up to the hilt. It is an extremely useful concept that can be [28 ]. Chakrabarty, Bidyut. Communism in India: Events,
used to strike a judicious balance between various and Processes and Ideologies (Oxford University Press,
varied dogmas of the left and the right, and put forward a 2014).
[29 ]. Haithcox, John Patrick. Communism and Nationalism
in India (Princeton UP, 2015).
[30 ]. Masani, M.R. The Communist Party of India: A Short
[27 ]. Ash, Timothy Garton. The Magic Lantern: The History. (Macmillan, 1954).
Revolution of 1989 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, [31 ]. De Nevers, Renée (2003). Comrades No More: The
Berlin, and Prague (Random House, 1990). Seeds of Change in Eastern Europe. MIT Press
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Proponents of the Indian right-wing refer to individuals confusing and confused). However, the emphasis among a
from the Indian non-right, and in particular, those promoting wide gamut and spectrum of political parties is now growth
liberalism, as “liberandus” The rise of the right is also of with equity as trickle-down economics may be unsuited in
course largely reactionary, and one must always bear in the Indian context. Strategies to implement this kind of a
mind the maxim and the adage “One kind of bias legitimizes philosophy are not yet fully in place, though. Even
every other kind of bias. The reaction may be worse than the economic theory has not kept pace.
malaise, and we have proposed a concept known as fuzzy
logic as well. Hence, the far-left must die too, as also all Even though nationalism was a trait of French left-
kinds of dogma. Hence, there is indeed a justification for the wing, the right wing subsequently hijacked the idea, and
ideology and philosophy of neo-centrism. nationalism is associated with the right-wing all over the
world. Some right-wing proponents were also racist, and
Positions of both right-wing and left-wing ideologues many believed in white supremacy. Many also believed in
may change with the passage of time, as societies mature social and economic Darwinism. Right-wing accorded
and evolve. Right-wing groups also opposed communism primacy for the language, race, religion, culture and customs
and the idea of an over-large state rabidly, and emphasize of their respective western nations, and attached a great
and champion individual rights and liberties instead. It must emphasis on cultural preservation. These traits and
be noted here that some liberals have traditionally been characteristics naturally put them in perpetual opposition to
opposed to Communism too. Right wing groups no longer left-wing advocates. Many right-wing proponents also hold
support traditional forms of government such as monarchy, conservative views with respect to religion. Many even
and most support social security in some form. In some oppose sex outside marriage, same-se marriage and
cases, right-wing groups blindly opposed communism, and abortion.
those who were perceived to be communist, or those who
were suspected of having affiliations with the Communist Some even oppose birth control. Extreme right wing
party were witch-hunted and persecuted. After monarchy positions also advocate Biblical literalism and negate
declined in Europe in the early twentieth century, opposition science, although this is relatively rare. A few even reject
to communism was taken up by “neo-fascist” groups many equality (most only an artificial imposition of equality
of which were based on the pursuit of nationalism to an arguing that it compromises merit and efficiency), and argue
extreme degree.32 33 that human inequality is a part of nature. Immigration is
often virulently and vehemently opposed and seen as highly
Some members of the far-right also have had some undesirable, as is also any form of state control. Thus, the
kind of a quarrel with, and have borne grudges towards right-wing often has a xenophobic streak. Interestingly, a
some forms of extreme of laissez-faire capitalism; they also few support economic and social classes even. Some right-
typically exhibited some sensitivity towards the excesses wing philosophies are even Bible-derived, demonstrating
and evils of the industrial revolution; however, most have their wild unsuitability for India and other parts of the
supported capitalism in some form, as also individual liberty world. A few Islamic cultures have concepts of left and
and individual rights. During the nineteenth century, the right, though this is relatively less common.
right with some exceptions tended to favour capitalists
more, and saw them as a productive force in society. Thus, Many right wing Hindu nationalists in India even
the right supported, and was inherently a part of, the manipulate and distort history to suit their own petty and
economic and industrial rise and might of the west. Leftist selfish ends and interests. This is usually driven by
movements were generally seen as fringe, and were mischievous elements and a crank scholarship. Among their
eventually discarded and castigated, falling out of the many obsessions is whether the Aryans are indigenous to
collective public consciousness as well in due course. India or not, and whether the proto Indo European homeland
Today, the far right is usually seen as an epithet for laissez- is located in India. They have absolutely no qualms and
faire economics and the advocacy for free markets along inhibitions whatsoever about shaming India or making it a
with individualism and property rights. In India, there was a laughing stock in front of the rest of the world. They are
right turn after 1991 (the earlier decade exhibited only skittish about the possible weakening of their ideology,
ideological zig-zag patterns alternating between half-hearted and whinge about alleged persecution ad nauseum. So much
liberalization and restraint, and was generally ideologically so for their patriotism. The American pseudoscience expert
Alan Sokal baldly called most Hindutva endeavours “cheap,
communal propaganda”. The Indian right also stands guilty
[32 ]. Virchow, Fabian (2016), "PEGIDA: Understanding and accused to copying concepts from other nationalist
the Emergence and Essence of Nativist Protest in movements of the twentieth century, in some cases without
Dresden", Journal of Intercultural Studies any modification. This has been noted even by Koenraad
[33 ]. Dyson, Kenneth (2021). Conservative Liberalism, Elst, who is usually seen as a pro-Hindutva demagogue. In
Ordo-liberalism, and the State: Discipling sum, most will even agree that the far right is not a solution
Democracy and the Market. Oxford University Press to the inadequacies of the left. All things considered, it is
not even, when seen from a narrow nationalistic perspective,
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(or from the prism of Indian national interests alone) in been formed to fight the cause of the Dalits. The Bahujan
India’s best interests. 34 35 36 37 Samaj Party is another prominent party launched to fight the
cause of the Dalits. It was founded by the social reformer
IV. DALIT INTELLECTUALISM Kanshi Ram. Over the years, Many Dalit activists sought
temple entry, and burnt copies of the ancient Indian text
Dalit movements have been emancipatory social Manusmriti. Dalit movements have also come to be studied
movements launched with a view to demolish the millennia from a sociological and anthropological lens with several
old Indian caste hierarchy with a more equitable and an prominent social scientists contributing. S C Dube states that
egalitarian society, and to bring about a socio-political lower caste consciousness in India is essential to build a
awareness and transformation of the Dalits, or low-caste more egalitarian society founded on the principles of social
Hindus. Such movements were first launched in a big way in justice, and that emancipatory movements must play a great
the nineteenth century to fight oppression of the lower castes role in this regard. (Dube 1958) In the recent past, Dalit
by the upper castes, and continue to this day. Such movements have become more socio-political and political
movements have been largely successful in achieving their rather than social (as their work to bring about awareness
goals and objectives as evidenced by the fact that the caste has been more or less accomplished) as observed by Andre
system has greatly weakened in the last couple of decades, Betielle (Betielle 1969) More recently, writers like Baburao
and there is now a greater emphasis and thrust on liberty, Bagul, Bandhu Madhav, Narayan Surve, Shankarao Kharat,
equality and social justice. Their emancipation has largely and Anna Bhau Sathe were expressing Dalit concerns and
stemmed from better education systems, democratic issues in their literature. Kancha Ilaiah is a prominent Dalit
processes, and better technology and communication activist of contemporary times’ he has been supporting
networks too. The term Dalit was first used by Jyothiba English-medium education for the upliftment and
Phule who founded the Satya Shodak Samaj, and fought for emancipation of the Dalits.38 39
the cause of the oppressed classes, and for the cause of
women’s education as well. (Sutradhar 2014) The term Dalit There are many other such emancipatory and non-
means suppressed, oppressed and broken to pieces. Other emancipatory movements driven by some form of
old Dalit movements included the Neo-Vedantic movement intellectualism of the non-complex kind. Examples of such
and Sanskritization movements. (MN Srinivas 1968) movements have included the women’s suffrage movement
Oppressed castes are often referred to as Chandala, led by women suffragists like Lucretia Mott and Susan B.
Chammar and Adidravida in different parts of India, and Anthony, feminist movements led by Elizabeth Stanton,
less frequently as Holaya, Panchama, and Adikarnataka Simone de Beauvoir and others, anti-apartheid movements
also. Dalits were often seen as impure, and fit only for led by Nelson Mandela and others, birth control movements
performing menial and filthy tasks. led by Margaret Sanger and others, the civil rights
movement led by Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and
The most prominent Dalit activist was however others, and various movements opposing slave trade and
Babasaheb Ambedkar who later converted to Buddhism. slavery. Such movements have been common in many parts
Mahatma Gandhi famously fought the cause of the Harijans of the world, and usually arise in response to a specific
and untouchables, though he is often accused of supporting problem or state of affairs.
the caste system till the early 1920’s and racism in his early
years in South Africa. Over the decades, other organization  Other Schools of Intellectual Thought
like the “Dalit Panthers” which was led by writers and poets Rationalism is a movement which gathered steam
like Rajaram Piraji Dhale and Jayaram Vitthal Pawar have during the Age of Reason in the seventeenth Century. It is
usually associated with the introduction of mathematical
methods into philosophy and the formulation of intellectual
[34 ]. Elucidating the Certainty uncertainty principle for the thought. This school of thought discounted faith, tradition
Social Sciences: Guidelines for hypothesis and religious dogma. Several thinkers like Spinoza
formulation in the Social Sciences for enhanced advocated rationalism, and institutions were founded to
objectivity and intellectual multi-polarity Sujay Rao promote rational thought. In India, the Indian Rationalist
Mandavilli IJISRT, March 2023 Association was founded to promote rational thought and
[35 ]. Bacchetta, Paola, and Margaret Power, eds. scientific skepticism. Its founding president was RP
2002. Right-Wing Women: From Conservatives to Paranjpya, and other important members have included RS
Extremists around the World. New York: Routledge Yadav, Joseph Edamaruku, Sanal Edamaruku and others.
[36 ]. Andersen, Walter K.; Damle, Shridhar D. (1987) Their intentions are of course excellent; but we believe they
[Originally published by Westview Press]. The must take into account and consideration people’s thought
Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak worlds, worldviews, cultural orientation and proceed
Sangh and Hindu Revivalism. Delhi: Vistaar accordingly. This is naturally an essential pre-condition for
Publications.
[37 ]. Augustine, Sali (2009). "Religion and Cultural
Nationalism: Socio-Political Dynamism of [38 ]. Srinivas, M.N. (1997). Caste: Its Twentieth Century
Communal Violence in India". In Erich Kolig; Avatar , (New York: Penguin Putnam Inc.1997)
Vivienne S. M. Angeles; Sam Wong (eds.). Identity [39 ]. Omvedt Gail (1976) Cultural Revolt in a colonial
in Crossroad Civilisations. Amsterdam University society: The Non-Bramhan movement in Western
Press. India,(1873- 1930) Bombay
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success. The twin ideas of ‘Cultural frame of reference’ and Intellectuals for mankind” (SCIMA) with a view to
‘’Cross cultural frame of reference’ must also be borne in furthering this very objective. 42
mind. We wish them all success in their endeavours, but we
strongly believe that their movement requires some kind of In recent years, intellectualism has been hijacked by
an ideological reboot, and must take into consideration the left in many parts of the world, or in some cases, by the
people’s sensitivities. reactionary or the non-reactionary right. Leftist intellectuals
have often slavishly parroted Karl Marx’s ideas on
There have been other schools of thought and other economics, and leftist ideas have had a great impact on other
schools of intellectual tradition in various fields of study fields such as historiography too. Other thinkers such as
over the ages. However, we would like to see the adage Noam Chomsky (thought left-leaning), and George Orwell,
“Intellectual schools of thought”, “Schools of intellectual have held independent beliefs. Marxist thought has also
thought”, ”Schools of intellectual tradition” coined, and permeated sociology and anthropology, albeit to a much
various schools, sub-schools and sub-traditions founded. lesser degree. Fields such as Marxist Anthropology came
The main purpose and raison d’etre of such schools of into being, and Maurice Godelier and others contributed to
thought would of course be to boost intellectualism in fields such as economic anthropology. Other left-leaning
diverse cultural and social contexts, and lead to greater and intellectuals in the fields of sociology or anthropology have
faster social, cultural and economic progress as well. At included Marx Weber, Claude Levi Strauss, and Jean Paul
present, the term “intellectual tradition” is chiefly used in a Sartre. Some other thinkers based their ideas and ideals on
historical sense, examples being “Western Intellectual utopianism, and as such there are no robust schools of
tradition”, “Indian intellectual tradition”, and “Catholic intellectual thought in many parts of the world even to this
intellectual tradition”, and sometimes in a collective day. This observation holds true for both economic and non-
geographical sense; categorization based on the principles economic fields. Some Africans and African Americans too
and tenets of these schools of thought is less common. contributed to intellectual thought examples being Nelson
Western intellectual tradition refers to intellectual traditions Mandela, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Neil
which began from the time of the Greeks, continued through Degrasse Tyson, even though intellectualism is commonly
the renaissance and enlightenment, and all the way up to the seen as a white man’s affair. .
Industrial revolution and the modern scientific age.
 Drawbacks of Present-Day Schools of Intellectualism
Great Western thinkers have been Sir Francis Bacon, We now propose the idea “The various Gods that
Bertrand Russell, Aldous Huxley, GWF Hegel, EB Tylor failed” with respect to left-leaning thought. This is by no
and others. Intellectualism in the west also took off with the means any form of witch-hunting or ad hominem attacks
establishment of great universities such as Oxford against individuals. These should instead be viewed as
University, Cambridge University, Columbia University, healthy and constructive criticism aimed at bringing about
Harvard University and Princeton University. While much positive and meaningful change. These criticisms in fact
of the work done in the west indeed furthered humanitarian should be the basis of new intellectual thought patterns that
concerns, occidental interests alone were also sometimes must emerge in different parts of the world. For the sake of
furthered, and this is understandable. Indian universities convenience, we propose the “Ten Gods that failed”. We
have produced no intellectual traditions worth mentioning, can also call them the ten cardinal sins. For the sake of
and their intellectual or scientific output is minimal. 40 41 convenience and brevity, we keep this section short and
sweet. However, valid regress arguments are indeed possible
Similar great thinkers have not arisen in the east or and will become self-evident to anyone who probes the issue
elsewhere in modern times, even though there is no dearth further and more deeply. These criticisms should become
of thinkers in these regions in ancient times. Examples of the launching pad and the spring board to further creativity,
such great ancient oriental thinkers were Buddha and analytical thought, new paradigms and equations, and all
Confucius. In modern times, we have had minor exceptions other varied forms of intellectualism. The right wing is also
such as the Bhadralok of West Bengal during the Bengali extremely dangerous in this regard, and as far as possible,
renaissance. This fact is indeed lamentable, and must be we expose right-wing positions too.
acted upon quickly and speedily. We have also made some
efforts, and taken some baby steps in this regard. In addition  The God that Failed: Part One – Marxist Economic
to the “Institute for the study of the globalization of science” Praxis
(ISGOS) (Registered as “Globalization of science trust”), Praxis refers to a practice, and is opposed to theory.
we had informally founded the association “Scholars and “The God that failed Part One” as we call it (or the original
God that failed). “The God that Failed” refers to a collection
of six essays published in 1949 by Louis Fischer, Arthur
Koestler, Andre Gide, Stephen Spender, Ignazio Silone, and
[40 ]. Andersen, Heine; Kaspersen, Lars Bo Richard Wright (and edited by Richard Crossman)
(2000). Classical and modern social theory. Wiley- denouncing Communism; these authors unequivocally state
Blackwell.
[41 ]. Anderson, Kevin B. (2016). Marx at the Margins: On
Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western [42 ]. The Western Intellectual Tradition By Jacob
Societies. University of Chicago Press. Bronowski, Bruce Mazlish · 1960
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that the doctrine of communism was an ideological disaster 2023, and now extend it even further to cover and include
and an economic failure to boot. This book as such exposes more Gods that failed. We had also discussed the severe
the authors’ disillusionment and disenchantment with limitations, fallacies and logical absurdities of Marxist
communism. George Orwell (ne Eric Blair) also expressed Historiography from a scientific perspective. This is of
his disillusionment with communism in the books 1984 and extreme and urgent importance because Marxist historians
Animal Farm. The flight from the communist camp not only have been in clover for decades, and were on a high pedestal
continued but also accelerated by the 1990’s, and many and in total monopoly of the field in the decades ensuing
communists not only became ex-communists, but also anti- India’s independence. As such, and rather unfortunately too,
communists. Many other intellectuals and thinkers they set no great store by objectivity. Marxist historians
subsequently referred to communism as a murderous and have not followed inter-disciplinary approaches. They have
failed ideology. They not only criticized it as an economic not reached out to Anthropologists, geneticists and other
doctrine, but also criticized it on various other grounds specialists. They have not linked history with pre-history
including its academic influence. Notable critics of and proto-history. They have failed to understand that a
communism have included economists such as Friedrich scientific view of history can raise scientific consciousness
Hayek and Milton Friedman (They blame communism for and boost a scientific temper. They also follow a
economic stagnation), and other writers such as Stéphane materialistic conception of history and fail to understand or
Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Andrzej Paczkowski, Jean-Louis appreciate the role played by culture in shaping society.
Margolin who have criticized it on political grounds (They
equate it with genocide and political repression) For this, read our already published papers (1)
Historiography by Objectives: A new approach for the study
This is in spite of the fact that Marxism had some of history within the framework of the proposed Twenty-
successes; for example, Stalin successfully industrialized a First Century School of Historiography (This was published
largely agricultural land through the mechanism of by us in 2015) (2) Enunciating the Core principles of
centralized planning and five year plans. The USSR also Twenty-first Century Historiography: Some additional
came to be known as a scientific superpower, and its extrapolations and inferences from our studies and
accomplishment in certain fields such as space exploration observations on Historiography (This was published by us in
are highly impressive. Marxists however unfortunately, 2016) (3) Introducing Anthropological Historiography as an
resort to the over-simplification or the false dichotomy integral component of Twenty-first Century Historiography:
fallacy, and state that Communism is the only solution for The role played by Anthropological Historiography in the
capitalism. Both are fuzzy and ambiguous terms which also attainment of long-term Anthropological goals and
have a wide variety of connotations, and encompass objectives (This was published by us in 2018) (4) Presenting
multiple sub-ideologies. We had also proposed alternatives the art and the science of Qualified Historiography:
to Marxist economic doctrine such as Anthropological Anchoring history-writing in the event of uncertainty and
Economics, Social welfare schemes, and trickle up models unreliability of narratives (This is a non-core and a
of development (along with local-specific economic peripheral paper and was published by us in 2022) We had
development models) in our papers. This should be the proposed 39 objectives of core twenty-first Century
ultimate solution for most of our woes, though some western historiography in these papers, along with 49 objectives of
thinkers may see it as developing countries focused and anthropological historiography. We have also proposed
oriented.43 44 various core principles of twenty-first century
historiography. We had also evaluated the performance of
 The God that Failed: Part Two – Marxist Marxist historians against each of these objectives and
Historiography principles. Thus, Indian history is seen as a ding dong battle
The God that failed Part Two as we propose and see it, between the left and the right, and is referred to as the battle
is a critique of Marxist historiography from a Non Hindutva of the ideologies.
and Non Indian nationalist perspective. Of course, Hindutva
ideologues in India may have been fundamentally and Some left wing ideologues have established themselves
ideologically opposed to Marxist historiography, but they in blind ideological opposition to the right. For example,
may have another agenda to push. In India, left wing when Hindutva groups say or claim that Hinduism is the
interpretations of history are referred to as crimsonization, oldest religion on earth, DN Jha states that Hinduism is the
and right wing interpretations of history are referred to as youngest religion on earth. When Hindutva groups state that
saffronization. Both have negative and pejorative India had a hoary and a glorious past, DN Jha states that
connotations and implications. We had originally proposed India never had a golden age. This is of course, a highly
these terms in a paper on cross-cultural research design in subjective statement. RS Sharma stated on flimsy grounds
that virtually nothing existed in the Gangetic plains before
the Buddha; his work was banned by the Jan Sangh, which
[43 ]. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, was the political and ideological predecessor to the BJP.
Repression, by Stéphane Courtois, Andrzej Irfan Habib went on to state that nothing existed in the
Paczkowski, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Margolin, Gangetic plains before the Islamic age. However, when they
1997, wish to criticize Hinduism, they magically state that
[44 ]. The God that Failed, essays by Louis Fischer, André something existed in the Gangetic plains before the Buddha.
Gide, Arthur Koestler, Ignazio Silone, Stephen Marxist historiography is the fodder for Hindutva
Spender, and Richard Wright, 1949
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reactionary right. It provides it with its purpose and reason They do not appreciate India’s successes in the last few
for existence. Weakening or eliminating the left particularly decades because they see it as a vindication of capitalism.
the far left, will solve many problems, and lead to great They are also opposed to globalization which has benefitted
progress in society, but we must remember that the far right developing countries, They have not appeared to have
is far more venomous, and is capable of inflicting far greater helped the rise of India and other developing countries; like
damage than the left. It can, and quite dangerously so, hijack old-school Marxists, they have become an obstacle to their
the public consciousness in a way that the left possibly development. Do Marxist intellectuals in India care about
cannot. We would eventually like to see both the far-right gender equality, human rights, child rights and abuse, drug
and the far-left castigated as being extremely dangerous to trafficking, substance abuse, global warming, sustainable
science, society, the education, and to objective scholarship, development, prevalence or absence of a scientific temper,
but this must be based on rock solid scholarship. The left at trickle up economics, scientific historiography, international
least will disappear entirely as they have seldom learnt from peace and harmony? Do they care about universalisation of
their own follies and blunders.45 46 47 48 49 education, pedagogical techniques, racism in science,
Eurocentism in science, racism, apartheid (apart from a
 The God that Failed: Part Three – Left-Leaning narrow focus based on the principles of class struggle) and
Intellectualism social duties of researchers? The answer is a resounding and
The God that failed part three refers to the idea that an unfortunate no. This is just a short list; Marxist
Marxist intellectualism and other present-day forms of intellectuals do not seem to care about almost any issue
intellectualism are highly limited and flawed, particularly as facing the world or India today. We still lament the fact that
applied in an Indian context. Intellectualism in other parts of no broad or a viable and effective twenty-first century
the world may have meaningfully taken off, and we bear no school of Intellectualism has emerged in India and
grudge, rancor or ill-will towards them. The left-wing may elsewhere. We are waiting eagerly and patiently for it to
have broadened its horizons greatly outside India as also emerge. All our papers may need to be read together, and a
explained and highlighted in this paper, and this must be new intellectualism driven by objectives, and relevance to
appreciated and acknowledged; however, this has scarcely present-day needs must emerge. Intellectuals must actively
happened in India, and they still seem overly pre-occupied identify problems that plague the world, and seek solutions
with obsolete notions such as class struggle, or harbor a for them. They must connect with people proactively instead
desire to take India back to the Nehruvian era. of engaging in ivory-tower pursuits.
They must strive to break down barriers that divide us

[45 ]. Historiography by Objectives: A new approach for humans, and whittle down identities such as nationalistic
the study of history within the framework of the identity and religious identity. Religious identity from our
proposed Twenty-First Century School of perspective can only gradually become less strong as people
Historiography Sujay Rao Mandavilli ELK Asia become more intellectually aware. There are no magic
Pacific Journal of Social Sciences Vol 1, Issue 2 wands and no magic formulas here. Another problem is that
(2015) social science research techniques, methods and paradigms
[46 ]. Enunciating the Core principles of Twenty-first (along with theories, hypotheses and concepts as well) have
Century Historiography: Some additional not kept up with other fields of research. Social science
extrapolations and inferences from our studies and research techniques must also not be Eurocentric and must
observations on Historiography Sujay Rao be derived through inductive methods. They must be taught
Mandavilli ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Social to students whenever and wherever necessary, and the
Science (ISSN: 2394-9392) in Volume 2, Issue 4 July teaching of research strategies and research techniques must
to September 2016 replace rote learning. We have also spoken of intellectual
[47 ]. Introducing Anthropological Historiography as an revolutions, renaissances and enlightenments in other parts
integral component of Twenty-first Century of the world and these must fructify and materialize as well
Historiography: The role played by Anthropological so that science progresses holistically.
Historiography in the attainment of long-term
Anthropological goals and objectives International Marxist intellectuals instead of playing a vital role
Journal of Innovative Science and Research here, have become a major stumbling block to India’s
Technology, February 2018, Volume 3, Issue 2 Sujay development. Arundhati Roy has compared India to a plane
Rao Mandavilli flying backwards. (sic!) She like her fellow comrades (have
[48 ]. Presenting the art and the science of Qualified contributed almost nothing to India economically or
Historiography: Anchoring history-writing in the intellectually), but bash India in front of the foreign media.
event of uncertainty and unreliability of narratives Why? The Indian journalist Aakar Patel likewise thinks
Sujay Rao Mandavilli IJISRT Volume 7, Issue 7, India has been an economic failure since 1991, as also does
July 2022 Ashoka Mody. The anti-India attitude of Indian intellectuals
[49 ]. Operationalizing cross-cultural research design: has been exposed by the American sociologist Salvatore
Practical, cost-effective, and a minimalistic Babones too. What agenda do they have to push? Do they
application of cross-cultural research design to have nothing meaningful to contribute? Political
minimize cultural bias in research and reconcile psychologist Ashish Nandy and Meera Nanda (besides a
diverse viewpoints IJISRT, April 2023 Sujay Rao host of other commentators) are also sometimes associated
Mandavilli
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with the left, besides virtually all Marxist historians. They mindless criticism of other religions or religious traditions.
have failed to develop economic models or cultural and The second approach would be a secularists’ approach, who
national integration models suitable for India. They have let see all religions as being equal and the path towards what
themselves be overtaken by events and have rendered they see as the same goal. This approach may have been
themselves obsolete without even realizing it. Whatever formulated to achieve a fair modicum of clinical unity
their merits, achievements and accomplishments may be, between adherents of various faiths in Indian and non-Indian
one is reminded of Raymond Aron’s statement “Marxism is contexts, but is logically fallacious given that all religions
the opium of intellectuals”. Some of their positions may be are fundamentally unequal with respect to their teachings,
ideologically-driven too. We have discussed the possible and fundamental postulates and concepts. This realization
causes for their aberrant behavior in our paper on “Extended must form the back bone of twenty-first century
identity theory.” The Indian right, on the other hand, has no intellectualism.
intellectualism to offer; it is only based on the desire to
boost sectarian pride, or is sometimes based on the However, it must always be remembered and borne in
inclination to resurrect old religious values. We must mind that human beings are human beings, and a humane
therefore work towards the atrophy and elimination of touch is required while reforming religion of eliminating the
ideological cleavages gradually and eventually. We have our excesses of religious fundamentalism. Thus the principles
task cut out, and must begin the process in right earnest and tenets of the social sciences must also always been
before it is too late.50 51 52 53 borne in mind. Leftists may have symbolically burnt copies
of the Manusmriti, but in spite of their avowed anti-religious
 The God that Failed: Part Four – Eradication of stance, did not reform religion in a meaningful way or
Religion critique of criticize religion holistically or comprehensively.
Marxists may also support and adhere to a flawed The third approach is the critical analysis approach, and this
analysis of religion. The neologism Islamo-leftism and the approach calls for a critical and a balanced and
term the regressive left were coined by other researchers and comprehensive analysis of all religions against the backdrop
are already in use. The term regressive left was used by Sam of the twenty-first century requirements and exigencies, and
Harris, Richard Dawkins, Bill Maher and other thinkers. encourages new areas of critical hermeneutical study devoid
Marx also had a disdain and contempt for Jews and their and bereft of any religious or ideological underpinnings.
alleged mercenary way of life, and even promoted and This must be done with a human touch, and is the only
propagated anti-Semitism. Some Indian Marxist historians logical and meaningful way forward. We look forward to
also appear to have ideologically discriminated between new researchers and scholars from across the world
religions, but this must be necessarily proven through contribute to this field of study, and strive towards
empirical evidence. eliminating the excesses of religion. Thus, the sway religion
holds in public life must gradually decline, and people must
In the paper on historiography by objectives published become truly secular and scientifically literate and
way back in 2015, we had classified approaches towards scientifically aware. 54 55
religion into three different categories from the point of
view of our approach. The first would be “The religious In the USSR, there was an attempt to reduce the role
fundamentalists approach” or an ideologically-driven played by religion and some places of worship were even
discrimination between religions as followed by the demolished, and properties owned by religious authorities
religious right in various contexts and situations. This confiscated. Religious education was outlawed, and people
approach typically is accompanied by condescension or a were systematically brainwashed into Communist ideology.
There was also a government sponsored program to convert
people into atheism. In China, there were anti-religious
[50 ]. Making the use of Inductive approaches, Nomothetic campaigns run before, during and after the Cultural
theorybuilding and the application of Grounded Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, many
theory widespread in the social sciences: A guide to antiquities were destroyed. In Tibet, many Buddhist
better research and theorization in the social sciences monasteries were pillaged, ransacked and destroyed. The
Sujay Rao Mandavilli IJISRT May 2023 persecution of Muslims in the Xinjiang province of China
[51 ]. Unveiling the Sociological Ninety-ten rules for (and Uyghurs and others) continues even to this day. All
Social Sciences research: Towards better hypothesis these policies may not naturally have had the desired effect.
formulation in the Social Sciences in the interests of The role played by religion must be gradually diminished
higher quality research and intellectual multi-polarity through better education and better pedagogical techniques.
Sujay Rao Mandavilli Published in IJISRT, February This is the only workable way, and the only viable path.
2023
[52 ]. Babones, S. (2018). The New Authoritarianism:
Trump, Populism, and the Tyranny of Experts.
Cambridge, UK: Polity. [54 ]. Austin, Peter (2008). One Thousand Languages:
[53 ]. Formulating ‘Extended identity theory’ for twenty- Living, Endangered, and Lost. University of
first century social sciences research: Modeling California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25560-9.
extended identity in relation to real-world [55 ]. Barry Hindess & Paul Q. Hirst, Pre-capitalist modes
observations and data Sujay Rao Mandavilli IJISRT, of production. London: Routledge, 1975.
July 2023
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 The God that Failed: Part Five- Over-Centralisation of and faced their wrath instead. This may have been one of the
Power causes for its disintegration. In China, Putonghua was
Karl Marx did not envision a post-capitalist society in imposed as a standardized dialect of Mandarin on speakers
detail. He only spoke about the excesses and evils of of other dialects. West Pakistan sought to impose Urdu on
capitalism (along with the exploitation of the labour class by East Pakistan and disintegrated in 1971. Sri Lanka sought to
the capitalists) in his books such as “Das Kapital” and “The discriminate against its Tamil minority through
Communist Manifesto”. His primary pithy epithet was discriminatory language policies, and was pushed towards
“from each according to his ability, and each according to civil war. Most of these nations pursued not left-wing, but
his needs.’ Thus, Karl Marx’s intentions were indeed well- right-wing ideologies. However, there are disadvantages
meaning. His work was primarily a critique of the political associated with multilingualism, and one must always
economy as it existed at that time. He also spoke about attempt to strike a fine balance between the two. This is
productive forces of the economy such as labour, and the only a high level overview; we have authored a total of three
social relations with respect to production in his work. He papers on language and language dynamics. These papers
believed that capitalism just like primitive communism and almost explain everything there is to know, and must be read
feudalism would eventually disappear, and would be in detail. 57 58 59
replaced by a classless society. Marx called for the abolition
of private property, and believed that a worker-run society  The God that Failed: Part Seven – Family Planning
would give humans enough time to pursue leisure activities India has had one of the world’s oldest birth control
such as fishing. Little may he have realized that communist programs, and this was launched way back in the year 1952.
societies would morph into totalitarian dictatorships. In the By the 1960’s, it had become the world’s largest birth
former Soviet Union everything was run by the state, and control program. The inverted triangle symbol with the
there was no space for personal freedom or caption “We two, ours two” in English, Hindi and in other
entrepreneurship. Over-centralization undoubtedly played a Indian languages, had become an ubiquitous sign across
role in its disintegration in 1991. In India, Indira Gandhi too India. In 1951, India had a total fertility rate of six children
led an over-centralized administration where the principles per woman; today, in 2023, it is two. Thus, the birth rate in
of federalism were often compromised and not rigidly India has fallen only slowly. Thus, while birth rates have
adhered too. This led to mutiny, and calls for independence fallen sharply in the Southern, Western, Eastern regions of
in the Punjab and elsewhere in the early 1980’s. Many India as well as the far north, birth rates in Uttar Pradesh and
rebellions against over-centralized rule were brutally Bihar remain high. In Uttar Pradesh, the Chief Minister
suppressed, and there was a descending vortex of violence. Yogi Adityanath launched a new population control policy
Pakistan disintegrated in 1991 due to the very same reason in 2021, and in Bihar, the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is
(linguistic hegemony and discrimination too played a vital focussing on girl’s education as a solution to the high birth
role), and Sri Lanka edged towards civil war. This was rate. A part of the problem is that India’s first Prime
however due to far-right organizations like the Buddhist Minister Jawaharlal Nehru did not focus on the
Bodu Bala Sena. 56 universalization of elementary education due to the
misplaced fear that the economy would not be able to
 The God that Failed: Part Six- Linguistic Uniformity produce enough jobs (However, his concern may have been
Attempts at linguistic homogenization, whether driven partly right because the economy was then a command
by the left or the right, are driven by dangerous and economy, a centrally planned economy, and a Semi-Stalinist
unwarranted implications. In 1906, Mahatma Gandhi sought one).
to make Hindi the national language of India, but later
changed his stance towards Hindustani. Ambedkar and
others thought Hindi should be the working official
language in Non-Hindi states as well. There were revolts
against the imposition of Hindi in several non-Hindi states
particularly Tamil Nadu, where Dravidian parties were [57 ]. Towards a comprehensive compendium of factors
strong, and Dravidian ideology prevailed. Some leaders like impacting language dynamics in post-globalized
RV Dhulekar, Purushottam Das Tandon, and others wanted scenarios: Presenting principles, paradigms and
an unreasonable form of a linguistic uniformity, and frameworks for use in the emerging science of
fallaciously argued that only one language could unite the language dynamics Sujay Rao Mandavilli ELK Asia
nation. This observation was made by the Indian sociologist Pacific Journal of Social Sciences Volume 6, Issue 3
Andre Beteille. While Indians must indeed learn each (April –June 2020)
other’s languages, many nations like Canada and [58 ]. On the origin and spread of languages:
Switzerland have promoted multilingualism and have Propositioning Twenty-first century axioms on the
thrived and flourished .The USSR sought to impose evolution and spread of languages with concomitant
linguistic hegemony on other cultural and linguistic groups views on language dynamics Sujay Rao Mandavilli
ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Social Science Volume
3, Number 1 (2016)
[56 ]. Harjinder Singh Dilgeer (2012). Sikh History in 10 [59 ]. Observations on language spread in multilingual
volumes. Sikh University Press. ISBN 978- societies: Lessons learnt from a study of ancient and
2930247472.: presents comprehensive details of the modern India, Sujay Rao Mandavilli, Elk Asia
invasion of Indian Army (causes and events Pacific Journals, 2015
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Indian far right leaders often exhort Hindus to produce retraining and reskilling people, and engaging the elderly
more children and fear that Hindus would soon become a more dynamically, gainfully, and productively. People with
minority. Sakshi Maharaj squarely blamed Muslims for less children also tend to raise their kids much better, and
population growth, and called upon all communities to pay greater attention not only to their education but also to
promote family planning; at times he even called on Hindus their physical and emotional needs. The benefits of a low
to produce four kids. The Shankaracharya of Badrikashram, birth rate far outweigh the benefits of a high birth rate. Let
Shri Vasudevanand Saraswati, even went on record saying us focus on the quality of human resources, not quantity. If
that Hindus should have ten children. .However, this fear of the birth rate falls to alarming levels, we can worry. Each
a Muslim takeover is absurd and misplaced. Muslims make nation must also fix an ideal TFR, which in our view can be
up 14% of India’s population. While the birth rate of between 1.5 and 1.8 children per woman. India is
Muslims is higher than that of Hindus (religion of course particularly vulnerable to global warming, most parts of
plays a role in birth control) the percentage of Muslim Africa are vulnerable to over-exploitation of resources.
population in India will never cross the 18% mark, and the Hence, the ideal TFR in South Asia and Africa needs to be
birth rate of Hindus and Muslims is slowly and gradually much lower.
converging.
 The God that Failed: Part Eight- basis of Nationalism
Many Muslim nations have brought down their birth This is another God that failed. The basis for
rates examples being Iran, UAE and Qatar which are already nationalism and nationhood should of course be pluralism
below replacement rate, and Bangladesh which is and diversity merging towards a greater national whole, but
approximately at replacement rate. Birth rates in Yemen and this plurality and diversity must confirm to national laws
Afghanistan which were once among the highest in the and all citizens must live in harmony. Thus, the far right’s
word, are now slowly decreasing. The Philippines and Iraq notions of homogeneity as sometimes argued by
have largely failed at birth control (they follow different primordialists and others, are utterly misplaced. M S
religions) while Thailand and Brazil have succeeded Gowalkar also exhorted Hindus to fight Muslims, Christians
remarkably, along with the Indian state of Jammu and and Communists who were their internal enemies, rather
Kashmir as latest trends indicate. All this goes on to than the British. The penchant for over-centralization and
demonstrate that there are a wide variety of issues at play, the belief in the need for a strong centre (which may have
and not religion alone. During the infamous emergency been required in the early years of nationalism) may also be
imposed by Indira Gandhi between 1975 and 1977, there a misplaced one, and this encouraged divisive elements and
was forced sterilization and birth control imposed by Sanjay fissiparous tendencies. Hitler on the other hand, pursued an
Gandhi in North India. This backfired horribly, and any talk aggressive definition of nationalism, (defined by territorial
of birth control became a taboo in those regions. Even aggression) and saw Austria, and parts of Poland as German
China’s birth control policy (its one child policy with territory. He infamously annexed Austria in 1939 in
concomitant policies for infraction) had unintended violation of the Treaty of Versaiiles. Some radical right-
consequences, and skewed the sex ratio. It has largely been wing Hindu elements exhibit such tendencies too when the
abandoned now. At the same time, there must be no appetite call for the formation of a “pristine” Akhanda Bharat. 62
and tolerance for the environmentally destructive policy of
pro-natalism which is sometimes promoted by the far-right.  The God that Failed: Part Nine- Theological Conception
All these problems also often stem from the non-formulation of God
of India-specific or other local-specific theoretical platforms Many intellectuals still advocate old school atheism
and positions.60 61 based on the definition of a Christian idea of God, (and the
natural dichotomy between the Christian idea of a God and
The world is as such in an advanced stage of a the obvious lack of evidence for it). However, this may be a
demographic transition. The world’s TFR may reach the gross over-simplification, and there are a large number of
replacement rate of 2.1 by the middle of the century (it is cultural, sociological, theological, metaphysical and
estimated at around 2.3 at present), and the world population scientific aspects involved in the debate. There is also no
itself may stabilize before the end of the century. We have standard definition of God, and it is not possible to deny the
come a long way since Margaret Sanger first advocated birth existence of something without first defining what it is first.
control in the USA in the 1920’s. While ageing may present There is no standard definition of atheism either, and a mild
its own set of problems, and the idea of a demographic version only states that we have no evidence for a
dividend and demographic window may indeed have its own supernatural entity exists. This is fine, but there are also
set of merits, problems of ageing can be somewhat more dogmatic (and rabid) assertions of atheism which
overcome by measures like raising the retirement age, almost state that anything that cannot be perceived by the
senses does not exist. This is of course also wrong. Atheism
also provokes different reactions among Muslims and
[60 ]. Siedlecky, Stefania; Wyndham, Diana Hindus than it does among Christians. We prefer the terms
(1990). Populate and perish: Australian women's agnostic and freethinker instead, and advocate the
fight for birth control. Allen & Unwin emergence of meaningful cross-cultural debate. Deism is
[61 ]. Warren C. Robinson; John A. Ross (2007). The
global family planning revolution: three decades of
population policies and programs. World Bank [62 ]. Smith, A.D. (1981). The Ethnic Revival in the
Publications. ISBN 978-0-8213-6951-7. Modern World. Cambridge University Press.
ISSN No:-2456-2165
another option too, and the God without religion or religion better education, pedagogical techniques and technology,
without God debate is another interesting Twenty-first and we must make this happen gradually and eventually. 63
century debate. On the whole, the ill-effects of religion can
only decline with better education, and not the imposition of V. INTELLECTUALISM BY OBJECTIVES
a counter-ideology such as rabid or dogmatic atheism which
makes adherents of various religions extremely wary and We now propose the approach “Intellectualism by
suspicious. objectives” as follows in order to prevent fossilization and
ossification of thought. We believe that this should be one of
We also invoke the saying “What one man calls God, the primary approaches to drive intellectualism in the
another calls the laws of physics.” This statement is twenty-first century and beyond. It is sufficiently
famously attributed to the genius Nikola Tesla. Most atheists generalized to accommodate a wide variety of approaches
are evolutionists, but this is much more that a simple battle and also to take into account and consideration, new issues
between adherents of evolution (which is of course and concern as and when they arise. Therefore, the chief
undoubtedly and unquestionably true) and non-adherents of tenets and postulates of “Intellectualism by objectives” the
evolution. Such atheists have not also embraced social way we see it are as follows. However, no approach should
science research techniques and have not understood the fact be free from criticism, and we look forward to other
that religion cannot decline so easily. People have different approaches and schools of thought to emerge, both now and
mind-orientations, and turn to religion and God for different eventually. Before this section is read and understood, it
reasons. Most only have a vague and a basic understanding would be useful to read our two papers on socio-cultural
of science. Religion(s) and the philosophical idea of God are change. These are “Articulating comprehensive frameworks
also two different things. Dogmatic, half-baked assertions on socio-cultural change: Perceptions of social and cultural
may though up counter-reaction and may increase blind change in contemporary Twenty-first century Anthropology
faith through the process of self-reinforcing cognitive from a ‘Neo-centrist’ perspective” and “The relevance of
dissonance. In the recent past, the New Atheism movement Culture and Personality Studies, National Character Studies,
has emerged, and among its four horsemen include Richard Cultural Determinism and
Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. Jerry
Coyne is an avowed atheist and anti-theist too, and he sees Cultural Diffusion in Twenty-first Century
religion as a dangerous affair. These thinkers may have a Anthropology: As assessment of their compatibility with
decidedly western-oriented outlook and tradition. Recent Symbiotic models of Socio-cultural change” 64 65
surveys in Iran, Egypt and Turkey have shown that only a
small percentage of the total population identifies as atheist.  As such intellectualism must be driven by objectives
We cannot imagine a scenario where the tables will be which must be defined and redefined constantly and
overturned completely, and billions become atheists. Figures continuously in various contexts and situations in
in the UK and the USA are of course higher, though not relation to real-world problems.
significantly. One kind of a bias always reinforces another  A list of objectives must be proactively built up for
kind of bias, and nobody wants to subscribe to a half-baked different contexts and conditions. This will need to be
or a deeply and fundamentally flawed assertion. done by identifying issues that need to be remediated in
different contexts and situations, and building up a
 The God that Failed: Part Ten- basis of Rationalism database of issues. The database of issues must be
Similarly, the rationalist movement may also need a updated from time to time as and when new concerns are
reboot to bring it in line with our philosophy and thinking identified. Thus, objectives will need to be linked to
and concepts such as “Cultural frame of reference” and a problems and issues that plague the world, or a section
“Cross-cultural frame of reference”. They have valiantly and of society. Thus intellectuals from different parts of the
heroically fought superstition and blind faith in India and
elsewhere, (examples being the rationalist Abraham Kovvur
and the Indian physicist H Narasimhaiah who criticized [63 ]. Spohn, Wolfgang (2002). "The Many Facets of the
belief in Godmen, and fought valiantly to expose them) but Theory of Rationality". Croatian Journal of
have failed to understand the human psyche, human culture Philosophy.
in different parts of the world, and social science research [64 ]. The relevance of Culture and Personality Studies,
techniques likewise. Many were western-mould atheists. We National Character Studies, Cultural Determinism
wish them all the best in their variegated endeavours, but a and Cultural Diffusion in Twenty-first Century
familiarity with social sciences research techniques would Anthropology: As assessment of their compatibility
help too. What do we have now? A resurgence of Godmen, with Symbiotic models of Socio-cultural change
religious strife, and new age movements around the world! ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Social Science Volume
This automatically vindicates and justifies the basis for neo- 4, Issue 2, 2018
centrism. Rational thought may however be fostered though [65 ]. Articulating comprehensive frameworks on socio-
cultural change: Perceptions of social and cultural
change in contemporary Twenty-first century
Anthropology from a ‘Neo-centrist’ perspective
Published in ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Social
Sciences Volume 3, Number 4 (July 2017 –
September 2017) Sujay Rao Mandavilli
ISSN No:-2456-2165
world may have focused on the following issues at debate and dialogue should not be permitted; these
different points in time: racism, apartheid, class struggle, should as a matter of fact be promoted and encouraged
slavery, slave trade, gender equality, religious particularly in situations where there is no clarity or
fundamentalism, human rights, individual liberty, child some level of ambiguity is present either with respect to
rights, child abuse, drug trafficking, substance abuse, the problem in hand, or proposed solutions.
alcoholism, use of tobacco, environmentalism, global  No nerdism or ivory-tower intellectualism would be
warming, sustainable development, inculcation of a encouraged in the normal course of events, unless
scientific temper, trickle up economics, univeralization nerdism or ivory-tower intellectualism itself provides
of education, better pedagogical techniques, the practical solutions, and all intellectuals must be public
development of scientific historiography, international intellectuals. They must engage with the public
peace and harmony, development of critical thinking and proactively, and must provide solutions to real-world
reasoning skills among individuals, fighting problems as well.
eurocentrism in science, etc. This would only be in  All sections of society including different socio-
addition to a standard omnibus list that may be prepared economic groups and socio-cultural groups must be
for all contexts and circumstances, examples being the surveyed. Intellectualism cannot be an elitist exercise
resolution of economic problems or economic alone. Nothing can be more damaging to the cause of
inequalities. Activists also must seek the help of science and society than this approach.
specialists and experts as necessary to solve different  Emic perspectives must be followed wherever possible,
kinds of problems, and in different contexts and and people’s points of view must be taken into
situations. Issues that are no longer relevant may be consideration, and analyzed threadbare. Their values and
dropped off the list. belief systems must always be respected. Emic
 Intellectuals must actively identify problems that plague perspectives may not necessarily be one; they can be
the world, and seek solutions for them. If possible, a several. Emic perspectives must also always be counter-
stakeholder-based, a stakeholder-driven or a stakeholder- balanced with etic perspectives; we had discussed the
focused approach may also be employed. Before this whole issue in a paper on cross cultural research design
can be accomplished, a list of stakeholders must be which we published in 2023.
defined, and dynamically updated and refreshed.  Whenever there are disputes, a dispute resolution
 Action plans to solve the issues plaguing the world must mechanism must be employed, if necessary through
be developed. Thus, we swear by activism, and have arbitrators and intermediaries, and points of view of
discussed it in detail in our papers on socio-cultural different individuals must be taken into account and
change. India does have a tradition of activism; for consideration in such a way that various short-term,
example there was a protest against the Silent valley medium-term and long-term solutions emerge.
project, and the Narmada Bachao Andolan and the  Action anthropology and critical ethnography must be
Chipko movement have been cases in point. Protests followed wherever possible. These approaches and
against multinationals have been observed in Odisha too. techniques help overcome the various issues they face in
The basic concepts of the doctrine of pragmatism were the day to day world. These are relatively new concepts,
first proposed by C S Peirce and William James, and in but extremely useful nonetheless; they would supersede
our view, activism stems from pragmatic thought and approaches driven by the intellectual curiosity of the
ideals, and would also make Intellectualism more west towards other non-western cultures. This has been
pragmatic. This approach may also be tied to the concept the defining feature of ethnography and indeed, much of
of Social Darwinism which states that societies evolve social sciences research, and this must gradually come to
both in an organic and inorganic manner through an end. At times we may need to grab the bull by the
pragmatism. Thus, change may be both internally horns and sidestep the “inconvenient truth syndrome”,
induced or externally induced, and externally induced though this must be handled with a great deal of
change may be desirable under some circumstances. sensitivity and sensibility.
Paradigm shifts may also often be initiated and brought  Valid social sciences techniques such as ethnography,
about, particularly in societal and cultural orientation. surveys, questionnaires must be employed, and a proper
 No Euro-centrism of any kind; one must adopt a truly research methodology must be followed. Other
globalized approach, and understand problems plaguing approaches to critical thinking such as TRIZ, Lateral
all societies and cultures around the world. However, Thinking, the Six Hats technique, among others can also
proposed solutions to those problems may be local- be used. They can also complement process
based, and these may then be extended to other contexts improvement techniques such as the Delphi technique,
if possible and necessary. Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints. More mundane
 No form of ideology should be followed. We have techniques such as the root cause analysis, and causal
provided various definitions of ideology in several analysis or cause and effect analysis can of course also
earlier papers. The “no-ideology approach” must be be employed.
followed as far as possible, and lessons must be learnt on  Field work driven techniques and participant observation
the field. Ideas and concepts must as far as possible be must be employed if possible, and ethics in this regard
developed on the ground and in the field itself, and we must always be followed.
had discussed the concept of grounded theory as well in  The principles of neo-centrism must be followed as
an earlier paper. However, this does not mean that applicable. We had discussed this in great detail in our
ISSN No:-2456-2165
papers on socio-cultural change. We had even proposed VI. CONCLUSION
some newer approaches such as CRCDE or Continuous
reconciliation of Contradictory data or evidence in our We began this paper by defining the terms intellectual
earlier papers, and these may be read too. and intellectualism and then traced the history of
 Dialectical approaches which were not only developed intellectualism from ancient times onwards. We have also
by Ancient Greek thinkers, but also by GWF Hegel and presented a broad overview of present schools of intellectual
Karl Marx, must also be followed as far as possible, and thought and have also concluded that all contemporary
meaningful debate and dialogue must be employed. This approaches to intellectual thought are somewhat outdated to
would be necessary to overcome the “Frog in the well” meet the needs of the present time, as there still are too
syndrome. We have discussed the idea of reflective many ideological forces present in the field. We also
equilibrium too as proposed by John Rawls and others, proposed the direction we believed that intellectualism
and this would be useful as well. Several related should take in the twenty-first century, and extended an
approaches such as “Reflective equilibrium through role open invitation to other scholars and researchers,
swapping” (or RERS) were proposed and discussed in particularly younger ones, to contribute to intellectual
our paper “Historiography by objectives” published by thought more meaningfully and multi-dimensionally. We
us in 2015. A readership of this paper can be have also observed that the field is still driven largely by the
accomplished as well, along with our other papers on pursuit of individual interests, and more collective thought
Historiography. Public debate is also very important and and proper, formal theorization is needed. We have also
necessary, and would provide a crucial and critical input emphasized the need for building robust intellectualism in
to intellectualism. Dialectical approaches would also developing countries such that their causes and interests are
eventually and as far as practically possible would lead also taken care of, and advanced. We now eagerly look
to an elimination of paradoxes. Paradoxes may be forward to more and more intellectuals and thought leaders
internal or external, and the elimination of a paradox from different parts of the world contributing to
would lead us automatically to a higher level. This is intellectualism and intellectual thought, in such a way that
akin to a man climbing a mountain with successive better societies can result in different parts of the world.
peaks and troughs or depressions, or a man peeling an
onion. Thus, as one problem or a set of problem is
solved, the next problem or set of problems becomes
readily visible. As far as possible, long-term and
universal approaches should be adopted through
aeternitism and omnimodism. Wherever there is a
conflict. Long-term interests must always overshadow
short-term interests, and global interests must take
precedence of local interests and considerations. This is
an important principle and concept worth remembering.
 Intellectualism must always be solutions-driven for real-
world problems, and practical problems that plague the
world. Solutions must be context and situation based,
and must not be based on any pre-conceived notions.
 The exercise of identifying problems including new ones
must be carried out from time to time repeatedly.
 Intellectuals must strive to break down barriers that
divide us humans, and whittle down identities such as
nationalistic identity and religious identity whenever and
wherever they are too strong. Religious identity from our
perspective can only gradually become less strong as
people become more intellectually aware, and better
educational systems are developed.
 The cultural rights of all groups must be respected, and
one culture must not be allowed to override another in
the normal course of events.
 Ethics and ethical principles must also be developed (at
least informally) and followed; we look forward to at
least informal codes of conduct in this regard.

Redefining Intellectualism For A Post-Globalized World: Why Present-Day Intellectualism Is Obsolete and Why A Comprehensive Reassessment of Intellectualism Is Required

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Redefining Intellectualism For A Post-Globalized World: Why Present-Day Intellectualism Is Obsolete and Why A Comprehensive Reassessment of Intellectualism Is Required

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Volume 8, Issue 8, August – 2023 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology

Redefining Intellectualism for a Post-Globalized

 Schools of Intellectualism and Schools of Thought

[24 ]. Gauchet, Marcel (1997). "Right and Left". In Nora,

They must strive to break down barriers that divide us

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