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Showing posts from November, 2024

COMMENTARIES ON KANT: THE CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON (2/N)

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  2.  The Human Intellect, even in an Unphilosophical State, is in Possession of Certain Cognitions “à priori”. Kant's whole assertion in this part can be summarized by his own statement, "But, for the present, we may content ourselves with having established the fact, that we do possess and exercise a faculty of pure à priori cognition; and, secondly, with having pointed out the proper tests of such cognition, namely, universality and necessity." Let me expand on that. We will first understand his assertion in this and then raise our comments on it. So, Last time, he ended on a note that There exists a priori knowledge , different from empirical knowledge needs to be examined.  Here, He has started to philosophize. He Assumes, as last time he did before philosophizing, that there exists a pure cognition which differs from an empirical cognition. He says that although experience gives knowledge about existence of objects as such, but it need not mean that they cannot...

JOURNAL DAY 1: 29TH NOVEMBER 2024

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ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE FEW BAD DAYS OR YOU ARE GOING TO LET THESE FEW BAD DAYS DOMINATE YOUR PREPARATION? Actually, I have just finished all of my work and really wanted to journal this thought that is going on in my head.  Today I finished all my targets. Our US program for prelims has started. Today was the student's interaction session. Students who qualified 2024 prelims came to talk to us live on online mode.  I think whatever I did today is not that important. Same old same old. Finished targets and went to gym. Yes, today was special, since I completed almost all of my chores.  As promised, This is the screenshot of what I did today.  So, Today I almost completed all my work. Went to gym, did shoulders today, Great fun.  Now, some matters close to my heart. Prelims session yes. You know, one thing stuck with me. There was this guy and this girl.  This guy named Avinash, who failed 2 prelims back to back. He was a perfectionist. He wanted to devour any...

COMMENTARIES ON KANT: THE CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON (1/n)

 INTRODUCTION 1. OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PURE AND EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE               In our attempt to understand Kant's works, or for that matter, any Philosopher's work, it is Step one to get into our head, what does he stand for? Or what is that which he presumes as self-evidently true. For example, here, in the beginning, he writes, " That all our knowledge begins with experience there can be no doubt. " This is his assumption. The second step to do philosophy is not to get convinced of the assumption that the thinker is making but to keep it in your head as just an assumption or a statement without judgement and keep reading and see what He does with that statement.  Now, we see, Kant assumes that all our knowledge is Experiential. Here, the most important word where he wants to stress is not Knowledge or experience, but the word, "Our".  Whatever we know derives from experience. It should not necessarily mean that All knowled...

JOURNAL DAY 0: RESTART

ॐ कृष्णाय वासुदेवाय हरये परमात्मने ॥ प्रणतः क्लेशनाशाय गोविंदाय नमो नमः ॥ Yeah, so, a pretty unproductive day, a lot of junk eating happened, and the only good thing happened was that I went to gym, and I attended my online class.  Sorry, I went straight to it. Let's begin.  So, it began with a bad dream when I woke up in the morning, after which I was again feeling anxious. I don't remember the dream, but it was sort of weird. I remember my grandfather in there, putting a crown of thorns on my head, and going to put me on a cross when I am just crying that I am son of God. Blood coming out of my forehead and everyone around me was there to punish me. It was sort of like a recreation of Jesus on the crucifix, only with people who I know. Religious people, people who I always had disagreements with.  What to make of this dream? I do not know. I mean, it tempts me to think something self-validating but, you know when you wake up with your heart racing fast and you barely ca...

WORRY TREE

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  This will be a short and concise and may be a little practical write up to help people out of their worries.  Most of the people that I have met in my life do not treat their own life problems rationally. They panic. They get anxiety attacks. They keep on worrying on their problems and do nothing about it.  The problem with those people might be an instinctual response to fear that animals are trained. We, human, since we have animal instincts, inherit those qualities, such as freeze, flight, fright response.  For those people, this worry tree might be a lot helpful. It begins with Noticing your worry. Notice it. Pen it down in clear words. I have done it numerous times. Now ask yourself and write down putting an arrow below your worry, whether it is an artificial worry (That is, something that you made up in your head, for example: someone told you ugly, so now you are worrying you are ugly, or someone looked at you and smirked, so you are now worrying their judge...

THERAPEUTIC THEORY

In Sociology and in general Theory, we have two types of theories, namely, Functional theory which describes the functional roles of institutions and systems in society whereas Second is Critical theory which critiques the systems and their role.  I Present a third theoretical paradigm to you. I call it, Therapeutic Paradigm or Therapeutic Theory. This is that way of looking things which neither wishes to preserve the system in anyway, nor it wishes to critique it to change it. The primary assumption is that any system, however efficient, cannot satisfy human needs because of the sheer individuality of man. So, It just wishes to give peace to human beings who feel alienated and oppressed in oppressed systems.  It is for their cope. Of course, the ideal way is to change things. But till then, Cope with Therapeutic theory.  Its beginning works are done by Thinkers like Osho, J Krishnamurti etc. They are mostly spiritual thinkers who believe, however strong the material cond...

SELF-DEPRIVATION

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In an Aesop's tale, there was a wolf who caught a calf. The wolf said to the Calf, "Yesterday, you were the one who abused me!". The calf said, "No, yesterday, since I was not well, I did not even get out of my house!". " No", said the Wolf, "You were the one who hit me!". No, said the Calf, said, cannot you see? I do not have fully developed arms or horns. "Then It must be your brother". The calf said," I am the only offspring of my parents".  Finally, the wolf said, "you know what, Since I think it was you who gave me this thought of being hit by you and abused by you, you must become my food now". And the wolf ate the Calf.  Now, let's see what do we learn by this?  Most people think Modern man has reason. He is a rational animal. But I do not think so. I think Modern man is a rationalizing animal like this wolf, who can go to any extent of foul reasoning to justify his biases. He wants to eat the calf, bu...

THANK YOU!

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Journalling will be continued and so will Foucault reading. But I just wanted to share something very personal with you.  You know, Once upon a time, there was a kid who came to a small town in Patratu, leaving his parents behind because their parents were struggling with their own lives and relationships, to a Bijli Board given D-type quarter (House), of two of his Grandparents, Dadaji and Dadima. For a whole year, he was confused where he has come since, he did not know Hindi, only English and Tamil, may be a little Kannada.  He entered a school which was super-Hindi school. For a lot of time, He was a confused kid who did not understand what is going on.  It took at least one year for him to learn basic Hindi to be able to comprehend what was going on? Of course, he was never a brilliant student. Forget brilliant, He was not even mediocre when he used to study in LKG in Bangalore.  Now, cut to, when I see me, this little kid, who has no idea whatsoever, to me, mem...

24TH NOVEMBER 2024: DAY 44 JOURNAL

 Hey,  So, Today was a productive day as well. Although I woke up Late today. I woke up at 5 AM. I woke up anxious. I don't know why. Maybe I saw a bad dream or what, But I woke up super-anxious. This has happened to me earlier as well. Earlier, when this happened, I did not know what to do, I was panicking and I told my grandparents and they, being unaware of these situations panicked and started lecturing me on yoga and health benefits.  But this time I was ready. I knew that accepting it is the only way. I could not stop it. Anxiety is dangerous because you lose control on yourself. You feel like you can no longer control your thoughts, and you start fearing random things.  So, I meditated. I took a resolve that even if I had to sit for 1 hour straight, I would not open my eyes until I will feel better. I started Vipassana. And within 5 minutes, I was enjoying my breath again, I was again in thoughtless state, which is my usual state. Now, I was ready to start the...

DAY 43: 23RD NOVEMBER 2024 JOURNAL

Hey, Today was a highly productive day.  And also, I had really good insights. So, I think It will be fun putting it in words.  So, I woke up at 3 AM in the morning. I just woke up and I was not sleepy at all. I don't know why. I really felt very good about myself. That I am not lazy at all😅😅.  Then I had my coffee. Also, I was scared. I don't know why but I am still afraid of ghosts. Of course, I am not stupid. There are no ghosts. I am more afraid of cruel humans who try to pretend in every movie that they are ghosts to do some robbery shit.  I was confused what to do. Should I go to my study room and study. Should I stay in my bedroom and bring my laptop here to study. Then, I decided to finally land my ass to my study table and just study.  Then, I finished my coffee. Began to study. Of course I meditated today. Started studying. Studied further Geomorphology for two hours.  Then I had a physics optional class. I did a 3-hour class. But it ended in ju...

22ND NOVEMBER 2024: DAY 42 JOURNAL

 Hey, So, today was not that productive day. I just did today's class. Where we completed Quantum Mechanics.  Lecture 1 to 18 in total.  Then, Migraines turned up and I did not feel like anything. But then I pulled through it and started with Geomorphology. But in a while, the pain became overbearing. I slept for a while.  I woke up at 12 PM. I did not feel like studying. I went to Kitchen and cooked Dal Tadka. Cooking makes me feel productive as well as refreshed.  Then, I felt a little cold. So, Slept again.  Did my meals on time and went to gym.  In gym, obviously had a really nice time. I heard people talking about this area called Chhaaper and Binja where coal mining happens and how it is a Maoist inflicted area and individual coal mafia has captured the resources.  I googled it and got to know more. One of the guys in the gym was the grandson of one of the old Mafias. It was a nice thing to know. If I got to be in power someday, these people...

21ST NOVEMBER 2024: DAY 41 JOURNAL

 Hey,  So, I woke up today at 5 AM. As usual it happens to me in winters, Migraine was on a rise. I had a bit of neck pain. But I pulled it through. Brushed, made coffee, Sat down to write and Plan stuff for myself.  So, In Class, we had off, but a lot of backlogs I had in my Physics Optional. So, I started with Thermal Physics Lecture 9. Completed Lecture 9 and 10. Just when I was about to finish Lecture 10, My Aunty knocked at my door. I opened. She had a call for me. It was my uncle from Bangalore on a conference call with us and my grandmother and Grandfather who are currently in Bihar, at our paternal village.  My uncle warned me to use whey protein and how most of the products in the market is fake and so on. Now, here is the catch. I am a very good liar. I have lied to everyone in my family about it.  My father, first of all, does not know anything about it otherwise he would have told me not to take it.  My grandma and my Aunty, who of course snitch...

20TH NOVEMBER 2024

 Hey,  So, I had an epiphany. I thought, since I am good at journaling, I can use this blog into a Journal blog for some time till I have to appear for Civil Services exam. Here, I will discuss my mental health, my emotional situation along with My preparation progress. This might help me keep a check on how much have I done? How much is still to be done? But I would not like anyone to read my stuff. So, I will need to stop posting it on social media sites. I will, hence, stop posting it on WhatsApp. Now, if someone deliberately wishes to read this, I cannot do anything. So, yeah, sort of, I have planned to post daily journalling here.  So, till now, I have done the following.  1. Complete Mains revision once using syllabus and Sunya IAS Mains Notes.  2. Mains note-making: Post-independent India, World History completed.  3.  Optional syllabus completion: Mechanics, Waves and Optics, Electricity and magnetism, Quantum Mechanics.  Upcoming tasks th...

KHUSH TOH HO NA, MERE BACCHE?

 1970 ke Bengal ka ek Qissa batata hun. Naxalbari movement ke din the. Bengal Laal hone laga tha. Laal toh woh angrezon ke zamaane se tha lekin ab Bengal mein Laali ka kaaran, Angrezon ka Khoon nahi, Zamindaron aur Ameeron ka Khoon tha. Gaanv ke Gaanv tabaah ho jaaya karte the. Saare ladaku, ek aise subah ke liye lad rhe the, Jo unko Aazadi ke sath Waade mein diye gaye the, Lekin ab unse chheen kar, Unki zameenein aur unke waade, bade zameedaaron aur rais-zaadon ko de di gayi thi. Mahaul dar ka bhi tha aur Khushi ka bhi. Dar Burjua varg mein, Aur Khushi Sarvahara varg ki.  Hariya Bhangi ek choti jaati ka Naxal sipaahi tha. Laal jhande par laga Hasua hi Hariya ka swabhaav ho gaya tha. Bachpan se Jheli Gareebi, Dukh, dard, aur upar se Samajik Anyaay ke roop mein Jaatiwaad. Hariya ko Charu mazumdaar, Naxalbari movement ke leader, se milne ka bhi mauka mila tha. Unse usne jaana, Ki zindagi ek aisi bhi ho sakti hai, jahan mehnat ke barabar fal milte hain, Khushi sambhav hai, Uske l...

SOME TALKS PERSONAL

 Hey,  How you guys doing? I mean, yes, I know. I Promised to start with Foucault. But it happens you know. You wake up, you start with opening your laptop and Coffee in your hands and then you force your brain to start because it is so sleepy and just wants to be quiet. It is better If I write something where I do not need to be too conscious of accuracy about what am I writing.  You know, Academics require honesty. Intellectual Honesty. You cannot just serve your readers anything. At least my serious works on Foucault, those are accurate stuff. You cannot say I haven't been accurate in them. Those are academically written articles.  Today's blog is just a laidback, well-wishing, slowly trying to write something which comes to my mind, whatever it be. You know when you do this exercise, write when you have nothing to write, you write the emotions and issues you have that stuck with you over years or may be past few days.  If I remember, On the top of my head, I...

LET'S TALK!

This week has been quite a week to be honest. People of my house are gone to our village to attend a wedding. So, I am alone in my house, of course with my uncle and my aunt.  Coming to some issues. I will continue with Foucault from tomorrow. Today I felt like just talking to you people.  This is a modern way of one-way communication. But some of you, who read me on continuous basis, know that I am very efficient in this kind of conversation. It is like, you are reading someone's diary and that makes you think something. You must be feeling sometimes an urge to say something. In that case, surely you can use the comment section. But many times, you feel lazy and keep your thoughts to yourself. I really love people who keep their comments to themselves, those who self-censor, those who do not want to attract drama in their lives, People who are so emotionally stable that they are interested without being involved.  Coming to important issues, how have you been? How are th...

LET'S READ FOUCAULT: CHAPTER 2 (OUTLINES OF FOUCAULT'S WORK PART 1)

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Here, I would like to present a sort of summary of Foucault's work and the questions he deals with throughout his life. The reason I have written Part 1 above is I cannot, may be cover this in one blog. I will need at least 2 to even reduce these ideas in an explainable and yet not dumbed down form.  Let's begin.  1. THE PROBLEM OF THE SUBJECT  Foucault's primary and the central work is in understanding how, over History, Human beings are made subjects to various processes and phenomenon. What do I mean by this? Let's unclutter.  Subject, in Philosophy, might be defined as someone or something that is conscious, can exercise agency, and experience a reality external to himself. Whereas, the opposite, the object, is that which, first, cannot do these things, and in fact is just a point of observation for the Subject. For example: Human beings are subjects. A ball is an object.  But The term subject has a wider connotation in the sense that If a person is turned i...