America’s epistemic challenges run deeper than social media. (NB: It’s not just an American problem) Dan Williams Many people sense that the United States is undergoing an epistemic crisis, a breakdown in the country’s collective capacity to agree on basic facts, distinguish truth from falsehood, and adhere to norms of rational debate. “The Yellow Press,” by… Read More Scapegoating the Algorithm
First posted November 29, 2019 NB: This is a magnificient contribution to Indian historiography. Rahul Sagar and his collaborators deserve the thanks of the Indian public and indeed of all those interested in an honest exploration of the past. DS Starting in the early nineteenth century, ambitious Indians began flocking to newly-founded schools and colleges offering instruction… Read More Ideas of India Archive
First posted November 29, 2019 The single best thing ever written on the idea of the university in India is Ashutosh Mukherjee’s Convocation Address to Mysore University in 1916, and published in the now inaccessible Dacca Review (October 1918). It literally anticipates every single debate we have on the idea of the university – from… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Once upon a time there was another public, another India
There is a quiet crisis in higher education in India that runs deep, distinguished academician and former Chief Economic Advisor Deepak Nayyar said here on Wednesday (July 9, 2025), delivering the 2025 B.G. Deshmukh Lecture on ‘The Crisis of Higher Education in India: Disturbing Present and Worrisome Future’. Holding the Narendra Modi government responsible for… Read More There is a quiet and visible crisis in higher education in India that runs deep: Deepak Nayyar
The substitution of Large Language Models for genuine thinking is a generational threat. At stake is no less than the life of the mind. Aaron MacLean I have a warning for you. There is a conspiracy afoot in the land, targeting all of us. The computers in our pockets and the screens all around us… Read More A warning to the young: just say no to AI
Hindu College was set up in Calcutta in 1817 as a pioneering institution to impart Western learning to its students. In 1831, its most outstanding teacher, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, then only 22 years old, was compelled to resign. A look at the circumstances that forced his resignation attempts to reconstruct Derozio’s ideas and his… Read More The Derozio Affair – An Annal of Early Calcutta. By Rudrangshu Mukherjee
NB: This is what the US did repeatedly to the rest of the world, remember? Whether led by Republican or Democratic Presidents. Now the land of hope and glory is self-destructing. Remember Joe BIden’s 30 billion dollars of arms aid to Israel and the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed with American bombs. Trump is… Read More Donald Trump’s Cultural Revolution
Offered by the Pagdandi Collective Please see the course details below. To apply for the course, click here. Last date to apply is 29th June, 2025. READ IN APP धोखा है इक फ़रेब है मंज़िल का हर ख़याल, सच पूछिए तो सारा सफ़र वापसी का है – राजेश रेड्डी Some of the most significant technological innovations of… Read More Recollection: A course on history and philosophy
The major intellectual and moral preoccupations of philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, who died this week at the age of 96, speak to key issues of modernity and morality that leftists will be grappling with for a long time. Nick French: Alasdair MacIntyre Leaves a Legacy to Wrestle With lasdair MacIntyre, the preeminent moral philosopher known for… Read More Alasdair MacIntyre Leaves a Legacy to Wrestle With / Alasdair MacIntyre obituary
Punarchith (‘Re-Think’) is a collective that focuses on evolving alternative perspectives and activities related to education, environment, democracy, and society. It seeks pathways and perspectives that would lead to ideas and learning for an equitable and just society. Its foundational premise is to evolve and engage with ideas that are suitable for everyday life in… Read More Punarchith (Re-Think). Reflections on a decade-long journey
After the truth-shower 