Seminar on “Do we need Masters and Slaves? Hegel and the Idea of Recognition” by Dr. R. Krishnaswamy
Political theories are caught between finding abiding principles of socio-political norms of cooperation which can be either just or fair for everyone involved versus ensuring that obedience to those principles or rules is not part of the reason why they ought to cooperate. If people are generally cooperative then they don’t need principles that, through different mechanisms, are meant to bind them to those sets of behaviour. And on the other hand, if we are, by nature, not socio-political animals, no amount of coercion, short of violent means of submission, can make us conform to principles of fair cooperation. This is a dilemma for many theorists. I argue in my book that this whole problem can be side-stepped if we start with the right notion of recognition. We can help build the right rules of cooperation which acknowledges both the open-endedness of collective life as well as create norms for which there are easy motivating reasons for people to obey. In this talk, I will first give an overview of some of the main arguments of the book. Then I will take up Hegel’s Idea of Recognition, which is central to my story. I will first present a minimal reading of the Master-Slave idea followed by Kojeve’s ‘existentialist’ reading of that idea. Then I will follow it up with Brandom’s ‘cognitive’ reading of the Master-Slave argument. I will then present my own take on Hegel’s idea of recognition. At the end, I will draw out some implications of my view for the larger political problem of norms, justice and cooperation.
Date: 22nd September, 2023 (Friday)
Time: 11:00 am
Venue: IIIT-Delhi campus
Seminar on ‘The Challenges of Normative Political Theory in India’
The three-decade-long underdevelopment debate within Indian political theory (IPT) recognizes that a derivative discourse embedded in the dominant Western tradition compels us to either neglect or evade the conspicuous absence of non-Western perspectives in political theory. This talk will focus on different strands of this debate to expose the challenges and difficulties within IPT. Dr. Ali argues for a need to methodologically confront this challenge. As an initial possibility towards that direction, the possibility of a native (not nativist) Indian political theory is the focus of his talk. While drawing methodological stimuli from the underdevelopment debate and some parallel debates within contemporary Indian philosophy, Dr Ali argues for an epistemic openness vis-à-vis the West, while keeping the Indian context central to understand, analyse and even go beyond the dominant West, especially Habermas.
Speakers: Dr. Muzaffar Ali
Date: 25th Aug 2023
Summer Research Workshop, 2023
Date: 21st June 2023 (Wednesday), 28th June 2023 (Wednesday) and 5th July 2023 (Wednesday)
AWL is hosting a two-day summer Research Workshop on 21st June 2023 (Wednesday) and 28th June 2023 (Wednesday) from 12:00-13:30 (IST) at Academic Writing Lab, A007 (R&D building) IIIT-Delhi campus.
Day 1:
Topic: Approaches to Research Writing
Day 2:
Topic: Drafting your research paper
Day 3:
Presenting your research
Panel discussions on “Beyond Borders and Pathways of Difficult Narrations.”
Date: 19th May 2023.
Panel A: Narratives of conflict and discontent: Memories, experiences and the interplay of language.
Panelists : Urvashi Bhutalia and Dr. Arvinder A. Ansari
Moderator : Dr Payel C Mukherjee
Panel B: Narratives of violence: Representations and Reconstructions.
Panelists : Dr. Meera Chakravorty, Dr. Debdatta Chowdhury, Vijay Kachru, and Abhishek Goyal
Moderator : Ms. Rushali Saha
Book Discussion on "Ambedkar: The Formative Years"
Date: 20th April
Speaker: Prof. Aakash Singh Rathore
Research Lecture Series VI on "Research Ethics and Common Mistakes in Research Writing"
Speakers: Dr. Payel C Mukherjee, Dr. Sumitava Mukherjee
Date: 2nd-3rd May 2023
Speakers: Prof. David Parkinson, Prof. Ipshita Chanda, Dr Sharmita Lahiri
Date: 21st-23rd March
Public Keynote Lecture On: 'How to stay smart in a smart world'
This public keynote is collaboratively hosted and jointly organised by the Decision Lab, Dept of HSS, IIT Delhi and AWL Humanities initiative, IIIT-Delhi.
Professor Gigerenzer is a world renowned behavioral scientist and decision researcher. His award-winning popular books Calculated Risks, Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious, and Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions have been translated into 21 languages. His academic books include Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart, Rationality for Mortals, Simply Rational, and Bounded Rationality (with Reinhard Selten, a Nobel Laureate in economics). You can read more about the speaker here: https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/staff/gerd-gigerenzer.
Date: 10 February, 2023
Time: 18:30 hrs IST
Venue: Online
To attend, register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeSn0Sv8ivs5m22g2PDFkT25huJLooGASGFbaFsiZrsYVkmVw/viewform?pli=1
Book Discussion on 'Aesthetic Perceptions of Urban Environments'
AWL-Humanities Initiative hosted a book discussion on 'Aesthetic Perceptions of Urban Environments' on October 13, 2022 at 10:30 am with Prof. Arundhati Virmani, Prof. Jean Boutier, Dr. Smriti Singh, Sarah Khan were speakers at IIIT-Delhi campus.
AWL is hosting the fourth edition of its research writing lecture series on September 26, 2022 where Dr. Payel C Mukherjee spoke about Scientific Misconduct and Ethic in Research and Publication.
AWL hosted a two day research workshop for students enrolled in Ph.D. courses in the Department of Electronics and Communication at IIIT-Delhi on August 8, 2022.
AWL hosted a research workshop for students enrolled in PhD courses in the Department of Electronics & Communications at IIIT-Delhi on June 2, 2022.
AWL hosted a two day research workshop for students enrolled in PhD courses in the Department of Social Science and Humanities in IIIT-Delhi on May 17, 2022 and May 19, 2022.
Research Writing Lecture Series III
AWL hosted the third edition of its research writing lecture series on May 23, 2022 where Dr Payel C Mukherjee spoke about writing techniques in research and how to write a research pitch. The recording of the event can be accessed here.
Disruption and Its Discontents: Ethics, Politics, and Epistemology of Disruptive Technology
A two-day symposium hosted by Academic Writing Lab (AWL) and Dept. Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), IIIT- Delhi
Date: August 19-20, 2022
The concept of agency in the era of artificial intelligence
Speakers - Dr Rahul De, Sai Dattatharani
Date - February 16, 2022
Two days lecture series on Research Writing
AWL hosted a two-day research writing series on January 27-28 2022, which provided a holistic introduction to research writing, its categories, approaches and specificies. To view the recording of the two day event, click here for Day 1 Recoring , Day 2 Recording and to view the presentations and other related materials, click here for Dr. Parkinson Presentation and Dr. Ipshita Presentation
