Browsing by Subject "Epistemology"

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Open Access
Contested Resources, History and Epistemologies: The Lived Experiences of the Indigenous Forest Villagers in North Bengal
(University of North Bengal, 31-03-2023) Paul, Mrinalini
This paper argues that Adivasi and tribal studies in India have been overshadowed by methodologies and ideologies bearing heavy colonial underpinnings. In order to develop this discipline further with sound epistemological base, it is necessary to engage with methodologies of a more organic and post-colonial nature. This paper uses the Adaptation-Negotiation-Freedom (ANF) framework (Bodhi and Jojo 2019) to understand the historical and contemporary critical events in the lives of the indigenous and Adivasi communities of the forest villages of North Bengal. The ANF framework has been developed contesting the predominant Isolation-Assimilation- Integration (IAI) framework that arises from a caste society understanding and defines the “tribal” as a residual category. The larger significance of adopting such a framework, beyond academics, is that these researches and data contribute to the policy framework of the country. One of the reasons for the continuous socio-economic deprivation and cultural dispossession of the tribal communities in the country, in spite of various legal safeguards, protective legislations and constitutional provisions, can definitely be attributed to the epistemological injustice taking place. This paper is based on a qualitative ethnography which places the researcher’s descriptions, observations and the forest villagers’ experiences (mostly Rabhas and Oraons) in both the ANF and IAI framework, and finds that the former offers a relatively authentic story of the micro socio-cultural politics and narratives arising from the landscape.
Open Access
Putnam on the Magical Theory of Reference
(Vidyasagar University, 2021) Das, Kanti Lal
Abstract: The concept of refcerence is the main conlention of epistemology metaphysics in general and semantics in particular. It is through the reference of the linguistic expressions that one may come to know about the world or reality or ontology. It has been acknowledged that language does refer and the referential function of language is helpful to know about reality. However, the paradigm of reference and the of reference remains a bone of contention to the philosophers. Putnam the magical theory of reference.. According to Putnam, the magical theory of reference is a big default of reference. He, therefore, attempts to overcome the default through the analysis of the metaphor 'brains in a vat'.The main strategy of this paper is to exemplify the philosophical insight and significance of the metaphor 'brains in a vat' while solving the problem of reference.