Browsing by Subject "Pluralism"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Open Access
Federalism and the Concept of Consociationalism : An Experience in Indian Context
(University of North Bengal, 2022-03) Begum, Tabesum
Today a federal form of governance with its nature and scope is presenting itself as an increasing important and relevant issue with the changing nature of polity. The very idea of consociationalism and the concept of Federalism are very useful tools for understanding any political systems in its core. Actually federalism and consociationalism are both based on compound majoritarianism rather than simple majoritarianism, and both represent modern attempts to accommodate democratic complexity and pluralism, although the two systems are not quite symmetrical, and territorial organization is not the only feature that differentiates each of the term in real sense. Again, in a highly plural society, the decision-making process becomes so competitive that new types of interest aggregations take place, thereby making the system looks like more complicated. My paper exactly emphasizes these fundamental issues within a broad framework of Consociationalism and Federalism in India.
Open Access
REFLECTIONS ON NELSON GOODMAN’S CONCEPT OF WORLDMAKING
(University of North Bengal, 2023-03) NASIMA BEGAM
Open Access
A Survey on the Unique & Composite Temples of Cooch Behar from (17th to 19th century)
(University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Lama, Sudash; Acharjee, Arka
Temple in India is considered as an abode of God Almighty, a centre of reverence. The Hindu temple, in more than one sense, epitomises the numerous sides and complex processes of the cultural development of Hinduism through its architecture. The major temple styles listed and described in the “Vāstuśāstra” texts are the Nāgara, Drāvida and Vesara. All the available texts are agreed on the point that the Nāgara style was prevalent in the region between Himalayas and Vindhyas. So, geographically Bengal belongs to the school of Nāgara style and Bengal temple architecture in its initial phase chiefly followed the Nāgara style though the process of the consequent development of Nāgara style can be traced through various regional schools, of which the major ones were Orissa (Kalinga style) & Central India (Mahoba style). But from the 17th Century, the history of Indian temple architecture witnessed the beginning of a distinct Bengal school which consisted of a series of parallel unique temple styles by which Bengal hold an important status in the architectural atlas in India. From the 17th to 19th Centuries Bengal may be categorised as a province that behold several innovative architectural styles. In this connection a noticeable point may also to be noted here that though Cooch Behar is a part of Bengal, stylistically this part also shows its architectural uniqueness by consuming and admixing various local and also general attributes. By undertaking field survey at Cooch Behar district the author tried to trace these distinguishable features of these temples.
Open Access
Theories of justice and the epistemic foundations of pluralism
(University of North Bengal, 2024-03) Md. Inamur Rahaman
The conception of justice as the “first virtue of social institutions” (Rawls, 1971) and the “virtue of soul” (Plato, 1956) puts forth two different points of view in the realm of social-political thought. From one point of view, the demand for objective principles of justice at the institutional level presupposes a particular epistemic framework where universal/objective truth and specific methods to reach it have been given importance. I would delve into arguing that the presuppositions to reach objectivity in the epistemic and the political realm are quite similar. It is the epistemological foundation of Descartes that facilitates the political to seek objectivity in its principles. On the other hand, by proposing justice as the “virtue of soul”, Plato proposes an epistemology that is grounded in his notion of the Good. The individual in these two epistemological and political systems engages with the world from two completely different approaches. In this paper, I will explore the relationship of these epistemic frameworks with their respective theories of justice and consider the scope of pluralism.
Open Access
Understanding the Interface Between Multiculturalism and Postmodernism: A Nietzschean Perspective
(University of North Bengal, 2015) Roy, Saikat
Postmodernism with its deconstructionist position denotes a shift of hegemonic intellectual paradigm positing the transition from one cultural context to another. Such a shift is always characterized by transformation of cultural codes and systems of values expressed in changes of cultural, religious norms, outlooks on micro and macro levels, that is, social, political, ideological as well as personal, etc. The component of the postmodern program is seen in the multicultural project, assuming the creation of a global community with a set of cultures which has the right to existence and should cause respect. Multiculturalism of the nineties draws its most important concepts from the postmodernist thought, which in turn ultimately stems from Friedrich Nietzsche’ philosophy. He cherished multiculturalism and postmodernism from the value-standpoint and primarily focused on the cultural relativism. The contention of this paper is to investigate and analyse the interface between these two ideological paradigms from a Nietzschean perspective.