Tuesday 30 August 2016

To Question or Not?





Romila Thapar et al (2016) The Public Intellectual in India. Aleph, 170 pages



This book deals with the question-what type of society do we wish to construct? A meaningful discussion on organising institutions that adhere to the values that we cherish can happen only in a liberal space. ‘Being a liberal is an attitude of mind’, Romila Thapar writes, that allows space for expression of ideas filtered through ethics and reasoned thinking. A public intellectual is a person who creates and guards this liberal space by bringing in varying perspectives on issues of public interest. In this role, she is an autonomous thinker pursuing the epistemic logic of seeking truth. Secondly, she is also the crusader of the ethical logic that stands for social justice. The problem is that both these interests can conflict with each other. How to resolve this ‘internal’ conflict forms one part of the book.

The second part of the book is about the external space and time in which the public intellectual resides. In this dynamic space, public intellectuals belonging to different schools of thought debate issues that are relevant to our society. From these ideational discourses, forces that shape institutions of the state as well as society are formed. Furthermore, the public intellectual also makes a large and varied corpus of knowledge interrelated and accessible to a wider audience. She is in this sense both interpreter as well as producer of knowledge for others.

An educated public in today’s times is likely to be a discerning public that can effectively participate in democratic processes concerning power and its distribution in society. This process that relates knowledge to society makes an ordinary individual think analytically, creatively, autonomously and logically.

A wide range of questions about questioning is raised in this book. What are the battles to fight and what are the battles to let go? What is the role of silence in understanding things around us and in expressing our thoughts? What are the rules of thinking and framing questions? These are some of the provocative and illuminating thoughts presented in the essays of the book with a vibrant tone and contemporary context.

A detour of historical tradition of the public intellectual also gives some useful insights to our own construction of the ideal. At a time when the liberal space is narrowing due to various vested interests both of states and of corporations, the question of autonomy and justice remains open to construction. One of my favourite parts in the book is the contemplation on the absence of the right liberal in contemporary India.


What makes the book enriching is its own identity as a battlefield of debates among five public intellectuals of India today. This is an important work of our times that questions our fundamental assumptions about the way knowledge forms and transforms society.