Bindu Chintada

This paper develops a cross-cultural framework for materialist aesthetics by arguing that aesthetic experience is not a private judgment of a detached subject, challenging the Kantian legacy that has long dominated Western aesthetics, but an emergent property of spatial, social, and material entanglements. The paper brings Western phenomenology (Ponty's embodied perception), New Materialism (Jane Bennett's ‘vibrant matter’, Karen Barad's ‘agential realism’), and Critical Spatial Theory (Henri Lefebvre's production of space) into dialogical conversation with classical Indian aesthetic traditions as interpreted by contemporary scholars- particularly the rasa theory (Abhinavagupta's aesthetic emotion, as elaborated by V.K. Chari), dhvani theory (Anandavardhana's suggestion, analyzed by Arindam Chakrabarti), and anukarana (Parul Dave Mukherji's re-reading of mimesis as material practice). The analysis proceeds through a series of philosophical interventions. First, drawing on James Gibson's affordances, Bennett's thing-power, and Mukherji's anukarana, it prioritizes the material qualities of objects over purely symbolic interpretations, revealing how matter possesses agency that constrains and enables aesthetic experience. Second, it examines how these object-agents function within spatial and social networks (through Lefebvre's spatial triad, Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, and the rasa theory components of vibhava [determinants] and anubhava [consequents] as analyzed by Kapila Vatsyayan) to either stabilize or destabilize shared meanings and social arrangements. Third, the paper addresses cultural power through the orienting concepts of figure and ground, (drawing on Gestalt psychology and Jacques Rancière's ‘distribution of the sensible’), while questioning the universalizing assumptions of rasa theory's sadharanikarana through Mukherji's postcolonial critique. The argument is grounded throughout in the contemporary artistic practice of Vivan Sundaram and Abir Karmakar, whose work exemplifies how spatial, social, and material entanglements produce and circulate aesthetic experience. Ultimately, this paper contends that a materialist aesthetics, enriched by cross-cultural dialogue and focused on relationality and distributed agency, offers a more robust and politically salient model for understanding the pervasive role of aesthetic experience in shaping contemporary life than approaches centered on subjective judgment or symbolic interpretation alone.

It is an undeniable fact that in the recent decade, we have seen a rapid increase in the options, scale and frequency of movement around us. Movement thereby became a defining feature of our epoch— not just in terms of displacement from one place to another, rather in all domains of life. Science points that the constant flux is what caused the matter we see today, while logic relies on these repeated scenarios for everyday deduction. Displacement, migration, development, climate change are all powered by, and results of motion. This motion, movement and mobility is what ties our civilization and nature closer together. The paper discusses important themes of ‘philosophy of motion’, which attempt to understand the underlying pattern of motion in the universe. It discusses motion in a metaphysical; physical as well as micro physical levels, and reinstates the primacy position motion seats in. Such an understanding of motion aids in understanding the experience of paradigm shifts and mobility of individuals better, and offers a perspective of dealing with these changes efficiently.

Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET), as developed by Albert Ellis, is based on the idea that Cognitive, Affective (Emotional) and Behavioral processes can be manipulated to reduce the effects of irrational beliefs and goals, which one sets upon themselves. Ellis' hypothesis moves from understanding how one's thoughts contribute to emotional and behavioral disturbances, while the Tantric traditions employ the understanding that the physical and mental disturbances originate from the imbalance in the emotions. Rasa Sadhana, as Peter Marchand notes ... is a tantric method of fasting on one's emotions. It helps one to overcome negative emotions so as to pursue better physical, mental and spiritual health. This paper explores the possibility of Rasa Sadhana as an intermediary step in RET to understand one's emotions in a better light, in helping the individual avoid the consequences of the negative emotions.

This paper argues that the television sitcom The Good Place (2016–2020) represents a uniquely effective and culturally significant vehicle for philosophical education. By weaving together classical and contemporary ethical theories with sophisticated comedic devices, the show transforms abstract philosophical concepts into relatable, human-centered narratives. This paper begins by reviewing the philosophical theories of humor, establishing comedy’s capacity for intellectual engagement. It then provides an in-depth analysis of The Good Place as a case study, detailing how the show’s narrative structure, characters (and their arcs), and comedic scenarios serve to critique traditional ethical systems and ultimately endorse a more nuanced, relational approach. The paper concludes that The Good Place offers a compelling model for “edutainment,” by highlighting how it replicates the different stages of Bloom and Krathwohl’s Taxonomy of learning, demonstrating the power of comedy to spark a genuine and broad-based cultural conversation about what it means to live a good life. Keywords: ethics, humor, comedy, The Good Place, philosophy.

The paper delves into the multifaceted nature of satire, examining it through the lens of traditional, semantic, rhetorical, and literary theories. By integrating phenomenological principles from Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, and Cassirer's philosophy of culture and symbolic forms, the paper explores the unique capacity of satire to expose underlying truths and challenge societal norms. The core argument posits that satire functions phenomenologically by disrupting habitual perceptions and inviting a fresh, critical perspective. It reveals the hidden structures of power and ideology, prompting a re-evaluation of social and cultural norms. Through its use of irony, exaggeration, and ridicule, satire exposes the absurd and the unjust, thereby fostering a deeper understanding of human experience. Finally, this paper proposes that satire can be considered a form of philosophical inquiry. By employing a phenomenological approach, satire offers a novel way of thinking about the world, encouraging critical reflection and challenging conventional wisdom. Keywords: Satire, Phenomenology, Philosophy, Symbolic forms, Philosophy of culture