Modernity, Development and Violence: Gandhi’s Perspective (12- 13 November, 2010)

Ambuj Sharma of Philosophical Society participated and presented a paper on Modernity, Development and Violence: Gandhian Perspective in the UGC National Seminar On ‘Science, Society and Liberty’ organized by Government Meera Girls College and Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur at Udaipur on 12-13 November, 2010
In his paper he tried to bring the debates of Gandhian critique of technology and its various forms. He argued the concept of development associated with the advancement of technology and globalization. He brought the Philosophical critique of western modernity offered by Gandhi and said that “technology is acting as a new slavery of commodities and market which Gandhi opposed. He argued that in the era of science and technology it is important to understand the politics behind technology as to who are benefited largely by the technology and who is deciding the course of technology. The paper tried to reflect on the Gandhian approach to understand society and its development.

Civil Disobedience, Rights and Distributive-Justice: Raising a few questions in Afro Asian Political Philosophy (20-23 October, 2010)

Colonialism has been a longstanding concern for political and moral philosophers in the Afro Asian tradition. At least since the Crusades and the conquest of the Africa and India, political theorists have struggled with the difficulty of reconciling ideas about justice and natural law with the practice of European sovereignty over Afro Asian peoples. In the nineteenth century, the tension between liberal thought and colonial practice became particularly acute, as the oppressed people raised resistance in different ways.
Myths like, “civilizing mission,” by colonialists, which suggested that a temporary period of political dependence or tutelage was necessary in order for “uncivilized” societies to advance to the point where they were capable of sustaining liberal institutions and self-government was out rightly criticized by both Afro and Asian countries. Civil liberty movements and civil disobedience by the oppressed opened a new technique and discourse to question the rights and Justice for the oppressed
Civil disobedience is the vigorous denial to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is usually, but not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance.
Ambuj Sharma of Philosophical society presented a paper on “Civil Disobedience, Rights and Distributive-Justice: Raising a few questions in Afro Asian Political Philosophy”, in the Afro-Asian Philosophy Association Conference organized by Department of Philosophy, University of Mumbai at Mumbai on 20-23 October, 2010
In his presentation he attempted to understand the concept of civil disobedience in relation to rights and justice. He focused on the Afro Asian Philosopher's understanding of civil disobedience. He brought the debates of Gandhi’s political philosophy on civil disobedience and made a comparative study of Frantz Fanon and Mahmood Mamdani views on pathology of violence and citizen's rights in a struggle against colonial empire and its consequences for contemporary understanding of distributive justice in the domains of contemporary Afro-Asian Political philosophy.