“A Beautiful Sunset ... Mistaken for a Dawn”: Some Reflections on Religious Studies, India Studies, and the Modern University

Author: Larson, Gerald James

Source: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume 72, Number 4, December 2004 , pp. 1003-1019(17)

Publisher: Oxford University Press

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Abstract:

Using an analytic scheme from traditional Indic cosmology, namely, the Ādhidaivika (the cosmic realm), the Ādhibhautika (the social realm), and the Ādhyātmika (the personal realm), the essay argues that intellectual progress in scientific research, social theory, and philosophy of mind has been generally disappointing. Rather than thinking in terms of progress and advance, a more apt characterization of what has been happening to the human community is one of serious decline. The essay argues, furthermore, that we are only at the beginning of the intellectual development of the human species and now are in need of new conceptual frameworks in terms of cosmology (theology), social order, and self-understanding that may enable us to overcome the decline.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfh087

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