S. N. Balagangadhara
| S.N. Balagangadhara | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 January 1952 Bangalore, India |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western & Indian Philosophy |
| School | Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap, Comparative Science of Cultures |
|
Main interests
|
Religious Studies Cultural Studies Post-colonial Studies Orientalism Ethics Political Philosophy History of ideas South Asian Studies |
|
Notable ideas
|
Explanatory Intelligible Account, Colonial Consciousness, Indian Renaissance |
S.N. Balagangadhara (aka Balu) (ಎಸ್. ಏನ್. ಬಾಲಗಂಗಾಧರ in Kannada) is a professor at the Ghent University in Belgium, and director of the India Platform and the Research Centre Vergelijkende Cutuurwetenschap (Comparative Science of Cultures). He was a student of National College, Bangalore and moved to Belgium in 1977 to study philosophy at Ghent University, where he obtained his doctorate under the supervision of Prof.Etienne Vermeersch. His doctoral thesis (1991) was entitled Comparative Science of Cultures and the Universality of Religion: An Essay on Worlds without Views and Views without the World. Prof. Balu has been researching the nature of religion. His central area of inquiry has been the study of Western culture against the background of Indian culture. His research programme is called in Dutch "Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap," which translates into "Comparative Science of Cultures." Prof. Balagangadhara has held the co-chair of the Hinduism Unit at the American Academy of Religion (AAR). He also gives lectures to the general public in Europe and India on issues such as the current (mis)understanding of Indian culture and the search for happiness.
From the 1980s onwards, S.N. Balagangadhara has developed the research programme Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap (Comparative Science of Cultures) to study cultural differences. On the one hand, he analyses western culture and intellectual thought through its representations of other cultures, with a particular focus on the western representations of India. On the other, Balagangadhara attempts to translate the knowledge embodied by the Indian traditions into the conceptual language of the twenty-first century.
In his first work, The Heathen in his Blindness... (1994), Balagangadhara focused on religion, culture, and cultural difference. He is mainly known for the controversial claim that religion is not a cultural universal. According to the author, Christianity had a profound influence on western culture. Balagangadhara argued that the analytical tools with which the West has understood other cultures like India, are therefore, intrinsically shaped by Semitic and Christian theology. The Semitic doctrine that God gave religion to humankind, Balagangadhara argued, lies at the heart of the ethnographic belief in the universality of religion:
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