Can the exciting new developments in neurology and cognitive science bring us closer to unravelling the mystery of consciousness? The answer, from the Indic point of view, is both “yes” and “no.” Yes, in that we will learn more and more about the biochemistry of the brain, its capabilities and limitations, and thus also about various aspects of its functioning, including certain aspects of consciousness that we may regard as epiphenomenal. But, from the Indic perspective, consciousness remains primary, not secondary; the bio-materialist model of awareness will thus, remain, suspect. A way out would be to try to bridge, if not bend, the mind-body dualism, as old in modern Western thought as Descartes. In this regard, it is to emergence studies rather than intelligent design that we may have to turn to find a non-dualist way of having our spiritual cake, so to speak, even as we eat scientific humble pie.

Prof. Dr. Makarand R. Paranjape has been Professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University since 1999. He read English at St. Stephen’s College, went on to pursue an MA & PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA). A scholar, critic, novelist, and poet, he has published over 45 books, 170 academic papers, and 500 newspaper/periodical articles.  His recent books include Debating the ‘Post’ Condition in India: Critical Vernaculars, Unauthorized Modernities, Post-Colonial Contentions (Routledge, 2018), Cultural Politics in Modern India (Routledge, 2016), The Death and Afterlife of Mahatma Gandhi (Penguin Random House, 2015). He has also worked in the area of science and religion producing, three edited volumes, the latest of which is Healing across Boundaries: Biomedicine and Alternative Therapeutics (Routledge, 2014). Makarand is currently a columnist for Swarajya, DNA, and Mail Today.