Philosophical-jombie

  It is a pleasure on our part to introduce our publication of Bengali book entitled   প্রবন্ধসংগ্রহ : জে . এল . অস্টিন ― ভাষান্তর ও সমীক্ষা by Prof. Sandhya Basu, Madhu Kapoor and Kakali Ghoshal. As clear from the title, it is a translation and a somewhat critical study of some of the papers of the great British linguist philosopher J. L. Austin. His linguistic-philosophy took a different approach from Wittgenstein and other Language Philosophers who were mainly interested in formal languages representing states of affairs and making assertions about the world; whereas, Austin’s concern was regarding the utterances having variety of uses in our daily usage. The examination of ordinary language enables us to shell out attention to the wealth of linguistic facts and to undertake the philosophical problems from a fresh and unbiased standpoint.   Austin’s most celebrated contribution to the contemporary philosophy is his theory of ‘Speech act’, presented in “ H...

  My cup of tea for you ! Friends !! Today, early morning, I am so happy to serve you a special hot cup of tea, which I have prepared from the blending of some unique ingredients.   But I am harbouring a doubt also whether you will really enjoy its taste or not. The reason is: when I served this tea to my friends and sisters –some of them liked its taste and others did not. However, all of them have their different opinions and reasons. And I found that no two tea-tasters, if I call them so, had the same observation. Rather, none agree in their explanation too. I was surprised and was little disappointed also to realize that my wonder effort had gone in vain.   I don’t think you ever…ever… have a sip of this kind of tea––absolutely my artistic creation. I was little upset too. So, first, I choose to offer you for your feed-back. You might argue that it is a virtual tea, so how can one provide one’s opinion regarding its taste. Don’t be bothered, friends!!! all tea-s...

 Who is the recipient of your wishes? Curious question regarding “I” That was the curious question asked by one of my student, “what is the meaning of “I?”, while explaining the meaning of “pronouns …like ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘that’, ‘it’, ‘he’, she’ etc.”  My centre of thought was suddenly stimulated by his question. So far, I was in the prison of my grammar book. The Grammar book says ‘that which is used instead of some noun, the person speaking or writing… it is a personal pronoun in the first person singular etc. etc.,” I was firmly persuaded that it is the SPEAKER who holds the key for the meaning of the word “I” and the LISTENER holds the key for the word “you”. I had an intuitive acceptance that ‘I-you’ understanding “is there” when two persons encounter each other in many ways. I used to naively suppose that understanding each other is not an isolated phenomenon. It is all about the shared life which is mutually apprehensible.  I could not think even in my wildest imaginat...

Spectacle-u-r Reality  2019.  Since yesterday I was feeling very uncomfortable because my vision was shielded and my gaze at the objects was eclipsed. I cannot retain anything while reading a book or watching an advt. on the road. With little effort I can get the blurred vision of the newspaper and can watch T.V. but I was not able to decipher any other reading material. And that also disappeared as soon as I moved my eyes from one item to another. I was feeling depressed because I can’t think without my glasses. They are my windows of the world. Sudden termination of my vision forced me to realize that while poor eyes take notice of all other things, take no notice of them. It should be set at the distance in order to have correct vision vide Locke. So I decided to visit an ophthalmologist.            After a long wait in his chamber, he asked me to sit on a chair and read the chart in front of me with Halloween like glasses. I was feeling so sor...

  Horizon of My Table 'Table' -- a small and wonderful word having   huge connotation, a necessary part of one' s life, a symbol of one' s status, and an essential part for those who read and write. Bertrand Russell has made it famous for its philosophical jambo. He says though it is not problematic for a lay man but becomes  a matter of concord for the philosophers. I had a dream at my youngest age that  I am sitting  on my chair with books and writing pad with  enough pens  and inks of variety around me , with fire place nearby.  I am none other than Tolstoy or Solzhenisyn  or Aha !! Lewis Carroll My Dream is broken and forgotten within few years. One does not know what table  is but one cannot avoid its utility , excluding me, in our life . I say 'excluding me' because I used to read and write on my bed  except in my dream . I used to scattered books all over and keep my pillow on my lap and  write and reading was done ...

  Dwelling in possibility It was not very unconventional to go to the market and enjoy the variety of items displayed before— whether fruits, vegetables or even shoes or crockery or clothes or branded cars, telephones and sweets all around in sweet-shops. I used to enjoy the music CD and Cassettes, electronic gadgets also; but now, they have become the items of antique piece. One of the shops at Park Street, the Music World, has gone into the black hole― the day CD and Cassettes became superseded by youtube. When one goes to the market, one finds latest and nothing but latest of items of everything and everywhere. Take for example biscuits, so many types and so many sizes are available that one gets bewilders which one to buy and which one to be left out. They look so tempting and delicious that one can’t resist oneself for having a taste of it. But often it happens that after having a taste of them one cannot enjoy it second time. They have good packaging, good outlook, beautifu...

  A Reply to My sister’s hunt for Potential moments:   It was in many ways the 7 th attempt to steal a few moments out of 24 hrs to complete this piece of writing…the opening blast came when there was a door bell... the News-paper-man came to clear his dues. Obviously, he had to come at the end of the month... I put my pen down and took accounts of his days and holidays, paid the bill and sat for a moment to bring my mind back to the track. Friends !! there was another bolt waiting… an important phone call from a student, who needed urgently the answer of a particular question, put my survival of being a teacher at stake …ok …I ran for the book to find out the answer for which I was not sure. After 15 minutes there was a call from the pressure cooker which I have kept on the gas-oven and for the time being I did ignore its existence ... oh!! I galloped for that and found that item inside was almost struggling for its existence but nevertheless survived. In between I fai...

  An Enchanting Chaos Friends !!! There was an official phone call from Bank authority asking for some necessary documents. I assured him that I will be present tomorrow with required documents. And my search begins for those documents to submit them to the bank authority… There was a phone call from the proof reader asking for the required reference urgently. And I was looking for that book absolutely necessary for the last time references… There was a phone call from the medical person who needed the Aadhar card for Covid-vaccination registration. I begin my search for all three documents!! …and… unfortunately none were found. There were huge piles of books, bags where documents were kept, but nowhere… I was absolutely at defeating point… where to find and how to find out the necessary papers. I spent the whole day against the faltering sleep except when 2 hrs were left I vigorously fought for the sleep, and …shooting pain came in my arms… oh !! I had a bizarre posses...