Registrations Open | What is Thinking? | MPC Short Course | October 14, 15 & 16, 2011

What is Thinking?

Instructor: Sundar Sarukkai

Dates: October 14, 15 & 16, 2011

Time: 9:30am-5:00pm

Venue: YMCA Seminar Room, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Colaba

Why a course on thinking? After all, if there is anything that we think we do all the time, it is thinking. But then here is the sad truth: thinking is a skill, is a method, and has to be taught.

What does it mean to teach thinking? It is to recognize what thinking is, what happens to us when we think, how we actually think, the different ways by which we think. It is to understand what is meant by critical thinking and creative thinking, to reflect on the different types of thinking and imagining that characterizes art, science and philosophy. It is also to recognize why philosophy is fundamentally about understanding the nature of thinking. 

What might one learn from this reflection on thinking? Here is a wish-list:

·         learning to be aware of what we do when we think

·         understanding the relation between thinking and language

·         an introduction to the philosophy of mind

·         nature of logical thinking and creative thinking (not that they are opposites of each other!)

·         theories of imagination

·         learning to read and write (no, this is not an adult literacy class but reading and writing are fundamentally related to the skills of thinking)

Warning: This course will be injurious to your health ? it is not a management course but one that draws primarily on philosophy.

Instructor

Sundar Sarukkai is Professor and Director, Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities, Manipal University, where an innovative MA program in interdisciplinary humanities has been started. He is trained in physics and philosophy, and has a PhD from Purdue University. His research interests include Philosophy of Science and Mathematics, Philosophy of Language and Philosophy of Art. Sarukkai has been a Homi Bhabha Fellow, Fellow of the Shimla Institute of Advanced Studies and PHISPC Associate Fellow. He is the author of the following books: Translating the world: Science and Language, Philosophy of Symmetry, and Indian Philosophy and Philosophy of Science. His forthcoming books include What is Science? and The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory (co-authored with Gopal Guru).