Kalidas Bhattacharya‘s Notion of Swing in Standpoints

Jigmey Dorje Lama

Volume : VI, Issue : XII, December - 2016

Kalidas Bhattacharya‘s Notion of Swing in Standpoints

Jigmey Dorje Lama

Abstract :

Kalidas Bhattacharya (1911–1984), an eminent Indian philosopher, was well–known for his doctrine of Alternative Standpoints in Philosophy. The claim is that all genuine philosophical constructions are valid, but only alternately. This proto–epistemological claim was further backed up by a metaphysical account of alternating absolutes, that is, the idea of a multi–faced absolute, each face being self–complete. In today‘s parlance, a disjunctive epistemology was backed up by a disjunctive metaphysics. I propose to submit a very ief account of this swing– concept without indulging in possible controversial deliberations around it. It is important to note that Bhattacharya does not abandon his notion of alternation but couples it this time with a notion of togetherness in the form of a swing from one alternative to another. To what extent it marks a genuine departure from his earlier stand on alternation is a matter of further investigation.