Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Report on ICSSR North-Western Regional Centre, Chandigarh sponsored One-day National Seminar on “Aristotle and the Good Life”


The Department of Philosophy and P.G. Department of Public Administration of P. G. Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11, Chandigarh organised an ICSSR North-Western Regional Centre, Chandigarh sponsored One-day National Seminar on “Aristotle and the Good Life”  on 29th March, 2017. Prof. Lallan S. Baghel, Chairperson, Department of Philosophy, PU, Chandigarh was the Key-note speaker on the occasion. Welcoming the chief-guest, Prof. Anita Kaushal, Principal of the college emphasised that the Seminar was being organised to commemorate the 2400th birth anniversary celebrations of Aristotle, and his philosophy is still relevant in contemporary times. Members of faculty and research scholars from various institutions of the country presented research papers on Aristotelian conceptualisation of themes of Ethical Philosophy, Happiness, Virtues, Justice, Pleasure, Friendship, Politics, Society etc.
In his key-note address, Prof. Baghel highlighted the significance of Aristotle and added that whatever is the question, we start off with Aristotle’s opinion and then start comparing that to Plato and then to other philosophers. He added that Aristotle’s philosophy cuts across the boundaries of all disciplines, may it be natural sciences or social sciences. He also chaired the 1st Technical session with theme ‘Ethical Philosophy of Aristotle’. He observed that the session was a kaleidoscope of research papers on varied aspects ranging from Education and Morality to Happiness, Intellectual Virtues and Justice.
The 2nd Technical Session was chaired by Dr. Shivani Sharma, Former Chairperson, Department of Philosophy, PU, Chandigarh. The theme of the session was ‘Aristotle on Arts, Aesthetics and Socio-political philosophy’. The delegates presented papers on aspects like Music, Metaphysics and religion, Aristotle and Gandhi, Ambiguities in Aristotle’s concepts, and Gender. Dr. Shivani Sharma commended the analysis of the delegates regarding their attempt to integrate contemporary notions with those of Aristotle’s narrative. Ms. Shashi Joshi, Convenor of the Seminar proposed a vote of thanks.