Great Sage Research Articles

Management of emotions: a study using Patanjali's Yoga Sutra

The great Sage Patanjali is a great exponent of yoga philosophy, a grammarian and a physician. His most famous work the Yoga Sutra is a superb treatise for management of self in general and management of emotions in particular. The universal aphorisms given by Sage Patanjali are of an excellent source of wisdom and enlightenment. The researchers in this study have made an effort to use Patanjali’s aphorisms to make the management style of managers more effective. This is an effort to empirically test Patanjali’s Sutras on Indian managers and hereby get an insight as to how Patanjali’s teachings can be useful in managing emotions while working in organisations. This paper highlights a model based on Patanjali’s aphorisms and uses it for studying the current management of emotions of employees in organisations.

Energy, Matter, Life, Mind, Disease, Death and Humanity in the Universe: A Universal Approach

A concise summary of my thinking on some important main concepts is provided becoming now to my mind from inner self reflections, and memories. The influences of several figures of the last century in biology, medicine, higher physics, higher mathematics, first philosophy and wide center politics whom I personally treated were of capital importance as well the nurture from the past great sages.

Religious freedom: Jefferson's legacy, America's creed

For over one hundred years, Thomas Jefferson and his Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom have stood at the centre of our understanding of religious liberty and the First Amendment. Jefferson's expansive vision--including his insistence that political freedom and free thought would be at risk if we did not keep government out of the church and church out of government--enjoyed a near consensus of support at the Supreme Court and among historians, until Justice William Rehnquist called reliance on Jefferson demonstrably incorrect. Since then, Rehnquist's call has been taken up by a bevy of jurists and academics anxious to encourage renewed government involvement with religion.In Religious Freedom: Jefferson's Legacy, America's Creed , the historian and lawyer John Ragosta offers a vigorous defence of Jefferson's advocacy for a strict separation of church and state. Beginning with a close look at Jefferson's own religious evolution, Ragosta shows that deep religious beliefs were at the heart of Jefferson's views on religious freedom. Basing his analysis on that Jeffersonian vision, Ragosta redefines our understanding of how and why the First Amendment was adopted. He shows how the amendment's focus on maintaining the authority of states to regulate religious freedom demonstrates that a very strict restriction on federal action was intended. Ultimately revealing that the great sage demanded a firm separation of church and state but never sought a wholly secular public square, Ragosta provides a new perspective on Jefferson, the First Amendment, and religious liberty within the United States.

Void and Voidable Marriage under Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and Divorce

In this assignment, have to discuss about the thoughts relating to void and voidable marriage under Hindu Marriage Act and after the discussion have to discuss about the difference between Judicial Separation and Divorce under the same Act. So to complete the whole assignment firstly will discuss about void and voidable marriage and later on will discuss about judicial separation and divorce.Before starting the discussion want to tell something about marriage. So, marriage (Maritagium), Marriage has not been defined in any parliamentary statute. Personal laws are, however, clear on the point. It is known to be a process or event signifying the assumption of roles of husband and wife in accordance with the jural tenets prevalent in the society or stratum of society to which the parties belong, in contemporary societies, marriages are by and large contracts which have the legal sanction of the State.Even though, in most parts of the marriage may be contracted without religious ceremonies, historically marriage was the concern of religious institutions. Later, it became the official concern of the State. F. Stroud in his Judicial Dictionary, 2nd Ed. compiled — I conceive that marriage may be defined as the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others, the man and woman not being legally prohibited from marrying one another (per Penzance, J.O., Hyde v Hyde., LRIP & D 133:35 LJPM & A 58). The Form or Ceremony of marriage is not essential, so long as the marriage, as above defined, is intended and the law is observed and the contracting parties. have the legal capacity thereunto — Dairymple v Dalrymple, 2 Hagg Con 54.Now the thing is a Hindu for the purpose of the Hindu Marriage Act, the answer may be that he is a Hindu, who is belong to a:1. Arya Samaji; or2. Brahmosamaji; or3. Buddhist; or4. Jain; or5. Lingayat; or6. Prarthana Samaji; or7. Sikh; or8. Virashaiva; or9. Legitimate or illegitimate child whose both the parents belong to any of the groups of 1 to 8 above; or 10. Any legitimate or illegitimate child whose (/) one of the parents belongs to any group of 1 to 8 above, and (//) who is brought up as a member of that group, i.e. with any group of 1 to 8 above as the case may be; or 11. A convert to any group of 1 to 8 above; or one not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew, but (/) domiciled in the territories where this Act applies, and (//) it is not proved that such person would not have been governed by the Hindu law if this Act had not ften passed. While defining Hinduism, some tried to find its root in the Vedas. Some have limited it to innumerable religious rites and practices, casteism, rebirth after death and idolatry and so forth. But to be known as a Hindu, one needs hardly know what Veda is. He may also ignore casteism. Inter-caste marriage does not strip a Hindu of his religion. A follower of the great sage Charbak may not be a believer of atma or life after death. An advaitabadiis may not an idolator, but all of them are Hindus.The words Hinduism and Hindutya are not necessarily to be understood and construed narrowly, confined only to the strict Hindu religious practices unrelated to the culture and ethos of the people of India depicting the way of life of the Indian people — J.S. Verma J in Ramesh Yeshwant Prabhoov Prabhakar K. Kunte (1986) SCC 130.Now we are going to know about void and voidable marriage, so, a marriage may be void Marriage if it has (I) Living spouse (II) Bigamy {Bigamta) (III) Prohibited degrees, Sapinda (iv) Under-age (v) Impotency, (VI) Lunacy or unsoundness of mind (vii) Mental disorder of spouse (viii) Defective formalities; and may be voidable Marriage if it has (/) Impotency, (II) Fraud, coercion, undue influence or misrepresentation (Hi) Fraud, whether giving false address in the matrimonial advertisement constitutes (iv) Consent (v) Coercion (vi) Undue influence (vii) Misrepresentation (Suggestio Falsi) (viii) Limitation, (/x) Consent obtained by misrepresentation (x) Lunacy or unsoundness of mind (xi) Pre-marital pregnancy by another person (xil) Wilful refusal to consummate (xIII) Venereal disease in a communicable form (xiv) Impotency.

Osho - Insights on sex

Sex is a mysterious phenomenon, which has puzzled even great sages. Human beings have researched and mastered the biology of sex. But that is not all. Sex needs to be understood from the spiritual perspective too. The vision of Osho is an enlightening experience in this regard. Out of the thousands of lectures, five lectures on sex made Osho most notorious. Born into a Jain family of Madhya Pradesh, Rajneesh, who later wanted himself to be called Osho, is a great master. He has spoken volumes on a wide range of topics ranging from sex to super-consciousness. His contributions in the area of sex are based on the principles of “Tantra” which has its origin from Buddhism. This article focuses on his life and insights on sex, which if understood properly, can be a stepping stone for enlightenment.

Bachelard et les philosophies de l’Orient

Although deeply rooted in its time, Bachelard's work dedicated to the Poetic allows many links with the religions of the Far East. Imaginary’s partition into a feminine side and a masculine side, first of all, is a reminiscence of the Yin and Yang of Taoism. But other concepts, such as the “ sentiment cosmique ” (cosmic feeling) – the sense of being one with the cosmos activated at the end of certain dreams, stimulated by the contact with certain elements – allow a parallel with the Buddhist’s Nirvana and the unity sought in the Tao. Is it necessary to interpret these similarities in terms of inspiration that Bachelard would have drawn from the most famous authors of oriental literature, since he was a reader as eclectic as bulimic, or should we see in this interpretation of the world, at least partially similar with the one of the great sages of the East, a very personal rediscover, inherent to his method, the phenomenology?

The Socrates of Africa and his student: A case study of pre-colonial African leadership

This is a case study of the great pre-colonial chief and sage Mohlomi and the leadership lessons that he taught to chief Moshoeshoe, a successful and innovative African leader.

Models of the Moral Self: Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism

The great sage and scribe Jesus Ben Sira was, for the most part, a writer in confident control of his message, one who seldom engaged in direct polemics with other points of view. On occasion, however, his irritation with claims that he finds wrong-headed comes sharply into view. One of these moments is in ch. 15 of the Wisdom of Ben Sira, where the sage stoutly objects to those who—as he charac terizes them—claim that it is God's fault that they have sinned. In response, Ben Sira mounts a vigorous defense of the Deuteronomic view of moral agency, in which persons have free will and the unimpeded capacity to choose between life and death (Sir 15:15-17). is difficult to know who Ben Sira's opponents actually were, because it is unlikely that he gives a fair representation of their position in the whiny words he attributes to them, It was the Lord's doing that I fell away.... was he who led me astray (15:11-12). In some ways the position sounds closest to the moral anthropology articulated three hundred years later in the book of 4 Ezra. There Ezra sharply questions the model of free human agency and attributes the moral failure of the vast majority of persons to the evil heart with which humans were created, and which God did not act to remove or correct. While we do not know if the argument that Ezra makes had already been developed by contempo raries of Ben Sira, ample evidence exists for the emergence of a variety of often startling alternatives to the Deuteronomic model of moral agency in various strands of Second Temple Jewish literature. Curiously, although interest in models of moral psychology has been lively in NT studies, especially as focused on the figure of Paul, this topic has been rather neglected by Hebrew Bible and Second Temple scholars, though a revival of inter est in biblical anthropology in general—especially among German-speaking schol ars—suggests that interest in this subject may be rising.1 In other disciplines, the

FILSAFAT YOGA Ashtānga-yoga Menurut Yoga-Sūtras Pātañjali

Abstract: What is Yoga? How is Self-realization achieved through Yoga? The great Sage Pātañjali (3rd Century B.C.) defined yoga in the Yoga-Sūtras as “the restraint of the modifications of the mind” (yogaś-citta-vritti-nirodah). In his Yoga-Sūtras (196 sutras), Pātañjali systematically laid down the exact methods and techniques for attaining Self-realization through the Eight Limbs of Pātañjali’s Yoga (Ashtānga-yoga). This system is commonly known as Rāja-yoga (Royal yoga). This Eight Steps is the way to attain self-transcendence. It consists of yama, niyama, āsanas, prānāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāranā, dhyāna and samādhi. This article will focus on Ashtānga-yoga in the practical and philosophical contexts. Other systems of yoga also use this Eight Steps, but each yoga may start from and emphasize different aspects of yoga. However all systems of yoga accept and practice the Eight Steps of yoga to achieve the final goal, that is liberation (kaivalya, moksha, mukti). Yoga also reconciles the six systems of Indian Philosophy (Shadh Darśana).
 
 Keywords: Rāja-yoga (Royal yoga), Hatha-yoga (Hard yoga), Bhakti-yoga (Yoga of Devotion), Jñāna-yoga (Yoga of Knowledge), Ashtānga-yoga (Eight limbs of Yoga), Citta-vritti-nirodha (Restraint of modification of the mind), Purusha (Spirit), Prakriti (Matter), Iśvara-pranidhāna (Surrender to God), Moksha (Liberation).

In vitro Propagation and Conservation of Inula racemosa Hook. F. an Endangered Medicinal Plant of Temperate Origin

Inula racemosa is an endangered medicinal plant. It is commonly known as Pushkarmool, Pushkar and Manu. The great sage Charaka has characterized it as Hikka Magrahana (stops hiccups) and Savasahara (helpful in asthma). Also, he has cited it as the best medicament for pleurisy along with cough and asthma (http://enwikipedia.org/wiki/charaka-samhita). Due to the fragile nature of its habitat and exploitation due to its commercial medicinal properties, the species are facing the onslaught of indiscriminate over-exploitation. So far, this plant has not got the required attention from researchers, hence, except for a few efforts, not much work has been done for its cultivation and conservation. Plant tissue culture offers an attractive and quick method for its multiplication and further conservation. In the present investigation, effective procedures for micro-propagation and in vitro conservation by vitrification were developed. In vitro propagation using aseptically grown seedlings and in vitro conservation via vitrification were standardized. The in vitro conserved material could be retrieved and multiplied normally on MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) medium fortified with 1.00 mg l-1BA (benzyl adenine) which has been recorded as the best performing medium for in vitro shoot multiplication. The conserved shoots showed normal in vitro propagation and after retrieval from vitrification platelets were hardened and successfully established in the experimental fields under Nauni (Solan, HP) conditions at an elevation of around 1275 metres above mean sea level.

Charles Robert Darwin:The great founder of scientific evolutionism

Today, we celebrated 200 years since Charles Darwin, one of the world's most creative and influential thinkers, was born. And there happens to be the 150th anniversary of the publication of his famous book, On the Origin of Species. It is verified that On the Origin of Species is an immortal classic book and is still guiding the study of anagenesis in life science as the development of natural science from then on, and even though most of the ideas in the book are well-known at the present age. In the article, we recall the brilliance and predomination life of Darwin, a great sage with rich scientific achievements, review briefly the novel discoveries and theories after him in the field, and then elucidate the focal points and perspectiveas in near future study of evolution.

The Butterfly, the Mole and the Sage

Zhuangzi chooses a butterfly as a metaphor for transformation, a sighted creature whose inherent nature contains, and symbolizes, the potential for transformation from a less valued state to a more valued state. If transformation is not to be valued; if, according to a recent article by Jung Lee, ‘there is no implication that it is either possible or desirable for the living to awake from their dream’, why not tell a story of a mole awakening from a dream? This would be a more perfect story. There would be no point of a mole awakening since (setting aside tactile, olfactory, auditory and taste sensations for the purpose of the example), there is no way to distinguish between the world of the mole's imagination and the real world that is forever unavailable to a mole. In addition, Zhuangzi relates the story of the coming of a great sage in which it is clearly stated that ‘Only at the ultimate awakening shall we know that this is the ultimate dream’. Such textual evidence both from the choice of metaphors and evidential passages indicates that the message of the Zhuangzi is not epistemological relativity, but one of transformation from a state of intellectual blindness to a state of true understanding.

Surgical instruments and endoscopes of Susruta, the sage surgeon of ancient India

Susruta, the great sage surgeon, philosopher and teacher of ancient India, practiced around 600 bc. He is renowned all over the world for his contribution to surgery in general and plastic surgery in particular especially rhinoplasty. But his contribution to endoscopes is not well known to the medical world. His contribution to surgical instruments including endoscopes is reviewed here. Literature survery was the basis of this study. Susruta samhita [1], the treatise compiled by Susruta, various commentaries on it by different authors [2, 3] and other related literature are used as primary sources. Susruta belonged to a period between 600 and 800 bc. His conception of surgical instruments, the description of their quality, methods of manufacture and their usage are very unique, as there were no earlier comprehensive descriptions of similar surgical instruments by any surgeon, not only in India but also the whole world. Susruta was perhaps the first surgeon in the world to describe different types of surgical instruments including endoscopes. This is far beyond the imagination of any other surgeon at that period of time and obviously he was far ahead of his time in this field.

RELATION BETWEEN EPISTEMOLOGY AND ONTOLOGY IN NASATI'S THOUGHT

Among the great sages of Iran is `Aziz ad-Din Nasafi, who is still unknown like other great Iranian philosophers. In epistemology and ontology, Nasafi has put forward discussions which enjoys logical coherence and theoretical strength so that they can satisfy any fair readers. In his discussions, Nasafi ties the epistemological matters to the ontological ones and explains the complicate philosophical issues in terms of mystical concepts. As a matter of fact, his doctrines were a proper capital for substantial motion viewed by Mullah Sadra who, like Nasafi, tried to integrate reason and intuition.

"To be taught to see is to gain word and thought at once": John Ruskin and Practical Theology

This article is by way of a taster, in that it represents some initial thoughts on why the great Victorian sage, social critic and art critic, John Ruskin, might be of interest to practical theologians. It traces his emphasis on seeing well, and on telling well what is seen; on the multiplicity of the texts which he interprets; and on the centrality of the Bible among those texts. It is written to whet the reader's appetite for the future publication of a much larger research project in practical theology, looking amongst other things at Ruskin's biblical interpretation though his original annotations on a medieval manuscript.

Votive Text for the Construction of the Hannyaji Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva Statue: A Translation of Hannyaji Monju Bosatsu Zō Zōryū Ganmon

Votive Text for the Construction of the Hannyaji Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva StatueA Translation of Hannyaji Monju Bosatsu Zō Zōryū Ganmon Eison Translated by David Quinter Constructed: One sixteen-foot sandalwood statue of Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva Drawn on the interior of the figure: Five-Syllable Mañjuśrī Mandala, Eight-Syllable Mañjuśrī Mandala, Diamond Realm Mandala, Womb Realm Mandala138 Inserted into the figure:139 Fifty-three grains of Buddha relics; one 600-fascicle set of the Great Wisdom Sutra; 1,000 copies of the Heart of the Wisdom Sutra; 1,000 copies of the Treasure Casket Seal Dhāraṇī; 10,000 copies each of the main deity's mantras;140 1,000 copies each of the other deities' mantras;141 one eight-fascicle set of a "one-letter, three bows" Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Law; in the same [End Page 469] fashion, the Opening and Concluding Sutras in one fascicle each,142 the Amida Sutra, and the Heart of the Wisdom Sutra;143 in the same fashion, one ten-fascicle set of the Supreme Kings Sutra; seventy-five bodhi-mind vows by monks and nuns;144 one donations list Inserted into the lotus seat: Name list of 30,158 people in the seven groups who received the bodhisattva precepts;145 fifty-six pledges from various places prohibiting the killing of sentient beings146 Regarding the aforementioned: The buddhas of the three times and ten directions are incomparable in number even to the grains of sand on a beach. The mahāsattvas of the six perfections and the four reliances are unmatched in number by the countless dust particles.147 Without fail, they all draw on their unattached great compassion and manifest their transformative activity adapted to varying capacities.148 Among them, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in particular dispenses milk as the Mother of Awakening and saves the infants of the three realms. Far and wide, he shines his impartial, compassionate light and illuminates the lost followers on the five paths.149 Even those who commit the ten evil acts are welcomed, because those who hear his name will have the grave sins [condemning them to] Avīci Hell erased. Even the icchantikas are not abandoned, because those who pay reverence to his statue will arouse the great mind of a bodhisattva. Having sentience, who would not take refuge in and revere him? Since the Buddha breathed his last in the Crane Forest, more than two thousand years have passed in vain. The assemblies under the dragon-flower tree when [End Page 470] Maitreya will descend are far ahead in the wind and smoke of five billion six hundred million years.150 During the time between the previous buddha and the next buddha, in the present period of "defilement of time" and "defilement of views,"151 we encounter the exoteric and esoteric teachings as we please and have slight faith in the principle of cause and effect. If we consider the matter carefully, this opportunity to encounter the great Dharma is due entirely to the wide-streaming power of the Great Sage.152 Why should it only be that the bodhisattva Nāgārjuna received the empowerment and immediately threw open the bolts to the Superior Vehicle's secret treasury,153 that the treatise master Śīlabhadra perceived the dream oracle and ultimately found the vessel for the Middle Sect transmission,154 and that is all? In the worldly realm, people are simply attached to temporary fame and profit, and they do not think about drowning forever [in the sea of karma]. As they race east and race west, their bad karma piles up into mountains. As they work away in the morning, work away in the evening, their good roots do not amount to a drop of water or a mote of dust.155 How much more is this so for those who make their living by hunting and fishing and always kill the beings of mountains and rivers?156 Or for those who flaunt their beauty and constantly delude the minds of common people? In addition, there are those who receive the [karmic] retribution of blindness and deafness and those afflicted...

The Book of Job in Medieval Jewish Philosophy (review)

Reviewed by: Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works Hannah Kasher Moses Maimonides: The Man and His Works, by Herbert A. Davidson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 567pp. $45.00. The publication of a comprehensive biography of Maimonides by a scholar of Herbert Davidson's caliber is surely a significant literary event. Given the tremendous range of disciplines in which Maimonides wrote—Halakhist, philosopher, and physician—the writing of his biography is a task that requires multi-disciplinary skills. In view of its extensive scope, this brief review cannot possibly do justice to the book and deal exhaustively with its many aspects. We must therefore be content with a survey of the chapters of the book and its main innovations, with a few further brief comments. The first chapter is a detailed account of Maimonides' life. Davidson has examined the sources for his life story and contends with the positions of various scholars in regard to disputed points. Thus, for example, he concludes that [End Page 201]there is no real basis for the theory that Maimonides converted to Islam, as believed today by some important authorities; similarly, there is no evidence that his family suffered Almohad persecution (p. 29). Davidson also touches on another scholarly bone of contention when he asserts that "nothing whatsoever known of Maimonides' activities supports the hypothesis that he served as head of the Jews in Egypt" (p. 62). Chapter 2 is concerned with Maimonides' education. Davidson discusses the different disciplines in which he was instructed and offers the intriguing and challenging argument that, contrary to Maimonides' own recommendations as to the most desirable course of studies, he himself devoted most of his efforts and time to the study of rabbinics and medicine rather than philosophy. Subsequent chapters present detailed analyses of Maimonides' works, subject by subject, in the approximate chronological order of their composition. Three chapters are devoted to the rabbinic works: Maimonides' commentaries on the Mishnah and the Talmud, Sefer ha-Mitzvot, Mishneh Torah, the reception of Mishneh Torah, and the other Halakhic writings, including his responsa. Two further chapters deal with Maimonides' philosophical works. In that context Davidson argues that the Treatise on Logic( Millot ha-Higgayon) was probably not written by Maimonides; this conjecture will undoubtedly spark scholarly debate. He goes on to present a sharp critique of the well-known views of Leo Strauss, who saw the need to decipher the supposed esoteric dimension of The Guide for the Perplexed, and of Shlomo Pines' view of Maimonides as an agnostic: "Strauss further gives us to understand that [Maimonides] . . . not only saw himself as non-Jewish. He did not believe that God exists. . . . Both theses—that Maimonides was an atheist and that he was an agnostic—transform the Guide for the Perplexedinto one of the most grotesque books ever written" (pp. 401–402). The next chapter is devoted to Maimonides' medical works. Among other things, Davidson is dubious as to the authenticity of the Epistle on the Length of Life. In Chapter 9, "Miscellaneous Writings," Davidson expresses similar doubts as to the Epistle on Religious Persecutionand the Epistle in Opposition to Astrology. In the last, concluding chapter, he sums up this account of Maimonides, highlighting his complex character: philosopher and rabbi, a man inclined to severity who nevertheless softened his attitudes in time, conscious of his stature but accessible to the public. Whatever his "official" position, he was "head of the Jews not only in Egypt but throughout the medieval Jewish world." Speaking in terms of analogy, one might say that even while Davidson's book does not provide an explicit characterization of Maimonides, he is nevertheless defined in terms of attributes of action and privative attributes—attributes of action that describe Maimonides' literary achievements, privative [End Page 202]attributes that deny the Maimonidean authorship of certain writings hitherto attributed to the great sage of Fustat, and others that reject attempts to define him as a radical personality. In this context, some of Davidson's contentions merit attention. I shall treat them as they appear in the book. 1. Analyzing Maimonides' familiarity with the thought of the Kalamschool, he writes: "The words 'I have heard' . . . sound as...

Justice and the General Will: Affirming Rousseau's Ancient Orientation

There is much confusion about how to characterize the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His thought has at various times been related to such dissimilar thinkers as and Hobbes. From he is said to have acquired his affinities for community and civic virtue. And one does not have to look too hard to find his praise for the great sage of the Academy: Plato only purified the heart of man. ' He was often eager to affiliate his ideas with those of antiquity. He yearned for modern society to rekindle the flames of a once-great civilization. [W]hat keeps us [the moderns] from being men like them [the ancients]? Our prejudices, our base philosophy, and the passions of petty self-interest, concentrated together with egoism in all hearts by inept institutions in which genius never had any share.2 Despite his obvious admiration for the perceived greater ideas of the past, however, Rousseau also expressed some skepticism. James Miller has suggested that he held Plato's theory of the Forms to be unsustainable.3 Allan Bloom has likewise argued that teaching is not... a revival of those of Plato. ... If he admires the practice of antiquity, he does not accept the theory.4This has led many to argue that Rousseau is best understood as student of Thomas Hobbes. Roger D. Masters, for example, has suggested that Rousseau's principles of political right can ... be best described as a reformulation of Hobbes' conception of the social contract.5 Arthur Melzer also argues, purpose of the doctrine Rousseau elaborates in the Social Contract is essentially the same [as Hobbes'].6 This view is argued on the grounds that the General Will is a positive or arbitrary standard, functioning as the primary principle of constructive political program. Yet the vision of Rousseau as a Hobbesian or modernist also merits skepticism. While he employs a social contract, as does Hobbes, he explicitly rejects traditional forms of positivism. What is good and conformable to order is so by the nature of things and independently of human conventions.7 Whatever one might say about such passages, it at least raises the possibility that Rousseau is no modernist in the Straussian sense of defining Justice as human agreement.Much of what contributes to the conflicting interpretations of Rousseau can be attributed to different understandings of the relative priority and relationship of two central concepts in his writings. One of these is the welldiscussed notion of the General Will. The dominant fashion is to read the General Will as a conventional substitute for natural law or transcendent Ideas. According to this reading, the General Will is grounded on nothing more than consent and functions as the first principle of all legitimate political societies. The other term central to program is the far less discussed but equally important concept of Justice. Little has been written on his understanding of Justice and, for that matter, he himself rarely discussed it explicitly. But it, too, could also be considered a primary principle. While it would be foolish to dismiss the importance of the General Will to Rousseau, it would be equally problematic to explore it independently of his Idea of Justice. The question in understanding his work is which of these two principles-the General Will or Justice-is primary or fundamental. If it is the General Will, a case can be made that the Straussians are right, and Rousseau is a positivist. If Justice is prior, on the other hand, then there is reason to believe that he was something much different.I argue that the positivist reading of Rousseau is flawed. Indeed, my thesis is that he is among the greatest and most thorough Platonists of the modern era.8 His rejection of Hobbes is not merely rhetorical. In fact, it represents the true impetus of his social contract. This contract is designed explicitly to counter Hobbesian positivism. In the same way that responds to Protagoras' positivism with his theory of the Forms, Rousseau responds to Hobbes's brutish Leviathan with a morally grounded social contract. …

The Eternal Question: Biological variations on a Platonic dialogue

The reinterpretation of Nature by biology, which will prevail in spite of all obstacles, has brought our thinking closer to antiquity, giving us the chance to reinvigorate our perused terminology with the help of the resources to be found in the thoughts of the greatest minds of mankind. The way to Plato thus being cleared, I perceived the idea to seek enlightenment on pressing biological questions from the great Sage. As means to this end, I chose to make Socrates continue one of his dialogues, with the adjustment of giving him the knowledge of our contemporary biological problems. Thus some kind of interaction between the Ancients and ourselves is created, to our considerable benefit.

The marshall sklare memorial lecture

So in the spirit of his teaching, my aim herein is draw upon my own recent work on the history of American Judaism1 to examine issues of continuing concern to social scientists, particularly the problem of assimilation, within a historical framework. I am also going to make a specific proposal concerning the American Jewish Data Bank. Let me begin with a personal anecdote. Almost 30 years ago, when I first became interested in the history of American Jewry, I mentioned my interest to a scholar at a distinguished rabbinical seminary, and he was absolutely appalled. "American Jewish history," he growled. "I'll tell you all that you need to know about American Jewish history: The Jews came to America, they abandoned their faith, they began to live like goyim, and after a generation or two they intermarried and disappeared." "That," he said, "is American Jewish history; all the rest is commentary. Don't waste your time. Go and study Talmud." I did not take this great sage's advice, but I have long remembered his analysis, for it reflects, as I now recognize, a longstanding fear, now hundreds of years old, that Jews in America are doomed to assimilate, that they simply cannot survive in an environment of religious freedom and church-state separation. In America, where religion is totally voluntary, where religious diversity is the norm, where everyone is free to choose their own rabbi and their own brand of Judaism—or indeed no Judaism at all many (and not just rabbinical school scholars) have assumed that Judaism is fated sooner or later to disappear. Social scientists surely recognize this assimilationist paradigm. It is a close cousin to the secularization thesis that once held sway in our field. Some, like Sklare's nemesis, sociologist Milton Gordon, proclaimed a "right to assimilate." "The individual," Gordon insisted, "should be allowed to choose freely whether to remain within the boundaries of community created by his birthright ethnic group, to branch out into multiple interethnic contacts, or even to change affiliation to that of another ethnic group should he wish to do so as a result of religious conversion, intermarriage, or simply private wish."2