Authors in Conversation
Exploring the Subject as Freedom: A Dialogue with Jay and Nalini
Upcoming EventAbout This Event
Join us for an enriching dialogue on one of modern Indian philosophy's most significant yet underexplored texts. "Authors in Conversation: Exploring the Subject as Freedom" brings together distinguished scholars Prof. Jay L. Garfield and Prof. Nalini Bhushan to discuss their groundbreaking contemporary translation of Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya's seminal 1930 work.
KC Bhattacharyya's Subject as Freedom stands as the most important philosophical treatise composed in India during British occupation, offering a profound meditation on human consciousness and self-knowledge. Through a remarkable synthesis of Advaita Vedanta, Kantian critique, and Husserlian phenomenology, Bhattacharyya develops an intricate analysis of subjectivity as a hierarchy of self-consciousness—each level representing a unique mode of freedom from the objects of knowledge.
Despite its towering reputation among scholars of Indian philosophy, the text has remained largely inaccessible due to Bhattacharyya's dense prose and specialized vocabulary. This new Oxford University Press edition features not only the original text but also a fresh translation into contemporary philosophical English, complete with explanatory notes and a comprehensive introduction, making this masterwork available to a new generation of readers.
In this conversation, translators Garfield and Bhushan will illuminate Bhattacharyya's anticipation of ideas later developed by Merleau-Ponty, Wittgenstein, Sellars, and Davidson, while exploring his unique insights into embodiment, language, and introspective consciousness. The discussion promises to reveal why this text matters today and how it speaks to contemporary debates in philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy.
Date: Saturday, 21 February 2026
Time: 6:00 PM IST onwards
RSVP: editor@poorvam.com
Curated by Poorvam International Journal of Creative Arts and Cultural Expressions
KC Bhattacharyya's Subject as Freedom stands as the most important philosophical treatise composed in India during British occupation, offering a profound meditation on human consciousness and self-knowledge. Through a remarkable synthesis of Advaita Vedanta, Kantian critique, and Husserlian phenomenology, Bhattacharyya develops an intricate analysis of subjectivity as a hierarchy of self-consciousness—each level representing a unique mode of freedom from the objects of knowledge.
Despite its towering reputation among scholars of Indian philosophy, the text has remained largely inaccessible due to Bhattacharyya's dense prose and specialized vocabulary. This new Oxford University Press edition features not only the original text but also a fresh translation into contemporary philosophical English, complete with explanatory notes and a comprehensive introduction, making this masterwork available to a new generation of readers.
In this conversation, translators Garfield and Bhushan will illuminate Bhattacharyya's anticipation of ideas later developed by Merleau-Ponty, Wittgenstein, Sellars, and Davidson, while exploring his unique insights into embodiment, language, and introspective consciousness. The discussion promises to reveal why this text matters today and how it speaks to contemporary debates in philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy.
Date: Saturday, 21 February 2026
Time: 6:00 PM IST onwards
RSVP: editor@poorvam.com
Curated by Poorvam International Journal of Creative Arts and Cultural Expressions
Speakers
Prof. Jay L. Garfield
Speaker
Prof. Jay L. Garfield FAHA is the Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy and Buddhist Studies at Smith College, Emeritus, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. He is a renowned scholar specializing in Buddhist philosophy, cross-cultural hermeneutics, and Indian philosophy, with numerous influential publications bridging Eastern and Western philosophical traditions.
Prof. Nalini Bhushan
Speaker
Prof. Nalini Bhushan is Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emerita in the Humanities and Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. Her research focuses on Indian philosophy, feminist philosophy, and cross-cultural philosophy. She has made significant contributions to making Indian philosophical texts accessible to contemporary audiences through rigorous translation and scholarly interpretation.
Moderator
Nilambar Chakrabarti
Moderator
Phd research scholar at Jadavpur University, Sylff fellowship recipent, Former Research fellow at Smith College, south Asian studies.
