Materialism ( Speaker Manishi Jani, once the key leader of Gujarat Navnirman movement 1974)
Our mankind has long trends of materialism in Eastern and western civilization of the world. We had many materialists cum atheist schools of philosophical thoughts in ancient India. Lokayan, Buddha and Brahaspati were the main promoters of this philosophy. But these materialist thoughts were failed to strengthen its roots in ancient India. Shankara's Adweth philosophy of Mayavad was able to wipe out the early Indian materialist philosophy. Our nation has not come out of its devastating effects even in 21st century. The present militant Hindu backlash gets its strength and grows by leaps and bound from this Shankar's philosophy. It has not allowed and developed modern scientific methods to find out truth in the various fields of knowledge. It is really a very tragic reality that counter- revolutionary forces are everywhere at helm of affairs in our Indian life.
There had been very specific materialist trends in early western society particularity in Greek Society. Their period of emerging materialist thoughts was same like India about 2500 years ago. Early Greek thinkers like Socrates, Aristotle, Protagoras, Diogenes and many others were also materialist in their thinking and outlook. Local established order was against them and their thoughts were prematurely dried up.
The whole mankind had remained in Dark Age for more than 1000 years. But the base of modern materialism was created in the beginning of the 15th century and onwards. Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Bruno and many others were able to find out the nature of universe and rules governing movements of heavenly bodies. Erasmus Darwin ( Grandfather of Charles Darwin) Lamarck and others early biologists prepared theoretical grounds for Darwin and Karl Marx. Both derived the same conclusion from their scientific analysis that the whole world is made up of matter. The mater is the only physical reality.
The scientific method and approach based on human rational sense perception is the key for finding out truth in any branch of knowledge. This discovery about the nature of matter finds out that there is only matter. There is nothing like matter and soul or spirit. That age old religion based truth was challenged and was find out that it does not hold any ground. The dichotomy between matter and spirit were destroyed once and for all. And the castle of religious based truth was fall like a house of cards.
The Universe is law governed (Speaker- Prof. Dhawal Mehta).
Our purpose of this seminar is to provide an alternative humanist philosophy of life against religious way of life. This universe is law governed. Its laws are independent of any external authority. No external authority like God can change the laws of nature by his whims or desires. So everything has a cause. Nothing happens in this world without any cause. The cause and effect is interrelated. By knowing the laws of nature the man and other species survived and developed. More he is capable of knowing the nature he becomes more rational. He virtually revolted against God's agents on the earth. Rationalism and scientific approach have helped the man to come out from the religious fetters.
There is a revolutionary romance to live life on the basis of scientific approach and rationalism. The main purpose of the religious order is to perpetuate the existing order. While the rational order is truth finding order which takes the society from one's stage of development to a higher social development on the basis of scientific inventions and discoveries.
