CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

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CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
SHIKSHA SADAN, 17-ROUSE AVENUE, INSTITUTIONAL AREA
NEW DELHI-110 002

EO(COM.)/ACAD./2009/ 22/10/2009
Circular No. 45/09
All the Heads of CBSE Affiliated Schools

Sub. : Availability of reading material in Philosophy, Class XII

Dear Principal,

Recently the Board has received feedback from the Philosophy teachers and students regarding certain difficulties they are facing in finding relevant materials on Part C, Applied Philosophy of the Philosophy syllabus for Class XII. Responding to their requests the Board has brought out supplementary e-learning material and posted it on its website at www.cbse.nic.in at THIS LINK.

The teachers and students are advised to use this material in addition to the reference material for different copies of the syllabus suggested therein.

Kindly bring this to the notice of concerned teachers and students.

Yours faithfully,
(C. GURUMURTHY)
DIRECTOR (ACAD.)

Copy with a request to respective Heads of Directorates/KVS/NVS/CTSA as indicated below to also disseminate the information to all concerned schools under their jurisdiction:

1. The Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, 18-Institutional Area, Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg, New Delhi-110 016.
2. The Commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, A-28, Kailash Colony, New Delhi.
3. The Director of Education, Directorate of Education, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Old Secretariat, Delhi-110054.
4. The Director of Public Instructions (Schools), Union Territory Secretariat, Sector 9, Chandigarh-160 017.
5. The Director of Education, Govt. of Sikkim, Gangtok, Sikkim – 737 101.
6. The Director of School Education, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh, Itanagar-791 111.
7. The Director of Education, Govt. of A&N Islands, Port Blair-744 101.
8. The Secretary, Central Tibetan School Administration, ESSESS Plaza, Community Centre, Sector 3, Rohini, Delhi-110 085.
9. All the Regional Officers of CBSE with the request to send this circular to all the Heads of the affiliated schools of the Board in their respective regions.
10. The Education Officers/AEOs of the Academic Branch, CBSE.
11. The Joint Secretary (IT) with the request to put this circular on the CBSE website.
12. The Library and Information Officer, CBSE
13. EO to Chairman, CBSE
14. PA to CE, CBSE
15. PA to Secretary, CBSE
16. PA to HOD (AIEEE)
17. PA to HOD (Edusat)
18. PRO, CBSE

Director (Acad.)

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Reading Material in Class 12

PART C : Applied Philosophy
Unit 10. Environmental Ethics and Professional Ethics.
        (a) Study of Physical, Mental and Spiritual Environment.
        (b) Medical and Business Ethics.
        (c) Philosophy of Education

CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
Preet Vihar, Delhi - 110092

PREFACE : Philosophy, as a foundational discipline of all knowledge, is essentially practice-oriented. It is both a view and a way of life. It is not just love of wisdom, as its etymology may suggest, but also shaping a life in accordance with the acquired wisdom. It is no doubt a theoretical enterprise but it is not speculative. It has practical applications, as theory without practice is lame and futile and conversely practice without theoretical foundation is blind and at random. Though philosophy is global in its theoretical formulation its application has to be local and regional in concrete life-situations and therefore Indian context is prominently put forth here. It can be supplemented from contexts of other cultures. The need for some reference material in Philosophy was being felt for quite some time since there are only a few study materials existing particularly at school level on applied philosophy. It is expected this reading material will prove useful to our teachers in effective transaction of this syllabus and to our students in pre paring for their examination. I gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Prof. S. R. Bhat, Dr.( Mrs.) S. P. Kumar and Dr ( Mrs.) Manasvini Yogi in developing this material. The contribution of Mrs. C. Gurumurthy, Director Academic and Mrs. Sugandh Sharma, Education Officer in coordinating the efforts of the Committee is also acknowledged. Suggestions are welcome for further improvement of the material.

APPLIED PHILOSOPHY

Indian philosophy is both theoretical and applied Darúana, the Indian equivalent for philosophy, is essentially practice-oriented. It is not just love of wisdom but also shaping a life in accordance with the acquired wisdom. It is at once both a view and a way of life. It is no doubt a theoretical enterprise but with a definite purpose and a goal to be realized. Therefore, the adjective ‘Applied’ in the expression ‘Applied philosophy’ is in a way redundant so far as Indian context is concerned. Darúana, which is a preferable usage, has always been practical till the introduction of the western pattern of education. During the last three centuries its practical application has become oblivious and we have gradually become non-cognizant of its inherently practical nature. Lord Lytton in his address to the First Session of The Indian Philosophical Congress very perceptively remarks, “In the west which delights in definition, Philosophy has been a study; in the East which loves Infinity it is a practice”. Even in the west now there is a growing realization of its practical nature. It is being recognized that philosophy is not an abstract speculative undertaking. Of course, there should be pure philosophy in terms of methodology, epistemology , logic, linguistic analysis etc: but all this has to be applied to the total life situation and entire gamut of reality. Philosophy, therefore, has to be ‘Philosophy of... (like philosophy of economics, philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics etc.)’ in order to be meaningful and significant. Every system of thought in India has arisen out of the felt need of the age and it has generally served its desired purpose. Most of them have not outlived their utility but either we are not fully aware of it or we have not been able to make use of these systems in understanding the nature of reality and in planning our life and behavior pattern. In our understanding of these systems there has been some lop-sidedness, and also some distortions and mutilations which need to be corrected.

With the help of two familiar examples this point can be elucidated. The utility of the Yoga systems is well-known but it is practiced these days in a populist and truncated way without understanding of its fundamentals, prerequisites and dimensions. The same is the case with Buddhism and its doctrine of Four Noble Truths which have deep and immense practical concern pertaining to suitable planning, programmes and performance in worldly life. Like Buddhism Jainism also has pronounced practical orientation. Every system of thought in India is based on the presupposition that it can not be regarded as complete unless it is applied to concrete life situation. Every system begins with analysis of duÌkha or tÈpa and the avowed goal of each is to get rid of it by acquiring knowledge of the total reality. All this is not just a theoretical exercise. The importance of Tantra yuktis in Caraka SamhitÈ, and Atha„Èstra, the NyÈya-Vai„e–ika techniques of theory construction and system-building, the nyÈya principles of PÊrva MÏmÈmsÈ on which Hindu jurisprudence is based, the principles of management of individual and corporate conduct propounded in the BhagavadgîtÈ and MÏmÈmsÈ are all deeply practical. In their practical application all systems of Indian thought are mutually complementary and not incompatible, as, for example, has been exemplified in Caraka SamhitÈ. As Max Muller has pointed out in “Six Systems of Indian Philosophy” (P.xviii), “The longer I have studied the various systems, the 2 more have I become impressed with the truth of the view taken by Vij¤Ènabhik–u and others that there is behind the variety of the six systems a common fund which may be called the national or popular philosophy, a large mÈnasa lake of philosophical thought and language far away in the distant north and in the distant past from which each thinker was allowed to draw for his own purpose.” We find the most suitable and conducive application of this compatibility in Caraka SamhitÈ where all these are employed successfully for health and cure in a balanced way keeping in view different dimensions of human personality. It is believed that ours is a psycho-physical complex animated and sustained by a spiritual element of consciousness. In Èrogya we have to cater to all the three. For this yurveda accepts the physical analysis of the Va„e–ikas, the psychical analysis of the SÈmkhya and subsumes both under the spiritual principle of VedÈnta. B.N. seal in his book “Positive Sciences of the Hindus” has done remarkable work to point out the practical nature of Indian thought in respect of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics etc.

Recently much literature has come out in this area. Applied philosophy and professional ethics It is a need of the present times to reflect on the themes of Applied Philosophy in relation to Professional or Business Ethics. It is desirable to do so on the basic of a non-dichotomous, holistic and integral approach to life and reality, an approach that is characteristic of the classical Indian Mind. In classical Indian thought a distinction has been made between knowledge as information and knowledge as wisdom. The former is empirical knowledge termed as avidyÈ or aparÈ vidyÈ. It is descriptive, relational, conditional and contingent knowledge of an aspect of reality amenable to thought and language. Its truth is subject to verification and it can be falsified also. It is sense generated. All empirical knowledge is avidyÈ in the sense that it is believed to be true and the moment its falsity is exposed belief in its truth is withdrawn. The latter is trans-empirical knowledge. It is in the form of intuitive realization. It is not available to empirical verification. It does not purport to describe reality but leads to the realization of identity with it. It is prescriptive in nature. It is called vidyÈ or parÈ vidyÈ. AvidyÈ is other than (anya) vidyÈ and that is why the prefix “a” is added to vidyÈ to demarcate the two. But this dichotomy is only superficial and not essential. The distinction in this pair is meaningful only at the superficial level and for some specific worldly purpose. In the Î sÈvÈsyopani–ad of the Yajurveda and in the Mu‡Çakopani–ad it is enjoined that both need to be resorted to. Both are knowledge and hence are true and valuable. The only point of difference is that avidyÈ is conditionally true and provisionally valuable. VidyÈ is inclusive of avidyÈ and transcends it in the same in which the whole transcends its parts. They are not contradictory or incompatible but complimentary. No cleavage is to be entertained between the two. A seeker of truth has to know the nature and bounds of and interrelation between the two. Ethics pertains to the field of avidyÈ but has its foundation in vidyÈ.

What is Ethics ?
Ethics is a part of the discipline of philosophy. Philosophy is systematic reflection on our lived experiences with a view to be profited from it and one of our most problematic experiences is human behaviour which is mostly indeterminate and unpredictable but concerning which paradoxically constant endeavour is made for determination and regulation. The discipline of ethics is concerned with postulation of norms for good human life and regulation of human conduct in accordance with those norms. Ideally speaking human being is a rational, free and responsible agent, termed as puru–a, in the PÊra MÏmÈmsÈ system. On this presumption only ethical considerations, ethical theorizing and ethical judgments are undertaken. It is hoped and believed that human conduct can be regulated and be made norm- biding. This is the objective of the discipline of ethics. Need for action and its regulation Activity is the law of life. Every human being has to act for survival, for sustenance and for enhancement of quality of life. So, human conduct has to be teleological and goal-oriented. In the choice of conduct there is inclusive alternation between freedom and part determination. Rationality as discriminative ability implies freedom to choose but being guided by certain norms. Freedom to choose means availability of alternatives to opt for that which is good, right and conducive to well-being or to opt for that which is bad, wrong and harmful to well-being. A human being can act in either of the two ways. He can act in a way which is in accordance with prescribed norms or in violation thereof. The determination of human conduct and freedom to choose one of the alternatives requires norms-prescription but human freedom also implies a scope both for norm-adherence and norm- iolation. Though it is not very easy to discern what is desirable and what is not desirable or which norm is good and which one is not good, and there are situations of dilemmas and paradoxes, still in every society and in every age there are enlightened people to guide us, who provide us with a set of norms and we are expected to follow them.