Read the following statement some time back:
"The tragedy of religious fundamentalists and hypernationalists is that instead of spending time trying to do mathematics, philosophy, literature or science, they spend their time trying to show that 5000 years ago their ancestors did mathematics, philosophy, literature and science."
My response :):
The point is well taken that efforts in the present count for more than simply
ruminating over what was done in the distant past. However, History of Science
and History of Philosophy are valid subjects in themselves and they need to
represent past achievements and schools of thought from different civilizations
fairly.
For example, here is a link to an interview in which Prof. Manjul Bhargava (a recent recipient of the Fields Medal) talks about some achievements in the subject of mathematics in ancient India:
I thank him for this!
But it needn't be the case that someone of Indian origin win a Fields Medal or the Nobel Prize first and only then do we listen. We can also be curious about the scientific / mathematical / philosophical history of our civilization on our own. Why should that be classified as religious fundamentalism or hypernationalism? It would be just curiosity.
Why Must Only Prof. Manjul Bhargava Speak Up?
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