Goa, October 13, 2019: The 44th annual research seminar of the Association of Christian Philosophers of India (ACPI) will take place at the St. Joseph Vaz Spiritual Renewal Centre, Old Goa.

The October 23 to 25 seminar will address the theme: “Philosophizing Science: Promises, Perils and Possibilities.”
The seminar will be co-hosted by the Indian Institute of Science and Religion (IISR), Delhi.

Goa and Daman Archbishop Filipe Neri Antonio Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão will be the chief guest and inaugurate the seminar.
Jesuit Father Job Kozhamthadam, director of IISR, will deliver the keynote address.

The theme “Philosophizing Science” has to do with the philosophical critique of science from diverse yet wholesome Indian and Christian perspectives, according to Jesuit Father Keith D’Souza, president ACPI.

The subtheme “Promises, Perils and Possibilities” lends itself to discussions on positive, dysfunctional and futuristic aspects of various features and disciplines of the scientific enterprise.

Some of the papers will deal with complementary approaches of Eastern and Western science, the social necessity yet insufficiency of science, artificial intelligence (promises and perils), science and indigenous knowledge: resisting biopiracy, science and feminism: search of emancipative options, science and the poor, contesting the myth of progress, science, technology and ethics; emancipative options, schizoanalysis of science and technology, the fourth industrial revolution: a brave new world, fostering a scientific te4mper: a constitutional imperative, the concept of matter and metaphysics, science and Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, colonialism, immortality, Vedanta, religion of dialogue, the church, phenomenology; Gandhian approach to science, modern man and modern science, climate change and ethical possibilities, quantum science: limits and knowledge, Marxism and modern science, consciousness studies, personal identity: philosophizing Modern Neuro-scientific data.
About 100 philosophers from around the country are likely to attend the annual seminar.

The ACPI was born as an informal group in 1976 to discuss philosophical questions of relevance and undertake an in-depth study of socio-philosophical issues.

From 2002 onwards the ACPI publishes academic research papers and books with its specific way of philosophizing—an Indian Christian philosophizing. In 2010, it published the ACPI Encyclopedia of Philosophy, which is one of the major contributions in the field.

Standing rooted in the twofold rich heritage of being Indian and Christian, the ACPI has been taking up the challenge of philosophizing with a difference.