A poetic and political approach to philosophy | Art Culture - newagebd.net

Azfar Hussain's Darshanakhyan, published in 2019, is a collection of micronarratives on philosophy where he presents his ideas in the form of small theses. His approach to philosophy is guided by political commitment to revolutionary change which would free humankind from the shackles of exploitation, writes Raihan Rahman, young writer and critic.

Photo: Youth

THE practice of philosophy, as we understand philosophy in the western tradition, is not very common in our part of the land. The books on philosophy are also infrequent. Of course, there is a tradition of philosophical thinking in Bengal too that can be traced back to the Sahajiya thoughts of Charyapadas. Besides, Vaishnav Padabalis and Sufi poetry of the medieval era, volumes of folk materials, songs of Lalon, the works of Rabindranath Tagore — they all contain philosophical ideas.

However, philosophy is found there in poetic forms, not in the logical and analytical elaboration like western philosophy. Even today, books on philosophy published in Bangla are a handful, most of them being translated works. Amidst this poverty of philosophical books, Azfar Hussain’s Darshanakhyan (Philosophical Narratives), a collection of micronarratives on philosophy, is one of the gems that came out in Ekushey Book Fair 2019.

Published by Samhati Publication, in this book of 151 pages Azfar Hussain presents his ideas in the form of small theses, a style he borrowed from Karl Marx (like in ‘Theses on Feuerbach’) and Walter Benjamin that he acknowledges in the preface of the book. The style also reminds me of Theodor Adorno’s book Minima Moralia...

He exactly follows Marx’s famous declaration that ‘Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it’. His approach to philosophy is guided by this political commitment of revolutionary change which would free humankind from the shackles of exploitation. Readers must not deprive them of experiencing this phenomenal work.
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Source: newagebd.net