Socrates Departs From Orissa

Before studying philosophy, it is useful to inquire into the nature of the philosophers themselves: Who the fuck were these guys? Socrates becomes very interesting to know about, because he was executed by Athenian Democracy, for "impiety, and corrupting the minds of the youth." Yet, he was just a simple "street corner philosopher," always dressed in rags, always barefoot. He was given to the practice of "collaring" people on the streets and asking them questions, so that he could point out their errors.

Another kind of philosopher is Amartya Sen. I saw him at the bar in the Habitat Centre in Nude Elly once, drinking red wine with Arjun Sengupta of the Planning Commission. Sometime later, some men began entering a private room behind the bar, and I saw former Prime Minister LK Gujaral among them. Amartya Sen and Arjun Sengupta then rose and joined the secret conclave of big wigs.

Another time, I attended a public lecture by Amartya Sen in the same Habitat Centre. He was accompanied by Ted Turner of CNN and some other heavy-duty goras. Chairing the session was Gopal Gandhi, Governor of West Bengal. After the speech, I asked the people accompanying me what they understood - and both replied, "Nothing." I tried to ask a question, but Gopal Gandhi ignored me. Note the mandatory Gandhi.

Amartya Sen is unreadable as well. His Rationality and Freedom even contains numberless pages of advanced mathematics. If mathematics were the key to reality, Pythagoras would be the greatest Greek philosopher - but he was an asshole, and that's another story.

Adam Smith is eminently readable, and his prose is lucid and elegant. The Wealth of Nations was a "bestseller" of its time, and Smith is reported to have earned a "genteel fortune" from the book. Smith's life makes interesting reading too, for he spent years and years alone in his little Scottish village, taking lonely walks by the sea, thinking. Philosophers think. And thinking is done alone. Scientific knowledge is produced by men tinkering in laboratories, alone. Only Pierre and Marie Curie thought together, perhaps.

Thinking and writing - the "production of knowledge" - is a lonely enterprise. In the Science of Economics, the great men have all been lonely thinkers. The media circus and the television talking-heads ignored them all - focusing on the "politicians." Yet, in Ancient Athens there were politicians too, but Socrates was someone else, a street corner philosopher whose dialogues taught Plato much.

Mises writes that even in the USSA philosophical discussions in high-society "salons" never happen. In Europe, it was always the philosophers who carried the day, not the politicians, he writes. 

I am such a philosopher - of reality, of Freedom. I once saw a film on Hayek titled "Philosopher of Freedom." 

I am also adopting for myself a new name, by which all my future writings will appear, and that is Baba Pagal Nath Charsi.

I am leaving Orissa in a few hours, and by the evening expect to be in Pondicherry, where Aurobindo - who started off as a "terrorist" - took refuge and spent the rest of his life in metaphysical speculations. I have some lectures scheduled in the Roshni Nilaya School of Social Work, Mangalore, a Christian institution where I have taught many times before, and I guess I will make my way across to the West Coast again.

One final word for the people of Orissa: Drink coconut water. It is a healthy morning drink, better than tea or coffee, which are sugary. The coconut guys are struggling to sell their stuff, on cycles. Pepsi and Coke are selling in trucks! I suggest a major company be set up to market green coconuts - worldwide - to take on Pepsi and Coke. The ad-line can go: 

No fish ever fucked in this water!

Ha ha.

Baba Pagal Nath Charsi signing off.