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Keywords

study of civilizations, Indic civilization, modal dimensions

Abstract

Building on Liah Greenfeld’s (2024) framework of Systematic Cross-Civilizational Comparison, as outlined in her Spring 2024 CCR essay, this paper examines the cultural realities of the Indic civilization. Civilizations differ at both the individual level, including cognitive aspects (the structure and content of thought), moral dimensions (values and principles guiding behavior), and emotional patterns (typical emotional responses); and the societal level, i.e., distinct institutions, institutional systems, and historical trajectories (Greenfeld 2024).

In each civilization, these modal dimensions stem from and are shaped by the first civilizational principles — the foundational ideas framing the reality unique to that civilization. In Indic civilization, these principles form a worldview distinct from Chinese and Western civilization, codified in the indigenous languages — Prakrit, Sanskrit, or Pali — and articulated through ancient philosophical texts including the Vedas, Upanishads, the epics Mahabharata, Ramayana, and the Holy Book Gita. As these principles were formulated, they not only defined the Indic civilization’s image of reality but in turn also shaped its linguistic reality. Through the transmission of these principles via language, Indic civilization orients the minds of its members, opening them to particular possibilities.

This transmission occurs through neural conditioning, as the use of language imprints the civilizational worldview onto the brains of its users. Indic civilization’s first principles, Ṛta, Dharma, and Karma, influence its cognitive, moral, and emotional frameworks, distinguishing it from other civilizations. This paper traces the Indic civilization from its first principles through its characteristic modes of thought, concepts and values, psychological dynamics, and historical trajectories. The article concludes that the distinction between first principles and different modes of thinking has led to cultural distinctions often overlooked by Western scholars. It emphasizes that comparing civilizations requires a contextually informed and culturally sensitive approach, which academia frequently neglects.

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