The much awaited interaction session between French Philologist Barbara Cassin and Shaj Mohan was moderated by J Raghu. The session began with an introduction of Barbara and Shaj Mohan. Barbara started talking about the influence of Greek on the element of Philosophy. She considers Greek to be the initiator of Philosophy. She said
She emphasized on the word ‘logos’ and its importance. She defined logos as the logic behind an argument and the principle behind reason and judgment late which she orated on monoliguilism of the Greek people and how men are considered to be a political animal. She says that logos are the reason why men are political. She recapitulated her views on logos and voice and concluded by saying one can only understand the essence of the topic they comprehend the plurality of tones and translation.
Later Shaj Mohan was invited to interact who discoursed about philosophy by highlighting the quote “Man is the measure of all things but some men becomes the measure of all me”. He mentioned how his research was based on metaphysics reason, philosophy of technology and politics. He debated on the epistemological theory that is obscure. He articulated every aspect of his discourse clearly emphasizing the value of human speech. He fore grounded the culture of Kerala on mimicking voice which denotes the individuality of voice. He also conversed about the ancient roots of language and said “we are getting trapped in centrism that prevents us from hearing our own voice”.
J Raghu asked Barbara whether humans were political a thousand years ago. It is a part of evolution and she answered saying people cannot conceive politics without freedom and a long time ago men were not political but slaves. He also asked Shaj Mohan to distinguish between philosophy and exegesis to which he answered, in exegesis doctrines remains unchanged and philosophy leaves room for change.
In the end there was an interactive session with the audience where the audience raised questions about the topic. A girl asked whether silence can be considered as a way of articulation and Barbara answered that silence can be both weakness and a protest.
Third edition of Kerala Literature Festival organised by DC Kizhakemuri foundation is partnered with Incredible India, Kerala Tourism Cultural Department of State Government.