Please Think

PracticalLessons in Developing a Scientific Temper

Narendra Dabholkar

Translated by Jai Vipra

978-9388754026

Context, 2019

Language: English

143 pages

Price INR 299.00

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Book Club Price INR 240.00
INR 299.00
Out of stock
SKU
LWB1018

Dr Narendra Dabholkar was a giant of the rationalist and anti-superstition movement in India. Besides his groundbreaking work with the Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, Dabholkar composed a number of vital treatises on the subject of fighting blind faith. Written in accessible Marathi, the books break down complex intellectual and scientific arguments to argue for the destruction of superstition and the divisions of caste and religion.

The second of his books to be translated into English, Please Think makes a vigorous case for questioning everything. Describing religious superstition as a thousand-armed octopus, it uses stories from the movement’s own work on the ground to explain how violence, hatred and fanaticism are spreading, and what can be done to stop it. Be restless, be introspective, Dabholkar urges Indians. Make a noise, respond to crises, stand with the oppressed. People create society, he says—and only people can change it.

More relevant today than ever, this is an urgent call for rational thought and moral action by a man who died for his beliefs.

Jai Vipra

Jai Vipra works on research and advocacy in technology policy, especially on digital monopolies, trade and finance. She is a rationalist and advocates for the rejection of all superstition, and for the use of science and technology for the emancipation of humanity from exploitation. She completed a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Oxford and is currently based in New Delhi.

Narendra Dabholkar

Narendra Achyut Dabholkar (1 November 1945 – 20 August 2013) was a medical doctor and rationalist from Maharashtra. To help eradicate superstition, he founded in 1989 the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti ("Maharashtra Committee for Eradication of Blind Faith"). Following his assassination, the Maharashtra Legislative assembly promulgated the Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Act, a bill originally drafted by him in 2003. He was awarded the Padma Shri for his social work posthumously.