->

Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #26 – The Death of Nuance

June 23rd, 2025

My post today is just a reflection on the current state of public discourse, both in the world and within the modern Vaiṣṇava movement.

 

In Nyāya (the school of logic), there are three levels of public discourse:

 

Vāda – entering a discourse in a detached manner to find the truth.

 

Jalpa –entering a discourse by presenting your point vigorously with the single purpose of gaining victory.

 

Vitaṇḍā—entering a discourse only to refute and destroy one’s opponent without any concern even to establish one’s own thesis.

 

Obviously, cultured people prefer vāda.

 

“I am vāda amongst the disputants.”Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā (10.32)[1]

 

No Western philosopher exemplifies this spirit better that the British philosopher, John Stuart Mill who famously said, “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.”

 

Mill felt that without this type of detached exploration of alternative views, one could never deeply understand the depths or even correctness of one’s own convictions. And that opposing arguments, even those considered wrong, often contain aspects of the truth that can give one a more complete understanding of one’s own thinking.

 

Now I will share my personal observation.

 

It is difficult to enter a vāda discourse today. When people are polarized, they only listen to something if it agrees with their opinion. And if you disagree with someone, or even just seek clarification, that person assumes you are on the other team or even an enemy. Unfortunately, such unexamined truths too often become shallow and instead of expressing vibrant truths become lifeless dogmas.

 

But certainly, mustn’t there be certain views that are wrong, and even dangerous? By remaining neutral, doesn’t one become an accomplice to the unjust? That is certainly true. Vāda, however, doesn’t mean treating all perspectives as the same. It means hearing both sides to deepen one’s understanding.

 

And there is problem if we do not give each side a hearing. Those who are polarized, whether they are right or wrong, always see the other side as dangerous. Better therefore we test our convictions, if even for the purpose of communicating them more effectively in opposition to those doctrines we feel harmful.

 

I had a funny thought. If the world is as polarized as I perceive, by taking the middle ground and asking all to consider alternative views, will I not then also become an enemy to those fixed in their views?

 

Have we reached the death of nuance?

 

 


[1] Śrīla Prabhupāda translates Bhagavad-gītā 10.32 as “and among logicians I am the conclusive truth.” I checked with a reputed Sanskrit scholar if the alternative translation that I found is also accurate. His response. “Yes, the translation you’ve found is totally correct.”

 

Comments are closed.