Does reticence necessarily entail a form of withdrawal from action? Are there traditions of silence that nonetheless do not leave unheeded the call of politics? The course seeks to imagine a subject of silence beyond will and community, but one that is prior both to individual (spiritual) repose and to self-empowerment. 

1. Basic Concepts Hegel, Section on Determinate Being, Science of Logic; Eugen Fink, Selection from Metaphysics and Death; Michel de Certeau, Mystic Fable; Andre Padoux, Vac; Heidegger,' Language in the Poem: A Discussion on Georg Trakl's Poetic Work’; 
2. Traditions of Silence:Selections from The  Millenium Kabir Vani; Dnyaneswara, Anubhavamruta and Chhangeopasasti; Rosenzweig, The Star of Redemption; Benjamin, Origin of the German Mourning Play; Peter Szondi, Essay on the Tragic; 
3. Death and Alterity:Five Sessions on Agamben, Language and Death, juxtaposed with Levinas, Otherwise than Being and Beyond Essence.

Sundays 4-7. 

For specific course related enquiries write to milind@cscs.res.in