P.T.Raju’s Philosophical Anthropology And Central Asian Thought: Toward An Intercultural Anthropology Of The Human Person

Abstract

The present article examines the philosophical anthropology of Poolla Tirupati Raju (1904–1992) in comparative dialogue with the Central Asian intellectual tradition. Raju, a leading figure of twentieth-century comparative philosophy, developed three methodological principles — reciprocal illumination, anthropological centrality, and synthetic ambition — through which he sought to establish a comparative philosophy of the human being that drew upon both Eastern and Western traditions. The article argues that the Central Asian classical tradition, exemplified in the work of al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, al-Bīrūnī, Yusuf Khos Hojib, and Alisher Navoiy, articulates in its own distinctive vocabulary a sophisticated philosophical anthropology that converges with Raju’s project in significant respects while preserving its own conceptual particularity. Engaging Raju with the Central Asian heritage opens a productive line of intercultural philosophy that does not reduce either tradition to the other but rather permits each to illuminate the other. This intercultural engagement is shown to possess direct relevance to the contemporary cultural and philosophical project of New Uzbekistan, particularly to the notion of a Third Renaissance that situates the recovery of the Central Asian heritage within global philosophical conversation. We argue that Raju’s methodological framework provides resources for this project of cultural self-articulation in dialogue with the wider world