Friday, November 13, 2026

Conceptual engineering and Linguistic activism

 Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra

The Literary Genius of Isha Upanishad: Shloka 9 line 2

ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥

They as if into a greater darkness enter who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone (Sri Aurobindo)

How is this possible? Sankara translates Vidya as Vedic meditation. Sri Aurobindo takes Vidya as Vidya, Knowledge. If we take Sankara as right the stand against the Veda is clear. Sankara is Advaita Vedanti and to him all forms of worship are inferior.

But something seems to be missing! Is this all? If Isha is present in everything what should our understanding be? Is Isha then present in both Light and Darkness, both Knowledge and Ignorance? If we say yes, in light of our understanding that Isha is in everything, then suddenly we realize that a deeper wisdom is presented here. See the Unity in the difference, the Rishi is telling us. See the Isha even in what appears to you as inferior and lowly! If you do, you will realize that there is nothing in the Universe not inhabited by Isha

Wow! Isha is present in the darkness too! Isha is the hidden Unity of the Universe. If you wish to seek Isha then go beyond the dualities. What a magnificent realization!

If the Isha Upanishad didn’t say something so profound it would not be the Isha. Reminds us of the Hsin-Hsin-Ming that says, there is no difference between heaven and hell, but avoid choosing

Isha is present even in what appears to you as ignorance, or dark. If you begin seeing the Isha even in what seems to you as the darkness and ignorance, you are no longer in the darkness of duality

Let us pause here. There is so much more to be said. Does this remind you of the Bhagavad Gita that tells you to go beyond all dualities. If yes, the wisdom is that of Vedas and Vedanta that you are accepting

https://x.com/AmazingVedas/status/2119025233755562077?a=j6SjY-KwYSXZpwTk2ZY&s=19

The Wonder That Is Sanskrit is a gorgeous book by Sampad & Vijay. It says, “Sanskrit is not a language. It is a power.”

“Its very alphabet is a mantra, a sound or phrase of spiritual significance or power,” says Dr Judith Tyberg (quoted in the book)

Says Sri Aurobindo, “Every one of its vowels and consonants has a particular and inalienable force, which exists by the nature of things and not by development or human choice; these are the fundamental sounds which lie at the base of the Tantrik bijamantras or constitute the efficacy of the mantra itself.” https://x.com/AmazingVedas/status/2045943235441201157?a=OOottfFo2S2q_56RM_8&s=19

SELF - Savitri Era Party: Philanthropy launders wealth into moral authority savitrieraparty.blogspot.com/2026/11/philan…

Elusive Ideology: Religion and Socialism in Modern Indian Thought - Mark Hager economynext.com/sri-aurobindo-…

Aurobindo’s Anticolonial Darwinism - INDER S. MARWAH cambridge.org/core/journals/…

https://x.com/SavitriEra/status/2120787744414908499?a=052bIvToT7jDwIv7z7U&s=19

Indianness in the English Poetry of Sri Aurobindo: “A never-ending search for poetic truth adorned with a religiously charged spiritual quest” says Dr Alok Mishra

https://x.com/D_IndianAuthors/status/2121107790609744285?a=gFFfiZo0jDDf4Fdw84Y&s=19

How to use the book Beginning Theory by Peter Barry? Dr Alok Mishra discusses this in this YouTube video for English literature students.

https://x.com/D_IndianAuthors/status/2120382290903871615?a=LLHx-ihTVh6SJJYTums&s=19

If a CEO hypothetically wanted to make his departure maximally painful for the company he would have: 

No successor, no COO, no president besides himself, dozens of direct reports, no 1:1 coaching for any of them, a cult of personality, and all key company contacts as his personal relationships

This is going to be tough

https://x.com/lulumeservey/status/2120940532700414157?a=BvJDRmgNeh03W0Hc1Qc&s=19

Time to re-read Akash's book on Auroville -- the intentional community town in India -- which is one of the best case studies on what happens when you don't nurture successors: amazon.com/clp/1501132512… (And the best book on bad succession remains this, by IB Singer of course: amazon.com/clp/0374524793…)

https://x.com/TheAnnaGat/status/2120959567202775277?a=Q-Y1DjW48Vo13k5fzTw&s=19

America's new high culture has three "mothers". The Ivy League reading room opening. European state culture becoming entrepreneurial in America. Chinese cyber art taking over the Bay. I wrote about @interintellect_ @palladiummag @tiatplace -- and this new cultural Renaissance: american-innocence.com/p/the-three-mo…

https://x.com/TheAnnaGat/status/2118503830400725252?a=3ETPTIUAs8_p4V8M17U&s=19

The First Act of Nonviolence is Learning to Listen

Peace begins with the ability to listen. Drawing on experiences in suicide prevention and domestic violence services, the author explores how empathy can transform the way we respond to suffering and conflict. Through Marshall Rosenberg’s framework of Nonviolent Communication, the article examines how anger, criticism and judgment often conceal unmet human needs. It argues for listening without rushing to offer advice, correct others or defend ourselves. Extending this idea from personal relationships to political and social life, the author suggests that nonviolence begins in everyday encounters, with the willingness to understand another person before passing judg ment.

by George Cassidy Payne countercurrents.org/2026/11/the-fi… 

  • Prestige of the Ruling Class: A "standard" language usually originates from the dialect spoken by the wealthy, educated, or politically powerful group in a society. Because this group controls institutions like government and media, their way of speaking becomes the benchmark for "correctness."
  • Class and Regional Bias: Judging someone's speech is often a socially acceptable way to judge their background, education, or social class. Labeling a dialect as "broken" or "slang" reinforces social hierarchies by framing non-standard speakers as less educated.

- GoogleAI 

https://vipvak.blogspot.com/2026/11/hooks-puns-and-shock-value.html

Indian-origin Cisco executive Jeetu Patel says he has terminated meetings over acronyms, calls them 'non-inclusive' Jeetu Patel explained that his objection to acronyms stems from concerns about workplace inclusivity.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/indianorigin-cisco-executive-says-he-has-terminated-meetings-over-acronyms-calls-them-noninclusive-101794399766926-amp.html

https://x.com/Countercurrents/status/2121115382983639220?a=L1GZq3xYR4vDB89_tQ0&s=19

New issue out! Follow our thread to discover all the exciting papers published in #vol39issue8. Starting with Ethan Landes on the importance of label choice in language design https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2531401 open access

While the literature of conceptual engineering typically focuses on examples of linguistic activism in English, linguistic activism is a global phenomenon. For example, Swedish feminist linguistic activists boast a unique set of successes due to unique features of Sweden’s political environment (Milles, Citation2011a, Citation2011b)... 

Not all information contained in the label is relevant all the time, however. In cases where the information contained in the label is submorphemic and subtle, this paper failed to find the effect of labels on the perceived valence of novel concepts. Accordingly, language designers such as conceptual engineers need to pay careful attention to what they call their idea, otherwise their creation risks being interpreted in unintended ways, threatening to undermine the motivation for introducing it in the first place. 

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3mzy2bp2x2t2x

Emily A. Willoughby et al. investigate genetic influences on agentic beliefs https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2533519 open access #vol39issue8

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3mzy2nru7bl2j

Maria Waggoner argues that we should rethink our conception of the ideal virtuous person and suggests alternative moral resources to navigate cases of moral illusions https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2537896 #vol39issue8

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3mzy44eu3si2u

Lucas Battich characterises the "openness" that makes joint attention possible https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2538752 #vol39issue8

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3mzy4gltym72j

Anna S. Caruso & Thalia R. Goldstein want to understand how individuals engage with narrative works they consider morally deviant and explore imaginative resistance https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2545437  #vol39issue8

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3mzy4qcepxh2x

Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera asks why objectivity matters for metaethical moral realism https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2546502 #vol39issue8 open access

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3mzzf6za5ox2f

Charles Rathkopf & Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs offer a measured account of VR's radical psychological reorientation, grounded in both philosophy and cognitive psychology https:// https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2549085 #vol39issue8 open access

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3mzzto35byg22

Nader Abazari & Suvi-Maria Saarelainen propose that mirror neurons play a crucial role in the transmission of sources of meaning within cultural groups https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2553758 #vol39issue8 open access

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3n2233vutmw2i

Veronika Luptáková, Matteo M. Galizzi, Dario Krpan & Alex Voorhoeve ask why people better recognize inconsistencies in others’ moral judgments than their own https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2558902 #vol39issue8 open access

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3n22cq4n75v2r

Selene Arfini examines the role of values in the emergence of curiosity, focusing on its so-called “chicken-egg problem" https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2562049 #vol39issue8

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3n22kmkjxtq22

Elodie Boissard argues that the unity of depression can be preserved, based on a reciprocal causal relationship between anhedonic or depressive experience and depressive beliefs https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2025.2562056 #vol39issue8

https://bsky.app/profile/journalphp.bsky.social/post/3n23w3bc2rl23

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cultural, ideological” 7 marker that Oishik uses to describe the consolidation of
Hindutva, a form of “neo-fascism” 8 and neo-liberalism post-1990s. Oishik’s focus on …

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[PDF] What can linguistic justice researchers and practitioners learn from more than a century of social justice debates?

G Roche - Ethnicities, 2026
The concept of linguistic justice is increasingly understood by researchers and
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S Parwez - Poverty & Public Policy, 2026
This study challenges the common assumption that Muslims in India form a socio‐economically
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M Parmar, D Rai - National Identities, 2025
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