IISER MOHALI

Abstract of the Presentation: Modernity is frequently defined by the ideal of the autonomous subject, an individual who orients towards freedom by distancing from tradition and grounding reason in self-certainty. Rooted in the philosophies of Descartes and Kant, this framework reduces tradition to static dogma and “self‑incurred immaturity,” while celebrating reason as disengaged, self-legitimating, and methodologically certain. This presentation disrupts this conception of modernity by asking whether the modern subject can truly overcome tradition and assert itself as ruptured and distanced. Addressing this question, this presentation reimagines our identity as modern as inescapably belonging to tradition, continually renewing itself through freedom exercised in dialectical engagement with the past and in dialogical relation with others. Through a close reading of Hans‑Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutic concepts of ‘truth’ and ‘tradition,’ this presentation demonstrates how ‘interpretation’ plays a key to reshaping our understanding of modernity in terms of moral and social identities. Gadamer reclaims tradition not as a barrier but as constitutive of understanding and moral identity. Similarly, Charles Taylor’s account of ‘embodied reason’ and ‘social imaginaries’ demonstrates how modernity is sustained by shared practices and how identities resist reduction to abstract autonomy, continually being shaped through mutual recognition and belonging. By bringing Gadamer’s hermeneutic account of tradition into dialogue with Taylor’s critique of the disengaged and ruptured subject, this presentation argues that our identities as modern moral beings are inherently hermeneutical, characterized by belonging, embodiment, and engagement with others. Freedom emerges not through rupture from tradition but through dialectical participation within it. Identity is constituted within historically formed moral orders and shared imaginaries that reconfigure society as a horizontal relation among others engaged in mutual openness. Three implications follow this argument: (1) truth is interpretive, which happens from the interplay of tradition and reason; (2) belonging to tradition resists both linear continuity and radical rupture, opening space for transformation; (3) modern and moral identities are dialogical, embedded in practices and imaginaries that cultivate social life. Rethinking our sociality as inherently hermeneutical, this presentation highlights how identities are constituted through interpretation, shared imaginaries, and lived practices such as festivals, rituals, and civic life that redefine us as modern.

About the speaker: Dr. Mohammed Mubashir is currently a Guest Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Pondicherry University, where he teaches courses including Greek Philosophy, Philosophy of Technology, Critical Thinking, Art of Debate, and Eco Philosophy. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay with a dissertation titled “Dialectics of Tradition and Hermeneutic Sociality in Gadamer’s Writings”. Following his doctoral thesis submission, he worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Bombay. His research focuses on philosophical hermeneutics, phenomenology, and social ethics. He has presented papers at international conferences, including the Society for Phenomenology and Human Sciences at Duquesne University, USA, and the Canadian Hermeneutic Institute at the University of Calgary, Canada.