January 23, 2021

"Ship of Theseus" (2012): Hindu and Jain bioethical reflections

January 23, 2021/ Deepak Sarma

Just finished watching "Ship of Theseus" (2012), an Indian Indie film written and directed by Anand Gandhi. This superb film weaves together three stories about and relating to organ transplantation, resultant challenges to ones identity, and reflections about death. The film is really amazing. The first segment concerns a photographer who has lost her site but then receives a corneal transplant. The second, by far my favorite, concerns a Jain monk who is fighting against the treatment of animals by the pharmaceutical industry, but then is faces a challenging dilemma when he must chose to be reliant upon them, or not. Incidentally there is a sarvada (debate) between the monk and a skeptic, not surprisingly named Carvaka. The third segment concerns, among other things, the international organ trafficking. I definitely will show this to students next time I teach my Hindu and Bioethics class (and the Jain segment to my Indian philosophy class). Very highly recommend. Superb.

Deepak Sarma

Dr. Deepak Sarma, professor of South Asian religions and philosophy at Case Western Reserve University, is the author of Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader (2011), Hinduism: A Reader (2008), Epistemologies and the Limitations of Philosophical Inquiry: Doctrine in Madhva Vedanta (2005) and An Introduction to Madhva Vedanta (2003).

He was a guest curator of Indian Kalighat Paintings, an exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. He is a curatorial consultant for the Department of Asian Art of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

After earning a BA in religion from Reed College, Sarma attended the University of Chicago Divinity School, where he received a PhD in the philosophy of religions. His current reflections concern cultural theory, racism, and post-colonialism.

Deepak Sarma

Deepak Sarma

Deepak's Reflections and Musings.

Deepak Sarma

Deepak Sarma