Announcing InPO 2016 (Marathi News Brief)

नमस्कार !

मी, केदार सोनी, एक शाळा संचालक असून, गेले ८ वर्षांपासून एक उपक्रम राबवत आहे आणि ही माहिती ह्या उपक्रमाला विविध माध्यमातून भारतीय तरुण शाळकरी मुलांपर्यंत पोहोचाव्ण्याकरिता आहे. इंडिअन फिलोसोफी ओल्य्म्पीयाड (InPO) हि चळवळ ९वि ते १२वि च्या मुलांना आंतरराष्ट्रीय तत्वज्ञान स्पर्धेत (IPO) उतरवण्याची पहिली पायरी आहे. हि आंतरराष्ट्रीय स्पर्धा गेले २३ वर्षे चालत असून, त्यात ४० पेक्षा जास्त देश सहभाग घेतात व त्याला UNESCO ची स्पॉन्सर्शिप देखील आहे. ह्या स्पर्धेचे लक्ष्य विद्यार्थ्यांमध्ये तत्त्वज्ञानाचा प्रसार करणे  व तरुण पिढीला आजच्या जगातील किचकट आणि गंभीर प्रश्णांचा विचार, आणि जमल्यास उपाय, करण्याची मानसिकता देणे असा आहे.

ह्याकरिता तत्वज्ञानाची सखोल माहिती असणे तितकेसे गरजेचे नाही पण तर्कशुद्ध विचार क्षमता आणि सारासार विचार करण्याची सवय आवश्यक आहे. ह्या उद्धीष्टांनी भारतामध्ये ही चळवळ रुजव्ण्याकरिता गेले ८ वर्ष माझा प्रयास चालू आहे. सुरुवात माझ्या शाळेच्या २ विद्यार्थिनींनी झाली व हळू हळू दर वर्षी देशातील जवळ जवळ २०० विद्यार्थ्यांचा सहभाग होऊ लागला. InPO मधील पहिल्या फेरीत मुलांची तर्क व भाषा प्रभुत्व य्हाची चाचणी होते. ही फेरी online असून हे प्रश्न ३-४ दिवस इंटरनेट वर जाहीर केले जातात. य्हाचे कारण असे कि मुलांना त्यांच्या अभ्यास व क्लास्सेसच्या चक्रातून वेळ काढून हे करता यावे. इथे उत्तरे इंटरनेट वरून किंवा कोणाला विचारून शोधता येत नाहीत, कारण प्रश्ण नुसत्या माहितीवर आधारित नसून गंभीर विचार करून स्वतःचे मत मांडावे लागेल असे अस्तत.

पहिल्या फेरीतून साधारण १०% मुलांना दुसर्या फेरीत नेले जाते येथे त्यांना IPO प्रमाणे ४ वेगवेगळ्या विचारवंतांची वक्तव्ये दिली जातात. त्यांना त्यापैकी एकावर आपला विचार लेख-स्वरुपात मांडायचा असतो. हे लेख शाळेच्या सामान्य लेखनापेक्षा वेगळे असे कि त्यात त्या विचारवंताच्या बाजूने किंवा त्याच्या विरुद्ध तर्क व पुरावा मांडायचा असतो. २०१६ च्या InPO मध्ये मी आणि माझी साथ देणारे माजी विद्यार्थी एक नवीन प्रयोग करू पाहतोय. दुसर्या फेरीत नुस्त लेख लिहिण्या ऐवजी, निवडलेल्या मुलांशी ब्लॉगच्या माध्यमातून काही दिवस चर्चा केली जाईल व प्रत्येकाला एखाद्या मुद्यावर आपला वाद इतरांसोबत मांडावा लागेल. अश्या चर्चेतून सगळ्यात समर्थ युक्तिवाद मांडणाऱ्या २ मुलांना भारताच्या वतीने IPO मध्ये शामिल होण्यास निमंत्रण दिले जाईल.

आंतरराष्ट्रीय स्पर्धा दर वर्षी वेगवेगळ्या देशात होत अस्ते. २०१४ साली Lithuania तर २०१५ साली Estonia येथे हि स्पर्धा झाली. येत्या वर्षी हि बेल्जियम च्या घेण्ट ह्या शहरात होणार आहे (http://www.ipo2016.be). हि स्पर्धा दर वर्षी May महिन्यात ४ दिवस चालत असून, २ शिस्क्षक व २ विद्यार्थी य्हांचा सर्व खर्च यजमान देश करीत असतो. भारतातील ह्या चळवळीला कोणाचे आर्थिक सहाय्य नसल्याने प्रवासखर्च प्रत्येकाला स्वतः करावा लागतो. भारतीय संघाची तयारी करून घेण्यास किंवा InPO च्या कोणत्याही फेरीस बसण्यास फी आकारली जात नाही. हे काम मी आणि माझी माजी विद्यार्थिनी पूजा बिलीमोग्गा स्वेच्छेने करितो. पूजा २००९ साली फिनलंड मध्ये स्पर्धक म्हणून तर २०१४ ला शिक्षिका म्हणून सहभागी झाली होती.

IPO मध्ये भारताला आजपर्यंत ४ सिल्व्हर, १ ब्राँझ व ३ हॉनेरेब्ल मेन्शन मिळाले आहेत. २०१६ च्या संघाची निवड करण्याची पहिली फेरी १९ डिसेंबर २०१५ ला सुरु होईल व त्याचा पेपर आमच्या संकेत स्थळावर असून, २१ डिसेंबर पर्यंत त्याची उत्तर्ण्याची मुदत राहील. ह्या काळात भारतातील ९वि ते १२वि ह्या वर्गातील कोणत्याही बोर्डातील व कोणत्याही शाखेतील विद्यार्थी प्रविष्ट होऊ शकतो. ह्याची संपूर्ण माहिती आमच्या ह्या संकेतस्थळावर उपलब्ध आहे - http://philo.abhinav.ac.in/InPO.htm. नोंदणीकरिता ह्या लीन्क्वरचा फोर्म भरावा  - http://philo.abhinav.ac.in/Enrollments.htm.

For article about last year's Olympiad please read our post 

For past training assignments see our posts.

Link to the online tasks for InPO Stage 1

Hi All,

The stage 1 tasks are online at http://philo.abhinav.ac.in/InPOStage1_Tasks.htm.

You can give them anytime on Sunday, 21st Dec. 2014 until midnight.

If you cannot see the form please use the alternative link http://goo.gl/forms/FooJlv8ZxQ or http://goo.gl/forms/DbbelxkCP2

For either link you would need a Gmail login.

Indian Philosophy Olympiad 2014

Hello dear friends of wisdom,

I am pleased to announce the start of the Indian Philosophy Olympiad - 2015. This is an online competition for Indian high school students of any stream (Std IX to XII). This is also a selection and training process for the forthcoming International Philosophy Olympiad to be held in May 2015 in Estonia. Please see the poster.

The InPO selection rounds will proceed in two stages - 21st Dec and 28th Dec 2014 - both Sundays. The rounds will be online with the first stage having objective and subjective questions will be an open paper to be solved throughout the day (should not take more than 1.5 hours, ideally). The second stage is an essay test for those selected from the first stage. This will be time bound to be finished within a stipulated time. For more details on the selection process please visit our website.

To enroll please fill up the form here. There are no entry fees.

(Those who already intimated me during the Baltic Sea Event, please fill the form again as I have some trouble getting the data)

The task sheet for Stage 1 will be activated at the scheduled time. The tasks for Stage 2 will be emailed separately to the finalists.

To prepare for stage 1 here is the previous years question paper.

Some of these discussions with the previous participants may help you get some perspective on what sort of thinking you are expected to do, especially during the training. (Please read in the order given) 

1. About preparing for the Olympiad
2. Developing a little intuition about philosophy
3. Solutions to developing intuition ...  Part I  &  part II 
4. Structuring our intuitions
5. Solutions to structuring ... Part I  &  Part II

For stage 2 prep, you could see the essays of the past years winners of the Int'l Olympiad at http://www.philosophy-olympiad.org/ by scrolling down to see the medalists names and the "text" link besides them. Also, you could see the Baltic Sea Essay Event winning essays at http://feto.fi/in_english.htm.

For any other information, please mail me at soni.kedar@gmail.com. 

About preparing for the Olympiad

Team India for IPO 2014 (Lithuania) has been finalized and the training begins. Ms. Aparna Mishra (Bokaro) and Mr. Abhishek Dedhe (Pune) have agreed to join the team and take the efforts needed. Mr. Previous international participants - Ms. Pooja Bilimogga (MSc - I, Physics) and Mr. Abhinav Menon (IB - DP finals) - have agreed to help with the training of this team. 

I gather that both participants are avid readers and have read many books passed on in the markets as philosophical. (namely Chetan Bhagat or Paulo Coelho) They have also pondered over issues / questions of being and existence and "why things are the way they are". I believe that they are somewhat familiar with the traditional Hindu philosophy of Gita. and other related mythologies.

I find this to be the condition of most Indian students who are interested in doing philosophy, but have not yet been initiated into it by proper discourse. The fact that these students intentionally ponder over questions of life and "what it is" or "who they are" or "why things ..." is a proof that they have the curiosity needed to philosophize. However, in the absence of proper initiation, books such as self-help books or Chetan Bhagat, etc. provide the fodder for their thoughts. I think that the damage that these books (or similar philosophies touted by mystics or other "thinkers" who have not published any peer-reviewed essays, the latter being the way of a scientific pursuit) cause is 

1. oversimplification of critical thought leading to wrong concepts
2. "analysis" based on presumptions and usually with a weak or no argument, which nullifies the readers capacity to analyse
3. unverified and usually unverifiable statements, which leave the reader to either take on faith or discard without thought, either of which is not the manner of the philosopher

I am not discussing this here to demean the literary value of these books or to in any way demean the efforts taken by Aparna or Abhishek or many others who are similarly interested. I am rather stating the problem that there are few resources (books, sites, etc) which can properly initiate a young mind into philosophical thought and engage him/her long enough so that he/she can produce an essay of intellectual value. (I do not count courses in philosophy, since they are usually very academic in nature and presume that the taker is already sufficiently motivated)

I do not pretend to be able to resolve this problem in an easy way. However, the course through which I have had good results in the past and course in which I intend to take this team is broadly as follows:

1. Overview of the subject (1/2 week): Philosophy is a vast subject (if we may call it "a" subject) and consists of many branches. I ask the beginner to first have a quick glimpse of the issues in these branches so as to familiarize with the scope of philosophy. Wikipedia portal on philosophy and some specific pages like http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutphilosoph1/a/branches.htm could be good for starters. Discuss any doubts at the FB group.
2. Tools of the subject (1 week): The most important thing to learn before learning or doing philosophy is logic and different terms like arguments, validity, fallacy, etc. See Jim Pryor's quick review of these issues. Wikipedia is also a good source for this, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllogism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies,  or you may find such other pages - http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/fallacies/. We can discuss some assignments like making arguments or finding flaws in them via the blog / FB, once students have read the material.
3. Getting Perspectives (1 week):  It is now time to go deeper. Philosophy is different from science in that since it deals with many issues which have some un-observable phenomena at their base, hence different schools of thought crop up to explain issues from different viewpoints or to make different assumptions and solve the problems in their own way. These eventually end up as "-isms" such as realism, objectivism, mysiticism, idealism, etc. Look up wikipedia again for a quick review. These viewpoints are sometimes also known as different philosophies. We will discuss some simple issues from different isms to get a familiarity.
4. Diving deeper (3-4 weeks per branch): Next step is to go deeper into a branch of philosophy - say Ethics. We choose the branch depending upon the interests of the students involved in this training. Ethics, Metaphysics or Praxeology are favorites at the IPO only because these contain issues that the pre-university learner can possibly handle, since you have come across these topics somewhere or the other in your humanities curricula or through general awareness. However other branches are given due justice once in a while and those can form some of the most interesting quotes to deal with at the IPO. We study the overview of the branch and then some pertinent issues from different points of view. We hone our argument making skills. We write some essays along the way.
5. Forming opinions (3 weeks vigorous): Here's where we begin to perfect our essays. We take random issues from different branches or mixed stuff and discuss the arguments possible for or against. We brainstorm this online or in a classroom and hence learn how to explore the topic from every possible point of view, thereby making a complete argument. This goes on till the day of the competition.

All along this process students are encouraged to read up a few books which cover the overview of the subject and also familiarize the student with the work of specific philosophers and the language in which to put ones thoughts. One such thinker whose books are widely available is Bertrand Russell. Problems of philosophy is an excellent start. Another book you could read is Sophie's World by Josie Gaarder, which is a thorough introduction to the history of ideas (another name for development of philosophy) although in a very casual way through a novel-like approach.

Another author whose approach and language is very direct and convincing is Ayn Rand. Novels like Atlas Shrugged or the Fountainhead are more philosophically oriented than those of the other novelists I mentioned above. However the most important and direct philosophical works by Ms Rand in promoting her philosophy of Objectivism are For the New Intellectual and The Romantic Manifesto. Although Ms. Rand is not considered as a philosopher by the general community of philosophers, I personally find her thoughts eye-opening and her arguments lucid and usually without flaws. I find her solutions (that is generally rare in philosophy) to be very applicable. Hence I urge the students to read some of her work before they make up their minds about her. The minimum you would gain from reading Ayn Rand is a good grasp on verbal reasoning.

Thus we begin with Act I, Scene I - Overview. I expect some comments / queries / thoughts on the Facebook group before the end of January. The sooner we deal with the first three stages (say 2-3 weeks), the faster we can proceed.

p.s. Anyone is welcome to join these sessions. 

InPO final results

Dear all,
The final stage of the Indian Philosophy Olympiad is concluded with this declaration of the result. As the web site is experiencing some problem, we are posting the results here. Congratulations to all who attempted, as all of you are brave enough to think and thus all are winners.

Name	Score	Rank
Abhishek Dedhe	8.38	1
Aparna Mishra	7.63	2
Nihar Kulkarni	6.63	3
Rounak Majumdar	5.63	4
Purva Chaudhari	5.38	5
Rohan Dhere	5.38	5
Satyasarvani Pindiproli	4.5	6
Madhura Bilimogga	4	7
Manju Sharma	2.88	8

The top two in this list will be asked to join the Indian team for the IPO at Lithuania in May. If any one of them is unable to join then the next in rank will be asked. This process will culminate in a week or so and the final team for the IPO will be announced.
A more proper announcement of performances will be put up on the web site when the site is back online. 

InPO Stage 1 Results

Lookup the results at - http://philo.abhinav.ac.in/InPOResults.htm
Next stage is on Sunday 29th Dec 2013 at 9 am. This will be online. The participants will be sent 3-4 essay themes (quotes of philosophers or philosophical questions) by email. They have to write an essay (length not important) on any one of the topics and mail it back to me (director@abhinav.ac.in) by 12:30 pm on the same day, i.e. in 3.5 hrs.

InPO Stage 1 tasks uploaded

Hello Young Philosophers ...
The Abhinav Philosopher task sheet, i.e. Indian Philosophy Olympiad Stage 1 has been put up at http://philo.abhinav.ac.in/Exams/AbhinavPhilosopher2013.pdf
Download it and write the answers in a separate word file. Mail the file to me at director@abhinav.ac.in by Monday (23rd Dec 2013) evening.

InPO 2013 - Stage 1

After some glitches in the site and some scheduling hassles, the Indian Philosophy Olympiad Stage 1 is now set to start this week on the 20th Dec 2013. The tasks will be put up for 4 days, giving students enough time to think and also to manage their schedules. Any Indian student of class (standard) 9 to 12 from any board in India is welcome to attempt. There are no fees.

Abhinav bags Silver for India at IPO Denmark

Hello!

I am very happy to inform you that India has bagged a silver consecutively for the second time, this year at the 21st International Philosophy Olympiad, held at Odense, Denmark between 16th & 19th of May. We had earlier got a Bronze and a Silver in 2012 at Oslo, Norway.

The olympiad is a competition for high school (up to Std XII) students to show their talent in different subjects. The UNESCO affiliates 1 olympiad per subject - Phy, Chem, Bio, Astronomy, Math, etc. The Philosophy Olympiad has run for 21 years and has a strong UNESCO support due to the fact that it is closest to the objectives of the UNESCO. 

It is run by a group of teachers working under the aegis of the FISP (Federation of International Societies of Philosophy). The teachers are university or high school (like myself) from different parts of the world. 

This year about 40 countries participated with about 90 students. I took the Indian delegation with 2 students - Abhinav Menon, Sd XI, last years bronze medalist and this years silver; and Asit Tarsode, Std X.

Abhinav missed gold by a small margin. The judges said it was a tough competition and only 5 medals were awarded instead of the usual 8-9. - 1 Gold (Hungary), 3 Silvers (India, Austria, Korea), 1 Bronze(Croatia) and 15 honorable mentions (consolation awards). 

The jurying is done at three levels and the final is the done by philosophers from the FISP. 

Abhinav Menon, wrote on a topic about how the lack of constitution in a rule of the majority can only lead to loss of human rights of minorities. (based on a quote by Hannah Arendt, a contemporary political philosopher). What some of the senior members of the FISP found most interesting was how a young person like Abhinav could clearly see the connection between the psychology and sociology behind majority rule and the exploitation of minorities. 

Overall the 4 days in the small town of Odense (home town of existentialist stalwart Soren Kirkegaard and fairy tale writer Hans Christian Anderson) were very busy for all the young crowd assembled there. After the competition on the 17th, there were many workshops and lectures and of course sightseeing and partying (we philosophers call intellectual endless chats into the night as a party).

However, like many students there, Abhinav and Asit had exams soon after the 21st (IB finals and IIT coaching, respectively), which these kids are gallantly managing. The training had been largely through video conference and digital writing tools, about 4-5 hours a day for the past 3 months, after being selected via the Abhinav Philosopher competition (held in December end)

Please look up the sites - International Philosophy Olympiad (http://philosophy-olympiad.org) , Indian Philosophy Olympiad (http://philo.abhinav.ac.in) and the Danish site for the 21st IPO - (http://ipo2013.dk). Also, lookup the news article in DNA.

Philosophy Training 2013

Hi,
Have been bogged down by work and other commitments lately. So the "plan" for this years Philosophy prep is as follows:

• Team has just begun with analysis of quotes. Others who are free from exams are welcome to join in. So until about 18th April, we discuss quotes and the arguments that can be made about them, here on the blog.
• From 19th or 20th I intend to invite some teachers / speakers and have in-camera (working the tech out) sessions put on the net (hopefully live). These video lectures will be followed by practical (i.e. discussions on topics) These sessions will take about 4-5 hours every day and will go for about 5 days. Plan is to introduce various areas of Philosophy to the beginners and keep the "seniors" on their toes, thinking things through. The team will prepare with essays and discussions (online) for the remaining part of the day. Hence those able to attend in person may do so, while others may tune in to the web link I will put up here, once the tech is sorted. the online crowd can also chat and participate in the sessions.
• After this brief introductory training is done, the team gets serious about going to deeper essays and brainstorming about them online until 14th May. (video chats, usually in the evenings) Others are welcome to join in. Links will be posted here. The discussion done will be connected in points on this blog - http://abhinavphilosopher.blogspot.in  

Once again, I invite all students who participated in the selection process and any others who may have missed out then, but would like to learn Philosophy, to join in these discussions. Sometimes they will be a little vague, as it is not always possible to write down, what we think, in detail. But they would definitely give you a flavour of the subject.

Results of Indian Philosophy Olympiad

Dear All,

The Indian Philosophy Olympiad selection process is concluding with the results of the Abhinav Philosoher Stage II being declared. Stage I saw about 150 entries, of which about 20 were selected to the essay-writing stage. It took a little longer than I had expected to prepare the result as some of the top contenders wrote really well. We had to go over the papers again and again to be sure.

The next step is to invite the top two in the list to join the Indian delegation to the IPO 2013 and thus to a training program from Jan to May (mostly online, with a brief camp somewhere in April). If any of the two reject the offer, we go down the list in heirarchy. We should be able to declare the team in about a week from now.

Those who reached stage II showed a genuine interest and an aptitude in philosophy. As far as the online training is concerned, ALL of you are invited. Details will be put up in about 2 weeks on this blog. The camp, however, has a funding problem and thus those who can arrange to stay in Mumbai / near Dombivli, can definitely join the team.

Also, some candidates inquired whether we give a participation certificate for the InPO. Since it is not sponsored by any govt. agency, such a certificate has no practical value. Also, funding issues disallow us from sending certificates to all the 100 or more participants. Those who recieve an award are however, definitely sent a certificate and a prize. I hope that the candidates understand our constraints. We do encourage all participants to prepare harder for the next year.

InPO Stage I Results

Results of Abhinav Philosopher are posted at http://abhinav.ac.in/DoV/Stimulus/Result_Philosopher.htm. Many from different parts of the country and a tough fight for the top place. So watch out for Stage II.

If you are Shortlisted:
Stage II on Monday, 24th, Dec 2012 from 9 am to 12:30 pm. Tasks are already online at http://abhinav.ac.in/DoV/Stimulus/Philosopher.pdf with a password. Password will be smsed to participants at 8:45 am. I need the essays returned by email by 12:30pm.

Those who cant write on a computer may send me photos/scans of handwrit papers by email OR if you are local (i.e. Dombivli) come to Abhinav Vidyalay by 8:45 to write the essay.

If any problems in this, then sms me (9819024442) or Pooja (9699136930).
More instructions at http://philo.abhinav.ac.in/InPOInstructions.htm

Hello Young Philosophers,
The online task sheets for Abhinav Philosopher is put on the web. Download, solve, email back the answers by 19th Dec, 5 pm

Indian Philosophy Olympiad 2013

The selection for Indian team to the IPO 2013 - Denmark (May - 16-21) begins 14th Dec (in a few days) online at http://abhinav.ac.in/DoV/Stimulus/Philosopher.htm
Download the task sheet on 14th morning and submit the answers by 19th afternoon by email. Actually the tasks should take no more than 3-4 hours if you sit at a stretch.

The selection is for students of IX to XII of any board in India. I also encourage students of std VIII to participate as a prep for the future. Students of Indian nationality but living abroad temporarily may participate as well.

Both stages are online (Stage 1: 14th - 19th and Stage 2: 24th at 9 am IST)

For more details of the Int'l Philosophy Olympiad and the Indian process visit - http://philo.abhinav.ac.in/InPO.htm

Good Show at the Baltic Sea

The result at the Baltic Sea Event is put up at www.feto.fi . India had sent three entries. All three got an award:
Asit Tarsode - Silver
Nishith Khandwala - Bronze
Abhinav Menon - Honorable Mention

Good work everyone. However, we need to get into better shape soon for the IPO selection. So buckle up people.

About the BSEC

Hey guys!
I am really getting bogged down with the inspection stuff. No time to do any random musings. Anyhow, the BSEC entries we selected and sent from India were - (Results of our eval)

• Abhinav Menon
• Nishith Khandwala
• Asit Tarsode

Should expect the final results by 18th or 19th of Nov. Link to the main site is on the baltic sea page.
Dont really have time for detailed comments, but what we generally thought was as follows:

1. Most essays were better written than the previous year. (mostly by the same students, so I can say Shlok, Devendra and some others have improved consistently)
2. Ayushi needs to focus more on the critical thinking to improve. She is steady in her score, but a 7.5 is needed to go up in the IPO.
3. Abhinav did almost as well as expected.
4. Nishith seems distracted. Could have done much better.
5. Asit needs to give more thought to what he is writing. For that he needs more practice in critical thinking.
6. Amruta too couldn't grasp the essence of the topic and as such put up a superficial argument. Could have done much better.
7. Yash, Mohit & Mansi - its your first time to do something like this, so its fine. Keep at it and you should get better.
8. Overall, I guess, I didn't spend enough time in discussions with you guys. We need more head-banging (offline or online) to get on track. I am afraid that cant happen before the Abhinav Philosopher (scheduled on 14th - 17th Dec, Stage 1 and the 22nd Dec, Stage 2). But as soon as January comes and Stimulus and the inspection are over - We should get serious.

Baltic Sea Essay Competition

Hey guys!
I know, i was supposed to continue discussions on this blog for aesthetics. However, I got really busy with the admin work for inspections we are having at school. Nevertheless, I have two announcements to make:

1. BSEC: The Baltic Sea Essay Competition held each year by Baltic countries on the advent of the UNESCO World Philosophy Day celebrations (14-15 Nov) is announced as follows.
1. We conduct the essay-writing on this Saturday, 27 Oct 2012 from 9 am to 11:00 am IST
2. I then review the essays to select the best two and send them to the organizers
3. Results should be declared by 15th Nov on the site http://feto.fi/filosofia_paiva_2010.htm
4. Rules for the competition are simple:
1. It is intended for Indian students of high school, however motivated younger students are also welcome. (Non Resident Indians are also allowed to participate)
2. Students should choose from between four topics, which will be sent to them / their teachers via mail about 10 min before the competition begins.
3. Students should not use internet resources and should especially refrain from giving direct quotes from internet sources, simply to spice-up their essay.
4. I should get the essay by mail before 11:30 am on the same day, i.e. within 2.5 hrs. at director@abhinav.ac.in
5. If you are interested ... send me a mail at the above address, so I get your email ID
6. If you cannot type on the computer comfortably, you may even write by hand on paper and then send me a image of each page via email. (please note - I am not a chemist or doctor, so please use legible handwriting)
2. The first stage of selection for the Indian Team to go to the IPO 2013 - Denmark, begins around 15th Dec, 2012. Stay tuned.

Prep for Greece IPO and training for next IPO

Time to start training the available members of the Greece IPO team. Also we should use this opportunity to prepare the future IPO candidates. we will go over certain basics first and then we dig deep. We will work on two tracks - the red (online blog assignments) & the black (face-to-face sessions at Abhinav). So if you are interested, come to Abhinav Vidyalay & Jr. College at 12 noon on the 3rd April.

Newcomers may work with us until mid-may, after which we break until say mid-August. Those who cant physically be present, can work on the blog-based assignments and I'll try to arrange chat sessions with them from time to time. But please let me know if you are interested in this mode of working. The study plan is as follows:

• 
  
  First we begin sessions (thrice a week) somewhere from 3rd April. (Until 18th I wont be able to give mornings, but only around 11am to 2pm) In these sessions we go over the rudiments of philosophical thinking, i.e. Arguments, Logic, Fallacies & isms.
• 
  
  Parallel to this I will give assignments on this blog from completely different and interesting areas of philosophy, to read and write about.
• 
  
  Around 15th April or before we begin with a serious area like Metaphysics or Epistemology (we have already gone over Asthetics, Ethics & rudimentary Phil. of Science recently)
• 
  
  We do one area for about 10 days or until we become mad and uproot all our hair. Then we move on to other pastures (sic).
• 
  
  We will continue 2-3 hours a day until 26th April. After which we increase pace to about 4-5 hrs a day until at least 17th May.
• 
  
  After this as the Greece IPO is from 21st and we need to reach there on the 20th, we simply go over the basics as a revision and go shopping for warm clothes in the 'hottest' (literally) part of town.

So, either be at the school on 3rd at noon, or sms or email to me to let me know your interest and diffculties and i will try to patch you in.

About the Indian Philosophy Olympiad aka the Abhinav Philosopher

Hi all,

The Abhinav Philosopher competition was held for the third consecutive year in the month of December, by the team of teachers from Abhinav Vidyalay & Jr. College. Details of the competition and its results are available online. The results are published for the 40 odd students who had attempted the essay, which carried significant weightage. We had called upon about 300 schools mostly near Mumbai & Pune and some well known schools from the rest of the state. There were about 104 entries mostly from around Dombivli, some from Mumbai (Lilavatibai Poddar, St. John Cathedral, ...) and a surprising entry from Haryana (shows the power of the net)

Most were students from std 10th to 12th, however some of the std 9th students also did quite well. Many essays and subjective answers were quite thoughtful which shows that the students were capable of thinking hard about issues completely outside their curriculum. Thats why the stage was called as 'Open-Your-Mind'. the jury had a harrowing time trying to reach an agreement about the winner and the excellence awards for this competition. I can safely say that in the end, justice was served.

The chosen ones - Chitra Adkar & Prathamesh Kubal will now proceed for training, initially through this blog and whenever possible, through lectures and discussions. Around mid-March, they will begin a rigorous training involving reading through a lot of material and writing quite a few essays. This training will reach its peak after mid-April when we train about 10-12 hours a day with intense brainstorming about various issues. The dates of the IPO 2010 are yet to be announced, but it should be somewhere in mid-May.

All other students, regardless of their score, are welcome to be a part of this training, in whatever way possible. For details they can contact me at 9819024442 or director@abhinav.ac.in. I expect those who couldn't make it into the team this year and will not be joining university next year to join these sessions and improve their skills.