Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.7, 74-93, Fall 2017

Social Affairs: A Journal for the Social Sciences ISSN 2478-107X (online) www.socialaffairsjournal.com

THE STORY OF TWO DEPARTMENTS: PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY*

R.D. Gunaratne** Department of Philosophy, ,

ABSTRACT

The present article attempts to capture a glimpse of the path of Philosophy in the during its 75 years of existence. Philosophy was among the subjects that were in the curriculum of the Faculty of Arts from the inception of the University in 1942. Later in its course of existence, the Philosophy Department also offered a special degree programme in Psychology, and the latter subject has today established a distinct department for itself. Some papers in Psychology were included in the Philosophy, Sociology, and Education courses from early on, but Psychology as a Special or General Degree course was not available in any university in Sri Lanka until 1990. Considering the need for such courses, the Philosophy Department (which was already functioning under the name ‘Department of Philosophy and Psychology’) took measures to initiate fully fledged degree courses in Psychology, beginning in the 1990/91 academic year. This article for the first time reports the birth pangs, the struggles, and the problems of this effort. Thus, While observations on the general contribution of the Philosophy Department as well as more specific contributions of some of its members are used to illuminate the role of the Philosophy Department, the article also records the experience of installing a new course of study in a country, beginning with no fixed resources but successfully completing it, leading to the establishment, after 27 years, of a new Department of Psychology in the University of Peradeniya in 2017.

Key words: philosophy, psychology, University of Peradeniya

* The writer thanks Mr. Nandana Wijesinghe, Dinesha Meegahakotuwa of the Department of Editor of Social Affairs Journal for requesting Philosophy for typing the manuscript with care, him to contribute this article and patiently and helping the writer to check some material. awaiting it. He is thankful to Head of the Department of Philosophy Dr. Charitha Herath ** author e-mail: [email protected] for discussions and help, and Head of the ©2017 Social Affairs Journal. This work is Department of Psychology Dr. Buddhiprabha licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Pathirana for some discussions. He thanks Miss NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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PHILOSOPHY to say that Sir Ivor “hoped that the taut alliance between the University and the In the general pattern of better schools would continue”. in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the following is discernible: the The Sri Lankan agitation for the establishment , intended for the education of of a university dates back to the second Buddhist priests, accommodated some half of the nineteenth century. The Ceylon laymen also as students, and provided University Association was formed in 1911 instruction in languages like Sinhala, Pali, with P. Arunachalam as its president, to and Sanskrit. The students attending them agitate for a university. The Ceylon University sat the Prachina examinations. Christian College was started in 1921 and Robert Marrs missionary schools were spearheading the was its Principal almost from the beginning education mostly of town-based middle-class until Jennings took over just prior to the children. The classical languages Greek and establishment of the University in 1942. The Latin together with English, Mathematics, and Ceylon Medical College started in 1870. It was Science formed the core of their curriculum. these two, the Ceylon Medical College and the Ceylon University College, that together By the early twentieth century, following the formed the base for the University of Ceylon pattern of the missionary schools, a few which started in 1942. Sir Ivor Jennings, in Buddhist schools like Ananda (), an interview given to The Illustrated Weekly Dharmaraja (Kandy), and Mahinda (Galle) of India (February 10, 1952) says, “…The were introduced. The medium of instruction Ceylon Medical College had reached a high in all these town-based schools was English standard… and the Ceylon University College and most of their students sat for British had achieved a status roughly equivalent to examinations. A few who could afford it that of a University College in the United proceeded to the UK and obtained further Kingdom, its students reading for London academic and professional qualifications. degrees…” (as cited in Alwis 2014, p. 219- Government schools (except Royal College, 220). Colombo) were vernacular and did not provide a gateway to higher education abroad. The mention of Philosophy as a subject in the curriculum of the new university that was being It was the above mentioned town-based planned first appears in correspondence English medium schools, or a few of regarding provisions for classrooms. In them, that Sir Ivor Jennings, the first Vice- communications sent by Professor Marrs in Chancellor, and perhaps the architect, of the March and April of 1939 as Principal of the University of Ceylon, repeatedly refers to in University College to government authorities, his numerous observations and talks about mention is made of providing small class the University.They were the main supply line rooms for Philosophy (and Geography), along of the University students. Even in his farewell with requests for financial provisions for the address to the University students in 1955, post of Professor of Philosophy. It appears Sir Ivor speaks of these schools, from these correspondences that Education, “Fortunately, there are a few quite good Philosophy, and Psychology (and later schools. Not all of you come from them, Sociology) were considered as belonging to but their influence on this University has one group. been extremely important” ( The Ceylon Despite such planning, when the University Daily News,17th January 1955, cited in started in 1942, there was only one lecturer Alwis. 2014, p. 229).This report goes on for Philosophy and there were no students

-75- Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.7, 74-93, Fall 2017 studying the subject. At the beginning, the Calendar for 1953/54 lists the following as demand was for teaching Indian Philosophy members of the Department of Philosophy. in the Faculty of Oriental Studies. According T.R.V Murti, M.A., D.Litt., (Banaras), to the Report of the Council of the University Professor and Head of Ceylon for 1942, “The Department of Philosophy at present consists of one Lecturer. K. Mathiaparanam, M.A.(Madras) We are consequently unable to provide A. K. Sarkar, M.A., PhD (Patna) a special course. The Faculty of Oriental Studies will in due course require teaching to K. N Jayatilleke, B.A. (Ceylon.), B.A. be given in Indian Philosophy and Buddhist (London.), M.A. (Cantab.) Philosophy…. We, therefore, recommend that provision be made in 1943-44 estimates Fernando, B. A. (Oxon.) for an Asst. Lectureship in Philosophy” (p. Basil Mendis B.A.(Ceylon.), B.A. 21). Going by the Council reports, the number (London.) of Philosophy students in 1947 was seven, which went up to twenty in 1948 but dropped When Professor Murti left, the Headship to five in 1950. of the Department was passed on to Ms. Mathiaparanam, but the Professorship The University Calendar for the year 1946/47 was not filled for nearly a decade, until records that Ms. K. Mathiaparanam and Dr. 1963. During this decade drastic changes A.K. Sarkar served as lecturers in Philosophy. occurred in the political and educational It appears that T.R.V. Murti was appointed fields of the country. The so-called ‘1956 Professor and Head of the Department of Revolution’ took place during this time, and Philosophy in 1950. The University Calendar with it Sinhala became the state language for 1950/51 lists Dr. Murti as Professor and the and vernacular the media of instruction in Head of Philosophy, and Ms. Mathiaparanam schools. Consequently, universities had to and Dr. Sarkar as lecturers. As will be seen entertain students educated in the vernacular later, Murti’s appointment brought some media. Two new universities –Vidyodaya and standing to the Department. Vidyalankara – were established in 1958. Professor Murti served in the Department until The University of Ceylon, still in the process 1954, when he left for the Hindu University of being moved from Colombo to Peradeniya of Banaras. A revision of the syllabus in in parts, had to bear most of the impact of Philosophy seems to have been made during this change. The slow and painful process his tenure and these new syllabi more or could be felt in the story of the Philosophy less continued into the 1960s. The University Department as well. Although the University Calendar for 1952/53 mentions the following was flooded with vernacular-educated in the Philosophy syllabus; students from 1961 onwards, Philosophy was not taught in vernacular immediately. Philosophy II A: History of Philosophy In the annual report of the Faculty of Arts (Ancient and Modern), Ethics, Psychology, submitted to the Council in 1962 by Acting Epistemology and Logic, Indian Philosophy. Dean Professor J. E Jayasuriya, it is stated that there is a drop in the numbers of students Philosophy II B: Logic and Metaphysics, registering for Philosophy as the subject was Ethics, History of Philosophy (Western and not taught in vernacular due to the lack of Indian), Social Psychology. teachers, and that vernacular-fluent teachers K.N. Jayatilleke joined the Department in were to be recruited. By this time the number 1951, as did Basil Mendis. The University of permanent members in the Department

-76- The Story of Two Departments: Philosophy and Psychology R. D. Gunaratne had dropped to three: Ms. Mathiaparanam, doldrums again. The shining light was gone. Dr. Sarkar, and Dr. Jayatilleke. Of these, Dr. The Headship was again passed on to Ms. Jayatilleke was away in the UK on leave in Mathiaparanam who was not too enthusiastic 1960-61, finalizing the thesis for his PhD about it throughout her long career. Now she which he obtained in 1961 from London. was herself reaching retirement age and Dr. Padmasiri De Silva took it over after about If we consider the period from 1942-50 as two years. Meanwhile, all the lecturers sent the formative first phase of the Department abroad during Professor Jayatilleke’s period of Philosophy, the second phase began with were now returning with training and nearly all Professor Murti’s appointment and continued of them with postgraduate qualifications. until 1963. Then Professor Jayatilleke was appointed as Professor and Head. The third Professor Padmasiri De Silva continued to be phase and a new era began with Professor the Head of the Department until 1989 except Jayatilleke. Of the old cadre only Ms. for a year in 1979-80 when he was away on Mathiaparanam remained by 1964. Dr. Sarkar sabbatical, during which time I was appointed went on leave in 1963-64 to the University of as Head. When Professor de Silva returned New Mexico at Albuquerque, and at the end from his sabbatical I resigned from the of it joined that university leaving Peradeniya. Headship. Professor de Silva was appointed Thus, new academic recruitments for all three as Chair of Philosophy in 1980 and held it media had to be made, and a number of young until he resigned in 1990 to take up residence Assistant Lecturers were recruited. Among abroad. I shall deal with his interests and them were G. D. K. Nanayakkara, A. D. P. contributions later. Kalansuriya, Gunapala Dharmasiri, Vijitha The communal riots of 1983 were instrumental Rajapaksa, and S. V. Kasynathan. I was in some of the Tamil lecturers leaving the appointed a Temporary Assistant Lecturer in Department and the country. We lost an in 1966 along with Reginton Rajapaksa, and valuable member of the Department, Dr. S. made permanent in 1967. Dr. Padmasiri V. Kasynathan, as he migrated to Australia. De Silva who had returned to Vidyalankara Then Dr. L. C. D. Kulathungam who had joined after completing his PhD at Hawaii, joined the Department in the 1970s and obtained us at Peradeniya at the same time. V. his PhD from the University of Toronto, Ramakrishnan joined the Department during also left the Department and migrated to the late 1960s. Teaching now was offered in Canada and eventually, Dr. V. Ramakrishnan all three media. By the end of 1970, all of the also took up residence abroad. The Tamil young lecturers except G. D. K. Nanayakkara medium felt the blow of these emigrations. and Vijitha Rajapaksa went for postgraduate Mr. (later Dr. and Professor) M. S. M. Anes, training abroad: Kalansuriya to Reading; an alumnus of Peradeniya who had joined us Kasynathan and Reginton Rajapaksa to in 1986 from the , had London; Dharmasiri and Ramakrishnan to carry most of the resulting burden, until to Lancaster. In 1970 I first went to UCLA Ms. Mallika Rajaratnam came on a transfer in USA on a Fulbright Scholarship, and from the Jaffna University. Mr. (later Dr. and having completed my Masters there went Professor) Desmond Mallikarachchi joined to Cambridge in 1971 to do my PhD. A the Department in the 1970s and Mr. (later Dr.) dynamic and competent Department was in G. D. K. Nanayakkara joined us as a visiting the make under Professor Jayatilleke, whose lecturer. Mr. (later Dr. and Professor) P. D. contribution I would treat separately later. The Premasiri came to the Department having sudden and untimely demise of Professor obtained a transfer from Pali and Buddhist Jayatilleke in 1970 put the Department in the

-77- Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.7, 74-93, Fall 2017 studies. Mr.Vijitha Rajapaksha left us in the end of the first decade of the twenty first the ‘eighties to take up residence in U.S.A century the full time services of Philosophy .Drs. Kalansuriya, Dharmsiri, Premasiri, and lecturers who had undergone foreign myself were made Associate Professors in training were lost to the Department due to the 1980s. The Department was by this time retirement, emigration, or demise. A well called the Department of Philosophy and trained ‘successor group’ had not properly Psychology. emerged. Ven. Alpitiye Gnanissara, almost the only recruit for the Sinhala medium in When Professor de Silva went on sabbatical the 1980s, very successfully handled around leave in 1989 I was, again, appointed Head 400 Sinhala medium students following the of the Department. In 1990, fully fledged Foundation Course in Logic every year, and degree courses in Psychology were started in did a good job as Controller of the GCE A/L the Department, and Ms. Keshini Soysa was Examination in Logic and Scientific Method, recruited to teach the subject. I deal with the but had not gone for academic training Psychology programme separately later in this abroad. His untimely death in early 2015 was article. The syllabi of all departments in the a blow to the Department. In 1996, three more faculty underwent revision in the early 1990s, recruitments in Philosophy were made, (now during Professor Leslie Gunawardena’s Drs.) Charitha Herath, Namali Handagama, Deanship. and (now Professor) P. M. Jamahir. Mr. Herath I continued as Head of the Department until was away for nearly a decade from 2005-15 1995, when I was elected the Dean of the on secondment in government ministries, but Faculty of Arts. Professor Kalansuriya took he is the current Head of the Department of over as Head for three years. In February Philosophy. Mr. Saman Pushpakumara was 1998 I was appointed as Chair of Philosophy absorbed into the Department in the year 2000 which was vacant since Professor de Silva and since then three more recruitments have left in 1990. I was again appointed Head been made: Mr. Sumedha Weerawardhana, of the Department and just prior to my Mr. Jayantha Bogoda, and Mr. M. Aboobucker. retirement, Professor Dharmasiri took over The long - drawn “battle of sites” preceded the Headship in 2001 for a period of three the founding of the University of Ceylon.The years. After Professor Dharmasiri, Professor establishment of a residendtial university had Mallikarachchi held it for some time and also been decided on and,finally,it was to be Professor Anes took it over and was Head at Peradeniya.The University of Ceylon and for two terms, that is, six years until 2011. its curricula were modelled after the British Ms. Manju Gunasekara became the first tradition. Dr. Ivor Jennings was a Cambridge Psychology lecturer to be appointed as product who was teaching in the London the Head of the Department of Philosophy University. Jennings was the architect of the and Psychology in 2011. She was followed University of Ceylon and its founding Vice- by Dr. Danesh Karunanayake, again from Chancellor who continued for 13 years in Psychology. the job. He went back as the Master of a By the early twenty first century two changes Cambridge College and later was the Vice- in the faculty programme had taken place. Chancellor of Cambridge in 1961-62. The The most fundamental change was from University of Ceylon, at least the University the academic year course system to at Peradeniya, was modelled on Cambridge semester and course unit system. Secondly, with the Cam replaced by Mahaveli and the the postgraduate programme was now Colleges replaced by Halls of Residence. The rearranged on a more organized basis. By Courses taught here were replicating those of

-78- The Story of Two Departments: Philosophy and Psychology R. D. Gunaratne the London University. and teachers who served in the University of Ceylon during this time. For example, As a British colony, it is natural that the the curriculum vitae of Professor O.H. De A. country’s system (in all its aspects) was Wijesekara runs: stamped with the British legacy. The Ceylon University was started at a time of high tide Educated at Ananda College, Colombo, of British Analytical Philosophy spear-headed where he headed the Cambridge Senior by Moore, Russell, and Wittgenstein. The first division list in 1926, securing exemption other dominating aspect of British Philosophy from matriculation examinations of London, was its empiricism and positivism. Greek and Oxford, and Cambridge Universities. Latin were the classical languages across First class honours in BA (Indo-Aryan), Europe, so it is unsurprising that education in University of London, 1932. Ceylon during the British times was dominated by Greek, Latin, and English. This said, we Ceylon Government Scholarship for also have an Indian and Buddhist heritage in Research in Indo-Aryan, 1932. philosophy, religion, language, and literature. PhD (London), 1936. These aspects are reflected in the curricula as well as works of investigative and creative Diploma of the School of Oriental and research produced by the Department during African Studies, London, 1938. the last seventy-five years. Master of Arts (London), 1940. As mentioned earlier, in 1946, Philosophy lecturers at the University of Ceylon were Ms. Assistant Lecturer in Sanskrit, Pali, and Mathiaparanam (M.A. Madras), a Sri Lankan Sinhalese, Ceylon University College, trained in India, and A.K. Sarkar (M.A., PhD 1937. Patna), an Indian trained in India. Some of Head of the Department of Sanskrit, the published articles of Dr. Sarkar dealt with University of Ceylon, 1944. comparative studies in Indian and Western Philosophy. The first year course in Philosophy This pattern and orientation, or the academic in 1957 had two papers: The first was Logic, DNA if I may, continued from generation a paper taught by Ms. Mathiaparanam which to generation, recurring in cases like that included elements of Aristotelian Logic and of Professor K. N. Jayatilleke who later Induction. The other was Greek Philosophy becomes a shining light in the Department of taught by Mr. Basil Mendis, a graduate of Philosophy: English who had served in the Ceylon Civil Educated at Royal Preparatory College Service and had undergone training in and Royal College, Colombo. Philosophy in British universities. The first Professor of the Department, T. R. V. Murti, Senior Cambridge, First Grade as we shall see, wonderfully exemplifies this Certificate, 1930. British-Indian orientation and approach. University College and University of As was indicated earlier, the Ceylon University Ceylon, 1939-43. was an improved extension of the Ceylon London Intermediate in Arts with English, University College which trained Ceylonese Mathematics, Sinhala, and Pali, 1940. students to sit for London degrees. The British heritage here is apparent when we BA (Ceylon) (Indo-Aryan), First Class consider the training and background of some Honours, 1943. of the most outstanding Sri Lankan scholars

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Government University Scholar in remarkable Wardenship of Hilda Obeysekera Arts,1943. Hall which, at the beginning, women university students occupied. Christ’s College, Cambridge University, Moral Science Tripos Parts I & II, Second Professor T.R.V. Murti Class Honours (First Division), 1945-48. Professor T.R.V. Murti’s appointment as BA (Hons.) (Western Philosophy), Professor and Head of the Department of Second Class (Upper Division), Philosophy in 1950 was significant. He held University of London, 1948. the degrees of MA, D.Litt. (Banaras). The year before his appointment as Professor here he PhD (Philosophy) University of London, was the Deputy for Spalding Professor of 1961. Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford and That was the pattern. We saw earlier that delivered there lectures on Middle and Last a generation later, in the 1960’s all of us in Phases of during the Michaelmus the Philosophy Department went to the UK term of 1949. for our own postgraduate work. It has to Murti’s teacher was S. Radhakrishnan, the be emphasized that all the members who acclaimed Indian philosopher who held served in the Department in permanent or the Spalding Professorship of Eastern temporary categories during the last 75 years Religions and Ethics at Oxford. Murti thus contributed to teaching and dissemination had good standing when he came to the of knowledge. However, I indicate below Department, and during his tenure the syllabi the specific contribution of only those who in the Department were revised. Murti left the have served as Head of the Department of Department in 1954 to take up the Sayaji Rao Philosophy (or Philosophy and Psychology) Gaekward Professorship of Indian Civilization at some time or other, in temporal sequence and Culture at the Hindu University, Banaras. of their Headship. The publication of his Central Philosophy Ms. K. Mathiaparanam of Buddhism (George Allen and Unwin, London) in 1955 brought him international Ms. K. Mathiaparanam MA (Madras) was recognition. It was a philosophical study of Lecturer of Philosophy and Head of the the Madhyamika system and in particular, Department by the academic year 1946- an outstanding account and interpretation 47. The present writer could not trace any of the Madhyamika Dialectic, making a earlier records to determine when exactly comparative study of it with Vedantic, Kantian, Ms. Mathiaparanam joined the Department and Hegelian Dialectics. But this work was or assumed the Headship.He also found no mainly his D.Litt. dissertation done under the record to determine the first lecturer of the guidance of Radhakrishnan before he joined Department who had been apointed in 1942. the University of Ceylon. It thus has little Ms. Mathiaparanam served the Department relation to his stay in Ceylon, although Murti during its first three phases outlined earlier, published in the University of Ceylon Review and held the Headship of the Department on some articles related to it (Murti 1955). and off in all three of these phases; first from 1946-50, then from 1954-63, and again from Professor K. N. Jayatilleke 1970-73. Ms. Mathiaparanam has perhaps Professor K. N. Jayatilleke joined the served the longest period as Head of the Department as an Assistant Lecturer in 1951, Department – a total of around 16 years. Ms. during Murti’s Professorship, and served it until Mathiaparanam was also well known for her his demise in 1970. A glimpse of Jayatilleke’s

-80- The Story of Two Departments: Philosophy and Psychology R. D. Gunaratne educational record was given earlier. Nine and turned them all (Gunaratne 2006/7, years after Murti left, in 1963, Jayatilleke p. 4). succeeded him as the Chair of Philosophy The radical change that Professor Jayatilleke which carried with it the Headship of the brought about in Buddhist scholarship and its Department as well. Professor Jayatilleke’s epoch making nature is captured by George contribution to the Department and the subject Chatalian when he wrote; outweighs that of any other, and as I outline later, it was he who set in motion a trend of a Among Western students of Buddhism… distinctive and fruitful creative tradition in the there was unanimity… that Early Indian Department. Buddhism of the Pali Canon was a religion. Among the most prominent of It is best to start with some of his outstanding the numerous Western students who personal academic achievements. The had come to this conclusion were the work that Jayatilleke submitted in 1961 to following: Bertrand Russell, Alferd North the London University for his doctorate was Whitehead, C. D. Broad, H. H Price, published under the tittle Early Buddhist W.T Stace, George Santayana, John Theory of Knowledge by George Allen and Dewey, Arnold Toynbee, Ninian Smart, Unwin in 1963, the year in which Jayatilleke E. A. Burtt, Arthur Danto, Richard H. was appointed as the Chair of Philosophy. Robinson…-philosophers, theologians It turned out to be a landmark, breaking a and scientists of all kinds-too numerous completely new path in Buddhist scholarship. to mention…. But… after it had It immediately brought him wide international happened, another curious development recognition and fame. The magnitude of the took place; for in 1963, K. N Jayatilleke, achievement could perhaps be gleaned from who is unquestionably the foremost the numerous reviews of it. For example, of the twentieth century students of Professor Richard H. Robinson hailed it as a Pali Buddhism-both a professional masterpiece by any standards and went on to philosopher and a massively equipped say that it was almost a fine poem (as cited in student of Pali and Sanskrit forms of de Silva 1971). Building on this, in one of my Early Indian Buddhism- published his articles I wrote; Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, Professor Jayatilleke’s writing in his and Buddhist studies took a new turn: magnum opus, Early Buddhist Theory for he clearly interpreted the Early of Knowledge, has a smooth, rhythmic, Indian Buddhism of the Pali canon as a unforced flow like the movement of an system of philosophy… (1983, p. 181). elephant and no wonder that Robinson Professor Jayatilleke in 1958 co-authored with called it ‘almost a fine poem’. However, Professor G.P. Malalasekara the UNESCO it was a torrent and like the waters of a publication Buddhism and the Race Question. beautiful but a powerful waterfall it left His Hague lectures on The Principles of no stone unturned in its path. Hardly International Law in Buddhist Doctrine was any contemporary scholar of Indian and another major contribution. His efforts in Buddhist Philosophy stood uncorrected the interpretation of the Catuskoti form of by Professor Jayatilleke. For whether it expression which he called the Buddhist was Radhakrishnan or Murti, Mrs. Rhys logic of four alternatives started in the 1950’s Davids or Barriedale Keith or dozens (Jayatilleke 1950; 1963; 1967), and again of others, the well substantiated and constituted a path finding contribution. His incisive analyses of Jayatilleke touched standing in the field of Buddhist philosophy

-81- Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.7, 74-93, Fall 2017 was so high that foreign scholars visited him many people and felt they were all at Peradeniya, some of them for guidance reliving some phase of a previous life. and consultation in their doctoral work. With a shrug he observed that “Two thirds of the world accepts reincarnation” Professor Jayatilleke also had interest in the (1968, p. 5). study of rebirth and extra-sensory perception. I remember how he arranged for Professor I think Professor Jayatilleke viewed extra- Bannerjee, a visiting Indian Professor of sensory phenomena as amenable to scientific Parapsychology, to talk on research in rebirth study. He also thought Early Buddhism to be studies to a full packed audience at Hilda scientific in a broad sense. Jayatilleke (with Obeysekera Hall one night in the late 1960s, Malalasekara) wrote, “In fact Early Buddhism with me as the translator into Sinhalese. When can be stated in the form of a scientific theory I was doing my Masters’ at the University of which each individual… is to verify for himself” California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1971, I (Malalasekera and Jayatilleke 1958, p. 11- picked up an American book dealing with 12). Philosophy as taught in the Department a rebirth story at a second hand bookshop. was mostly Western Philosophy, but our The book was The Search for the Girl with roots lay elsewhere, in Buddhist Philosophy. the Blue Eyes by Jess Stearn. Back in my flat Jayatilleke’s crowning achievement was in when I started reading the book and reached unearthing and interpreting the Philosophy page five, to my amazement, what did I read? of Early Buddhism in contemporary terms. The author was saying, Jayatilleke was superbly equipped for that task with his training. Here I was in Virginia Beach, finishing up a book on the amazing mystic Edgar Professor Jayatilleke was a keen disseminator Cayce, who, in a trance, had discussed of knowledge, both in the lecture room and past lives in Atlantis, Egypt, India and outside. He gave regular radio broadcasts on other lands of antiquity with the same Buddhism, on the Dhamma, some of which matter-of-factness and clarity of detail have been published as a collection of his that some would discuss contemporary popular talks and writings, edited by Professor affairs in London, Paris and New York. Ninian Smart, under the title Message of the Only the week before, I had watched Buddha (1974). a dark, handsome Professor of Jayatilleke had come under the influence of Philosophy from the University of Ceylon the British analytical tradition of empiricism skillfully regress a middle aged subject, and positivism, and his studies brought out successively to young adulthood, the empiricist bases of early Buddhism. This childhood, the womb and before. frame of mind was also reflected in the works Marveling, I watched as the woman of scholars who had come under his influence scratched her name in response to his like Professors Kalupahana and Upadhyaya command-the hand writing reflecting at Hawaii, living in other climes. the determined flourish of youth, and the undisciplined scrawl of childhood Jayatilleke played a major role in developing and then, further regressed in time, to the Department of Philosophy. When he presumed previous life, revealing not was appointed as the Chair of Philosophy in only a different script but, lo and behold, 1963, the Department had to teach students an entirely different name. Professor K. in three media, but except for himself, the N Jayatilleke had seen nothing unusual only permanent member who continued in in the performance. He had regressed these conditions at the Department was Ms.

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Mathiaparanam. Due to the lack of teachers, a number of international editions. student numbers had dropped. We saw Professor de Silva served the Department for earlier how new recruitments were made and 23 years and held its Headship for a long period trained during his Professorship. Jayatilleke’s of about 15 years. It was during Professor de stature and leadership, together with the Silva’s Headship that the Department came new recruitments, led to a resurgence of the to be known as the Department of Philosophy Department, and by the time of his untimely and Psychology. His interest in Psychology passing away in 1970, the Department was was probably instrumental in this change getting rebuilt on solid foundations. in nomenclature. He founded the Sri Lanka Professor M. W. P. de Silva Philosophical Association which had island wide attendance and fruitful annual sessions. Professor M.W.P. de Silva did his Special He was a Fellow at the Institute of Fundamental Degree in Philosophy at the University of Studies, Kandy, where he organized field Ceylon (Peradeniya), joined the Vidyalankara research related to subjects like suicide, and University academic staff, and did his he edited Suicide, a collection of articles on doctorate at the University of Hawaii. In 1967 the subject. he joined the Department at Peradeniya. He was appointed as the Chair of Philosophy Professor R.D. Gunaratne at Peradeniya in 1980. He served the Professor R.D. Gunaratne obtained his BA Department until 1990, when he resigned to (General) and BA (Special Honours) degrees take up residence in Australia. from the University of Ceylon, MA from Professor de Silva’s doctoral dissertation, California (UCLA), and PhD from Cambridge. later published as Buddhist and Freudian He joined the Department in 1966 as a Psychology (1973), was a comparative study temporary Assistant Lecturer and was made of the concepts in Buddhist and Freudian permanent in 1967. His academic training has Psychology. His later interests centered on the been in Logic and the Philosophy of Science. comparative studies of concepts in the field His doctoral dissertation, a study of Relativism of emotions. His inaugural lecture delivered in the Philosophy of Science, was published in January 1981 was, again, a comparative as Science, Understanding and Truth by the study in Philosophical Psychology which Research Publication Service of the Ministry dealt with emotions and therapy. It introduced of Higher Education, Sri Lanka, in 1980. the Buddhist approach to therapy as a “third He was Head of the Department during 1979- paradigmatic zone … The Humean mode of 80 and 1989-95, and left the Headship in therapy has it focus on feeling, the Spinozean 1995 upon being elected Dean of the Faculty on thoughts and the Buddhist on attention” of Arts, but was Head of the Department (p. 19). His study of emotions continues again from 1998-2001. He succeeded in his other publications like Twin Peaks: Professor Padmasiri de Silva as the Chair Compassion and Insight (1991), which was of Philosophy in 1998. His contribution to sub-titled ‘Emotions and the “self” in Buddhist the study of Buddhist logic begins with three and Western Thought’. His Tangles and published articles, namely ’The Logical Webs and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Form of Catuskoti: A New Solution’ (1980), Maintenance (1974) consisted of comparative ‘Understanding Nagarjuna’s Catuskoti’ (1986), studies in Existentialism, Psychoanalysis, and and ‘Kathavatthu: The Logic and its Form’ Buddhism. Commissioned by Macmillan, he (2003). His seminar article (unpublished) wrote An introduction to Buddhist Psychology ‘Did the Buddha use a three-valued logic?’ (1991). Some of these books have gone into

-83- Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.7, 74-93, Fall 2017 examines the suggestion made by some ‘Newtonian Vision; Its Origin, Significance contemporary quarters that Buddha used and Problems’ (as cited in Weerawardhane a logic with more than two-values. He has 2008). initiated a postgraduate course in Buddhist Professor Gunaratne also started the logic. He also took interest in the study of Psychology degree programme in the Buddhism and Science, which resulted in his Department and guided it during its first giving a series of lectures on Buddhism and twelve years both as Head of the Department Science in the Fall of 1996 at the Humboldt of Philosophy and Psychology and as Dean State University, California, where he was a of the Faculty of Arts. That story is narrated Fulbright Scholar in Residence for the year separately below. 1996-97. He won a John Templeton Award in 1997 for that Course. He went back to Professor A.D.P. Kalansuriya Cambridge in his sabbatical year in 1983- Professor A.D.P. Kalansuriya had a BA from 84 as a Commonwealth Fellow and spent a the University of Ceylon, M. Phil from the part of his time on a study of the differences University of Reading, and PhD from the between the methodology and epistemology University of Ceylon. He joined the Department of modern science and that of the study of in the mid-1960s, was made an Associate ESP. Professor in the 1980s, and a Professor in Although Professor Jayatilleke had initiated the 1990s. He was Head of the Department the teaching of mathematical logic with truth for three years during 1995-98. He taught tables, Professor Gunaratne systematized subjects like Analytic Philosophy, Western it by introducing rigorous mathematical Philosophy, and the Theory of Knowledge. methods of derivation. Courses in Philosophy Professor Kalansuriya wrote a large number of and Methodology of Science were developed Sinhala books outlining the history of Western in the Department curriculum. He also Philosophy, as well as on the work of some lectured in History and the Philosophy of individual Western Philosophers. Among Science in some postgraduate courses in these books are Darsanaya Hedinvimak, the Faculty of Science at Peradeniya and in Nutana Batahira Darasanya, Darshanika courses at the Open University. The syllabi Chinthana Dhara, and Darshanika Gatalu in Logic and Scientific Method for Advanced saha Wittgenstein (as cited in Amarasekera Level students were revised completely 2004). His The Buddha’s Discourse and in the late 1970s, and for the last 40 years Wittgenstein (2003), in his own words, is an he and the Department at Peradeniya have “…attempt to apply the later Wittgensteinian been centrally involved in the Advanced Level Philosophical techniques to Buddhism” (p. examination in Logic and Scientific Method. 3). He served the Department for about 40 years – one of the longest terms served by a Vidyatmaka Kramaya, Vidyatmaka Kramaya member in the Department. ha Tarka Sastraya, Naveena ha Bharatiya Tarka Sastraya, Akyata Kalanaya, and Professor G. Dharmasiri Taraka dwara ha Ruk Kramaya are Sinhala Professor Dharmasiri read for his BA at texts by Professor Gunaratne. He also wrote the University of Ceylon, and did his PhD Saratchandra: Philosopher and the Artist at Lancaster University. He joined the (English and Sinhala). Among his articles in Department in the mid-1960s, and was made Sinhala and English are ‘Rebirth Research: an Associate Professor in the 1980s. He was A Scientific View Point’, ‘Science Fiction’, Head of the Department for three years from ‘Dialectics’, ‘Evolution’, ‘Humanism’, and 2001-2004. Professor Dharmsiri’s doctoral

-84- The Story of Two Departments: Philosophy and Psychology R. D. Gunaratne dissertation published as A Buddhist Critique academic staff of the University of Kelaniya, of the Christian Concept of God (1974), a then served in Jaffna in the late 1970s to work in comparative religious philosophy, 1980s, and joined the Peradeniya Philosophy won international acclaim. This work, as Department in 1986. He was appointed Head well as his Fundamentals of Buddhist of the Department in 2005 and served two Ethics (1986), which was based on lectures terms until 2011. He was made a Professor delivered in American Colleges as Fulbright in the first decade of the 21st century. In the visiting Professor, went into a number of 1980s, with the exodus of the Tamil lecturers international editions. He later wrote Nature from the Department and the country, he had of Medicine (1997), a critical account of the to carry the heavy burden of conducting Tamil practice of current Western medicine. He medium courses in the Department with little wrote numerous books and articles in Sinhala assistance. Although Ms. Rajaratnam joined and English including some short stories in the Department in the 1990s, the shortage the Hibbert Journal. His interest in Mahayana of Tamil medium lecturers in Philosophy Buddhism made him translate into Sinhala continued in the last two decades of the 20th a large number of Mahayana sutras. He century. A person of wide interests, Professor taught Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, and Anes has many publications in Tamil to his Mahayana Buddhism at the Department. He credit. Among these are books on the History too served the Department for a long period of Philosophy, Methodology, Trial of Socrates, of about 40 years. He organized the library Islamic Philosophy, Islamic Literature and of the Department, and with the assistance Arts, and the contemporary reform movement of the Intercollegiate Sri Lanka Education in Islam. programme developed the computer facilities The Philosophy Department of the University in the Department during his Headship. of Ceylon has served newly created Sri Professor D.D. Mallikaracchi Lankan universities well. Teaching Philosophy in the new universities has been handled by Professor Mallikaracchi holds degrees of its alumni mostly. Dr. Nanayakara, in addition BA (Ceylon), MA (Peradeniya), and PhD to teaching at Peradeniya, taught at Colombo (London). He joined the Department early and Vidyodaya, and his students like Dr. in the 1970s. He was appointed a Professor Bandaranayke and Professor Edirisinghe early in the 21st century. He succeeded were full time involved in Jayawandhanapura Professor Dharmasiri as Head of the and Kelaniya Philosophy teaching. Professors Department in 2004. He concentrated on Padmasiri de Silva, Anes, and Kulasena, teaching in areas like Continental Philosophy, all alumni of Peradeniya, were attached to Marxism, Psychology, Post Modernism, and the Kelaniya Philosophy Department. Later Methodology. He has written a number of Professor Krishnarajah in Jaffna and Mr. Ravi books and articles in Sinhala and English, in Batticaloa, also Peradeniya alumni, played among which are Marxvadi Rachana (2003), major roles in the teaching of Philosophy in Buddha and Marx (2003), and Karl Popper: their respective institutes. Marxvadaye Vyaja Vivechakayek (2003). The Department’s tradition of creative research Professor M.S.M. Anes begins with Professor Jayatilleke. As we saw, Professor Anes holds a BA from the University Professor Jayatilleke contributed to the study of Ceylon, and MA and PhD from the University of Early Buddhist Epistemology and Logic of Peradeniya. He is a Tamil medium and also presented it in contemporary terms. graduate in Philosophy who first joined the Professor Padmasiri de Silva contributed

-85- Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.7, 74-93, Fall 2017 to the study of Buddhist Psychology and to practice Philosophy” (ibid, p. xv). In Wilfrid made comparative studies of it with Western Sellars’ view, Philosophy could be looked Psychology. Professor Dharmasiri contributed at as “an attempt to see how things, in the to the study of Buddhist Ethics and Religious broadest possible sense of the term, hang Philosophy, and my own contribution was to together in the broadest possible sense of further the study of Buddhist Logic. the term” (as cited in Rorty 1982, p. xiv). John Maynard Keynes, the outstanding economist Philosophy as an academic discipline at the of the Keynesian revolution in economics, University of Ceylon has had its periods of in his notice of Frank Ramsey, refers to ebbs and tides in the 75 years of its existence. the activity of a philosopher as engaging in Early in the 21st century, roughly between 2005- “the tormenting exercises of foundations of 2015, Philosophy Department seemed to be thought and of psychology, where mind tries losing track. As indicated earlier, a vacuum to catch its own tail…” (1931, p. x). was generated largely due to trained, foreign exposed, English competent senior staff not One does not want to be elitist but one being in full time service in the Department. could see by all this that breadth, depth, and English language deficiency both in the sharpness are necessary for the activity of students and the staff led to limited exposure philosophy, if it is to be done meaningfully. to the outside world, a resultant narrowness Philosophy has been a pathfinder; it has of outlook, and with it narrowness of purpose. seen ahead or indeed guided the thinking Further, the economics of higher education and action ahead. It has laid the foundational which bases itself on student numbers in attitude and thinking of societies. Plato did each field is perhaps not the measure by it even though it was utopian. Descartes which to judge a discipline like Philosophy, did it and I think, the British Empiricists did though it could not be avoided. After the it. Nietzsche did it. In more socially applied separation of the Departments of Philosophy or practical terms, Voltaire, Marx, Lenin, and and Psychology, we are now taking measures Gandhi did it. to overcome these difficulties. It is perhaps In the contemporary context, let me refer to time to reflect and plan a resurgence. one news item in the Newsletter of the Faculty Let us look at the conception of Philosophy. of Philosophy of the University of Cambridge. One of the first things I heard when I started Now, thanks to a £ ten million grant from following Philosophy classes in the good the Leverhulme Trust to a team led by old days was that worn out definition (or Professor Huw Price, the University joke?) that ‘Philosophy was the search for a is to establish a Centre to explore black cat in a dark room which is not there’. the challenges of the future machine Wittgenstein was emphatic that philosophy intelligence … The Leverhulme Centre is an activity to rid ourselves of the pseudo- for Future of Intelligence will explore the problems that language creates for us; an ramifications of this potentially epoch- activity like that of the fly to get out of the making development …. The Centre fly bottle. Richard Rorty, writing on Derrida, brings together computer scientists, says “Derrida’s point is that no one can make philosophers, social scientists, sense of a last commentary, a last discussion psychologists, lawyers and others …. It note, a good piece of writing which is more is a collaboration led by Cambridge with than the occasion for a better piece” (1982, links to … University of Oxford, Imperial p. 109). Rorty further says “[p]ragmatists are College, London and the University of saying that the best hope for philosophy is not California, Berkeley …. As Huw Price

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puts it, “Machine intelligence will be one downplaying the importance of measurement of the defining themes of our century which is so fundamental to current science, …. The Centre will bring together suggesting a language in what he called some of the best human intelligence ‘rheomode’- a language which does not assert to help us to make the best of artificial non-flowing, static things, went on to say; intelligence”(2016, p.1) now, in the East the notion of measure Huw Price is the current and in fact, the first, has not played nearly so fundamental Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at a role…. Thus in Sanskrit…there is Cambridge and one could see here the leading a word ‘matra’ meaning measure… roles that Philosophy and philosophers could close to the Greek ‘metron’. But there is play. another word ‘maya’ obtained from the same root which means ‘illusion’. This is It is true that Peradeniya Philosophy does an extremely significant point. Whereas not have the competencies or finances to in Western society measure… is the move that far. But we may involve in cognitive very essence of reality… in the East studies or the study of consciousness, for measure has now come to be regarded example, by examining whether Eastern or as in some way false and deceitful Buddhist thought can contribute something (maya) (1980, p. 29). to enlighten these areas. We also saw that our Department has contributed something I refer to this just to indicate a few in exploring logical, psychological, and possibilities for Philosophy at Peradeniya. epistemological aspects of Buddhist Our competencies in Eastern thought and thought. The contemporary relevance of languages, together with modern knowledge these discussions had engaged attention, and techniques could help us be pathfinders. particularly of Professor K.N. Jayatilleke. The Faculty of Arts in Peradeniya is at the It was not long ago when physicists were moment re-structuring its programme and was looking for illumination from the East for procedure. I understand that the Faculty in understanding contemporary Physics; thus now contemplating the introduction of a course Fritjof Capra’s popular tract The Tao of Physics on ‘critical thinking’. Dr. Charitha Herath, the (1975). Robert Oppenheimer (1954), the present Head of the Department of Philosophy, physicist who directed the Manhattan Project, indicated that the Faculty sees the significance once saw similarities between Catuskoti and in making a distinction between hard skills the present tetralema in Quantum Physics and soft skills that a subject or field imparts, and wrote in that soft skills are regarded as immediately useful in contemporary professional life. A The electron is a wave philosophy course with analytical, logical, and The electron is a particle critical approaches could impart soft skills to spot non-sensical thoughts and misleading The electron is both a wave and a presuppositions, and also make a person alive particle to the possibilities of different approaches to a The electron is neither a wave nor a problem. A philosophy course would help one particle. to be aware of the ethical and value aspects of a position which could be invaluable to sail David Bohm, grappling with current physics safely in the contemporary seas of discourse. and inspired by Krishnamurti, experimenting with a language suitable to express reality,

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PSYCHOLOGY and other matters were to be handled by the Philosophy Department. The idea was The Department of Psychology was for Psychology to emerge first as a sub- established in 2017, with the administrative Department and eventually be independent. separation of Philosophy and Psychology. We had the example of Archaeology first Although teaching a few Psychology courses being under History and then separating (the in Departments like Philosophy, Sociology, difference, and a very significant difference and Education was seen from the beginning at that, was, they had no less a person than of the University in 1942 even by 1990 there Professor Senarath Paranavithana to begin were no degree courses in Psychology, not to with!). mention Departments of Psychology, in any university in Sri Lanka. In the 1960’s, although 2. Availability of teachers in Psychology a fully qualified psychologist, Dr. D. Laksiri No properly qualified teachers in Psychology Jayasuriya, was attached to the Sociology were available at Peradeniya. This, in fact, Department at Peradeniya and was helping was the biggest problem. We had a few the work in the Philosophy and the Education possible paths to explore. Departments there as well, fully fledged degree courses in Psychology were nowhere I. A few foreign Psychology degree in sight. There was some campaigning holders were known to be in Colombo. by Professor Jayatilleke and others for We wanted to see whether we could beginning a Psychology Department but recruit some of them. nothing materialized. During the Headship II. The Departments of Philosophy, of Professor Padmasiri de Silva whose Education, Sociology, and Psychiatry interests linked with Psychology, initiating had teachers handling Psychology proper Psychology courses ‘popped up’ in courses. A suggestion was made discussions in the Philosophy Department to pool the resources available at now and again. When, upon Professor de Peradeniya. We thought we also could Silva’s going on leave, I was appointed Head tap Departments like Economics for of the Department, we started working on teaching subjects like Statistics in the a concrete proposal to start a Psychology Psychology programme. degree programme to be run by our Department. Some of the senior members of III. Exploring the possibility of getting the Department, with reason, were not keen visiting lecturers from abroad sponsored on this move but they did not oppose. The by agencies like the United State task was formidable and perhaps the move Educational Foundation (USEF) in Sri was not wise. Lanka.

To seriously engage in this move, the following It was not difficult to draw up syllabi for two considerations had to be made. papers in Psychology to be taught in the first year with the staff available, the courses being 1. Financial (mainly cadre) provisions of Introduction to Psychology and History (along with administrative, spatial, and of Psychology. With draft syllabi for the first other facilities) year we submitted to the Faculty of Arts the The move was to provide cadre positions proposal to start Psychology courses which temporarily from the few unfilled cadre would eventually lead to Psychology degrees. vacancies in Philosophy for which, of course, When it was taken up in the Faculty, there financial provision was there. Administrative was strong and, I thought, even organized,

-88- The Story of Two Departments: Philosophy and Psychology R. D. Gunaratne opposition arguing against it. There probably Management. Second, medical professors were a number of factors behind this argued that Psychology was already in the opposition, but they had one solid argument: Medical Faculty in the Psychiatry Department. Where were the qualified staff to handle I pointed out that from the beginning of this Psychology? I argued my case, but I felt ‘a University, if any general Psychology was loner’ fighting for a lost cause. Fortunately, taught, it had been in the departments of the Dean, Professor J. M. Gunadasa, was Philosophy, Education, and Sociology, which sympathetic to our proposal. Therefore, when were all in the Arts Faculty. Thirdly, and the discussion heated up, he postponed it most importantly, where were the qualified to another day. When the Faculty met the teachers to handle Psychology? I said following month, I went ready for battle, but, with some confidence that there are some amazingly, the proposal went through the available persons for recruitment. In fact, a Faculty without much discussion. To this day, lecturer in the Psychiatry Department itself I do not know why or how it happened. had previously given me a list of Psychology graduates available in Colombo. All the same, The Faculty sent the proposal to the Senate, I was arguing with formidable opponents like and again, the Senate discussion began Professor Mark Amarasinghe of the Medical with stiff opposition. Some members of the Faculty. Again,Professor Gunadasa, the Medical Faculty rose up in protest, and a Dean/Arts, solidly stood behind the Faculty few from the Science Faculty also opposed proposal and I felt that the Vice-Chancellor, the proposal. The Senate opposition had Professor Lakshman Jayatilleke, was also three arguments. First, was not Psychology sympathetic to our case. At one stage, the a science? If we are starting Psychology, it Vice-Chancellor said there is a Department should be offered by the Medical Faculty or of Philosophy and Psychology! I must record the Science Faculty. I argued that Psychology here how magnanimously Professor Mark is both a Natural and a Social Science and Amarsinghe more or less concluded the that the Arts Faculty which had Social Science discussion, saying “Well, if you have the staff, under it had an equal or better right to have go ahead”. And how Dr. Ranil Abeysinghe, the Psychology there, particularly in view of the then Head of Psychiatry in the Medical Faculty, current application of Psychology in areas like who at the beginning of the Senate discussion questioned the feasibility of the project, later, on my request, gave our Psychology students lectures on Clinical Psychology. For a number of years, and indeed until some Psychology Special graduates passed out, he conducted classes, and at the beginning of the Psychology Course our students were allowed to visit the Psychiatry ward. I feel, with nostalgia, that it was a time when there was still the possibility of an academic, fair, and decent debate at university level.

Thus formal approval was obtained. Getting over such formal challenges, though formidable, turned out to be much less troublesome than the implementation of the Ms C. Keshini Soysa: the invaluable service project as it got ridden with disappointing

-89- Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.7, 74-93, Fall 2017 difficulties. When the posts for lecturers in the Psychology Programme, she was willing Psychology were advertised, a few with to take up the post. At the same time we foreign degrees applied but out of the were conscious of our obligation to maintain applicants only a handful appeared at the University standards. Therefore, before the interview. There was only one applicant final appointment was made, I personally whom we thought could be selected, and checked about the level of her degree that was Miss C. Keshini Soysa. She had a qualification with the Executive Director of good first degree in Psychology (a magna the USEF in Sri Lanka, Mr. Tissa Jayatilaka. I cum laude and phi beta kappa) from Mount reproduce here the response he gave in this Holyoke College, USA, and fortunately for connection;

The USEF in Sri Lanka, Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha,

Colombo 7

March 12, 1990

Professor R.D. Gunaratne Head, Department of Philosophy, University of Peradeniya.

Dear Professor Gunaratne, I refer to the letter you handed over to me in my office on Friday, March 9, 1990. The answer to question one of that letter is that a magna cum laude could be considered the ‘rough’ equivalent of a Sri Lankan second class upper division honors degree. The answer to question two is that Mount Holyoke College, in Massachusetts, is one of the top colleges in the United States.

With warm regards,

Your Sincerely, Tissa Jayatilaka Executive Director

One can see now in hindsight that Keshini’s in two media, English and Sinhala. With her joining us was a significant event in the background in Colombo and USA, Keshini history of the Psychology programme at was probably little used to working in Sinhala. Peradeniya. For if not for her availability, we And at a time when even proper Sinhala terms might not have begun that year. She was the for concepts in modern Psychology were first and, for some time the only, permanent not all that readily available (some were not member of the Psychology staff. She found yet even coined), the way she successfully accommodation at Lady Hill at Dangolla, but managed the Sinhala medium was extremely drove up from Colombo often. We drew up creditable. Keshini worked very hard and General and Special Degree course syllabi in carried a heavy load of work but never was Psychology and got them through the Faculty there even a murmur of protest. She was the and the Senate. We were teaching Psychology anchor of the Psychology programme until

-90- The Story of Two Departments: Philosophy and Psychology R. D. Gunaratne the first batch of special degree students in with some Eastern ideas and practices in it, at Psychology were about to pass out. She then least to make it distinctive. went back to USA to do her postgraduate Although persons like Mr. Tissa Jayatilaka, work. While it is true that she was taking a fairly the executive Director of USEF in Sri Lanka, long time completing her PhD programme were very appreciative of our programme and the Peradeniya University was compelled and explored any possibilities of helping us to terminate her services, it was also a great by sponsoring some qualified Psychology loss. She was a bundle of competence, academics from abroad, their efforts ended energy, and commitment, and the yeoman’s up producing no satisfactory result. Professor service that she rendered the Psychology Jeanne Marecek of the ISLE programme, an programme – the first such programme in the American Psychologist, taught a course in country – deserves to be recorded here. our programme for a year, but some of the We were, as we intended, able to pool Psychology books that were donated to the available resources at Peradeniya for some Psychology programme by the ISLE (sent of the work. Mr. Justin Perera (and later, Mr. from USA) did not reach the Department Somapala) of the Education Department properly. We managed to get Miss Kalhari conducted courses in Educational Hewage with qualifications in Psychology Psychology. Dr. Ranil Abeysinghe, the Head from Georgia (Eastern Europe) to come as a of Psychiatry lectured in Clinical Psychology. visiting lecturer for a couple of years. We had Dr. Anoma Abeyratne in the Economics also Father F.A. Fernando to assist teaching Department helped us by teaching Statistics. in the programme on a temporary basis. The Philosophy Department had resources The first batch of Psychology Special students to provide a course in Buddhist Psychology passed out in 1994. It had students from both and Therapy to Special Degree students. media, English and Sinhala. Out of those who Indeed, it was in our mind at the beginning passed out Ms. Malkanthi Gunaratna was that Psychology at Peradeniya should evolve

The first quartet:The first batch of Psychology students - November1993

(seated ,L to R) Misses M.U. Gunaratna, E.S. Ekanayaka, Fr.F.A. Fernando, Prof R.D. Gunaratne, (Head / Philosophy & Psychology), Prof. J.M. Gunadasa, (Vice -chancellor), Prof. Ashley Halpe, (Dean / Arts), Prof. P. D. Premasiri, Dr. Ranil Abeysinghe, (Head / Psychiatry), Dr. G.D.K. Nanayakkara, Miss. M.K. Hewage, Revds. P. Maithri, K. Sasanasiri.

-91- Social Affairs. Vol.1 No.7, 74-93, Fall 2017 taken in to the Department as a Temporary four of them doctorates. They have a number Assistant Lecturer. Ms. Manju Gunasekara of Temporary Assistant Lecturers to help was in the third batch of Psychology students them with the work, but they are awaiting and was the first to pass out with a First UGC specifications as to the available cadre Class in Psychology. She and her batch mate positions to make new recruitments. Dr. Ms. Gothami Yapa were appointed to the Pathirana thinks that the restriction of the Department in 1997. Manju went on a Fulbright Psychology Special programme to English scholarship to USA in the following year and medium limits the number of students completed her Masters. During my Deanship the Department can admit, and that the of the Faculty we made the justifiable plea for Psychology programme should be made cadre positions for Psychology as the staff open to a wider audience. in Psychology were maintained so far on the Philosophy Department cadre list and the REFERENCES Faculty budget. At a meeting in 1997 which the University Grants Commission (UGC) Alwis, A. T. (2014). Peradeniya: The Founding Chairman Professor Sirisena Thilakaratne had of a University, Vol I. Peradeniya: University with Deans of all the Faculties, he allocated of Peradeniya three new cadre positions to the Department Bohm. D. (1980). Wholeness and the for recruitments in Psychology. This was an Implicate Order. London: Routledge encouraging gesture by the Chairman, in the light of the fact that he was unable to approve Capra, F. (1975). The Tao of Physics: An new positions for any other Faculty. In 2001, Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern three new recruitments to the Psychology Physics and Eastern Mysticism. Colorado: staff were made, those of Ms. Gunendra Shambhala Publications Dissanayake, Ms. Malathi Dissanayake, and Ms. Buddhiprabha Pathirana. During the Chatalian, G. (1983). Early Indian Buddhism first decade of the 21st century, Ms. Pavitra and the Nature of Philosophy: A Philosophical Godamunna, Ramila Usoof, H.A.U. Manel, Investigation. Journal of Indian Philosophy, and Dr. Danesh Karunanyake were taken in 11(2), p. 167-222 to the Psychology staff. Daya Amarasekara et al. (Eds). (2004). From the beginning of the Psychology Iduwara. Colombo: Ariya publication programme there was student interest in it, De Silva M.W.P. (1991). Twin Peaks: and admission became fairly competitive. Compassion and Insight. Singapore: Buddhist The programme was restricted to the Research Society English medium later on. In 2017, it became independent with the new Department of De Silva, M.W.P. (1971). Memorial Tribute to Psychology being gazetted that year. Dr. the late Professor K. N. Jayatilleke. Philosophy Buddhiprabha Pathirana was appointed as the East and West, 21(2), pp. 211-239 first Head of the newly created Department. De Silva, M.W.P. (1973). Buddhist and According to her, at the moment, Psychology Freudian Psychology. Colombo: Lake House is studied by about hundred undergraduates. Investments The Department is still understaffed, and accommodation and other facilities for De Silva, M.W.P. (1974). Tangles and the Department are being attended to. Webs and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle The Department has five members at the Maintenance. Sri Lanka: Author Publication moment, all with postgraduate qualifications, De Silva, M.W.P. (1981). Emotions and

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Therapy: Three Paradigmatic Zones. Kalansuriya, A.D.P. (2003). Buddha’s Peradeniya: University of Peradeniya Discourse and Wittgenstein. Colombo: Compassion Buddhist Institute (first published De Silva, M.W.P. (1991). Introduction to in 1987 as A Philosophical Analysis of Buddhist Psychology. London: Macmillan Buddhist Notions. Delhi: Satguru Publishers) Dharmasiri, G. (1974). A Buddhist Critique of Malalasekara, G.P. & K.N. Jayatilleke. (1958). the Christian Concept of God. Colombo: Lake Buddhism and the Race Question. Paris: House Investments UNESCO Dharmasiri, G. (1986). Fundamentals of Mallikarachchi, D. (2003). Buddha and Marx. Buddhist Ethics. Singapore: The Buddhist Peradeniya: University of Peradeniya Research Society Mallikarachchi, D. (2003). Karl Popper Dharmasiri, G. (1997). The Nature of Marxvadaye Vyaja Vivechakayek. Medicine. Kandy: Author Publication Peradeniya: University of Peradeniya Gunaratne R.D. (1980). Science, Mallikarachchi, D. (2003). Marxvadi Rachana. Understanding and Truth. Colombo: Peradeniya: University of Peradeniya Research Publication Series, Ministry of Higher Education, Republic of Sri Lanka Murti. T. R. V. (1955). Central Philosophy of Buddhism. London: George Allen and Unwin Gunaratne, R.D. (1980). The Logical Form of Catuskoiti: A new Solution. Philosophy East Newsletter of the Faculty of Philosophy. and West, 30(2), pp. 211-239 (2016). Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press Gunaratne, R.D. (1986). Understanding Nagarjuna’s Catuskoti. Philosophy East and Oppenheimer, R. (1954). Science and the West, 31(3), pp. 213-234 Common Understanding. New York: Oxford University Press Gunaratne, R.D. (2003). Kathavatthu: The Logic and its Form. Symposium of Buddhist Ramsey, F.P. & R.B. Braithwaite. (Eds). Studies. London: Thames Meditation Society (1965). The Foundations of Mathematics. USA: Littlefield, Adams & Co. (First published Gunaratne, R.D. (2006/7). Sri Lankan in 1931. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Experience in Philosophy: A Personal Ltd.) Anecdote. Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences, 29/30 (1 & 2), p. 1-12 Reports of the Council of the University of Ceylon (1942 and 1962),Colombo: University Jayatilleke, K.N. (1950). Some Problems of Ceylon Press. of Translation and Interpretation. Ceylon University Review, 08, pp. 45-55 Rorty, R. (1982). Philosophy as a Kind of Writing: Consequences of Pragmatism. Jayatilleke. K. N. (1963). Early Buddhist Minnesota: The University of Minnesota Press Theory of Knowledge. London: George Allen and Unwin Stearn, J. (1968). The Search for the Girl with the Blue Eyes. New York: Doubleday and Jayatilleke, K . N. (1967).The Logic of Four Company Alternativens,Philosophy East and West,17. Sumedha Weerawardhane (2008). Jayatilleke, K.N. (1974). Message of the Mahacharya R. D. Gunaratnege Lipi Lekhana. Buddha (edited by Ninian Smart). Kandy: Dakma, 2, pp.177-186 Buddhist Publication Society

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