Yukthivadi (The Rationalist) was the first rationalist/atheist journal published in Malayalam. The contribution made by Yukthivadi to the renaissance of Kerala, India is significant. The launch of Yukthivadi marks the beginning of organised rationalism in Kerala, which is a key constituent of the Reformation Movement in the state.
Yukthivadi started its publication in August 1929 from Ernakulam under the editorial board of M. Ramavarma Thampan, C. Krishnan, C. V. Kunhiraman, Sahodaran Ayyappan and M.C. Joseph. [1] In a statement published in the first issue of Yukthivadi, Sahodaran K. Ayyappan wrote:
In spite of the fact that all of the editorial board members were well known social activists, the conservative Kerala welcomed its publication with expected derision. Even such a well known personality as Moorkoth Kumaran did not hesitate to pen a poem denigrating the publishers. Not surprisingly, a meeting of a religious sect passed a resolution cursing the publishers of Yukthivadi!
In August 1931 M.C.Joseph became its sole editor-publisher and shifted the publication to Irinjalakkuda. For the next forty five years until June 1974 M.C.Joseph brought out the magazine without any interruption. In July 1974, because of his failing health (he was 87 then), he handed over the magazine to Unni Kakkanad, who published it for yet another decade before it ceased publication 1 .
The vibrant rationalist movement that is seen in Kerala today is undoubtedly the direct consequence of the ideas spread by Yukthivadi for more than half a century.
In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification", often in contrast to other possible sources of knowledge such as faith, tradition, or sensory experience. More formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory "in which the criterion of truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive".
Critical rationalism is an epistemological philosophy advanced by Karl Popper on the basis that, if a statement cannot be logically deduced, it might nevertheless be possible to logically falsify it. Following Hume, Popper rejected any inductive logic that is ampliative, i.e., any logic that can provide more knowledge than deductive logic. In other words if we cannot assert it logically, we should at the least try to logically falsify it, which led Popper to his falsifiability criterion.
Modern philosophy is philosophy developed in the modern era and associated with modernity. It is not a specific doctrine or school, although there are certain assumptions common to much of it, which helps to distinguish it from earlier philosophy.
Abraham Thomas Kovoor was an Indian professor and rationalist who gained prominence after retirement for his campaign to expose as frauds various Indian and Sri Lankan "god-men" and so-called paranormal phenomena. His direct, trenchant criticism of spiritual frauds and organized religions was enthusiastically received by audiences, initiating a new dynamism in the Rationalist movement, especially in Sri Lanka and India.
Malayalam journalism encompasses journalism published and broadcast in the Malayalam language. Modern Malayalam journalism can be traced to the publication of the Raajyasamaachaaram and the Pashchimodhayam under the direction of Hermann Gundert in June 1847. Kerala has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English and Malayalam.
Joseph Edamaruku, popularly identified by his surname Edamaruku, was a journalist and rationalist from Kerala. He was the Delhi Bureau chief of the Malayalam magazine Keralasabdam for more than twenty years, and the founder-editor of Therali, a rationalist periodical in Malayalam. He was president of the Indian Rationalist Association from 1995 to 2005.
Sanal Edamaruku is an Indian author and rationalist. He is the founder-president and editor of Rationalist International, the president of the Indian Rationalist Association and the author of 25 books and other articles. In 2012, after examining an alleged miracle at a local church in Mumbai, he was charged under India's blasphemy law, causing him to voluntarily exile to Finland.
Kumbalathuparambu Ayyappan, better identified as Sahodaran Ayyappan, was a social reformer, thinker, rationalist, journalist, and politician from Kerala, India. A vocal follower of Sree Narayana Guru, he was associated with a number of events related to the Kerala reformation movement and was the organizer of Misra Bhojanam in Cherai in 1917. He founded Sahodara Sangam, and the journal Sahodaran and was the founder editor of the magazine Yukthivadi.
Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham is a rationalist organization based in Kerala, India. The organization says it stands for rationalism and humanism. It is the initiator of the umbrella organization for rationalism and humanism, Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations.The Rationalist Movement in Kerala had started with the Sahodara Sangham, formed by K. Ayyappan on May 29, 1917 at Cherai, in Ernakulam. This fraternity forum propagated 'Mishra Bhojanam', which was unthinkable as well as very revolutionary at the time. These movements paved way for a rationalist organization which started functioning in 1967. Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham is the continuation of this parent avatar. The organization started functioning in 1967. It has units in all the districts in Kerala and in the Union Territorial district of Mahi. Yukthirekha, a monthly in Malayalam, is the official magazine of Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham, which has been in circulation since 1983. KYS has a youth wing, Humanist Youth Movement, and a parallel wing, Kerala Misra Vivahavedi, a sub-organisation for the cause of inter-religious and inter-caste married lives. KYS also manages A T Kovoor Trust and Pavanan Institute. KYS is an associate organization of International Humanist Ethical Union, now Humanist International, headquartered in London.
The Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) promotes the interests of rationalists nationally in Australia. Originally formed as the Victorian Rationalist Association, the society originated in a meeting of freethinkers in the University of Melbourne in 1906. It is the operational arm of the rationalist movement in Australia.
Yukthi Rekha (യുക്തിരേഖ) is a rationalist periodical published monthly in Malayalam. It is the official magazine of the organisation, Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham. It was founded in 1984 by Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham, a rationalist organisation. Pavanan was the founder-editor of the magazine. Kesavan Vellikulangara served on the editorial board of the magazine.
Mookencheril Cherian Joseph, popularly known as Yukthivadi M. C. Joseph, was an eminent rationalist from Kerala, India. He was one of the very significant figures of Kerala Renaissance too.
C. V. Kunhiraman was an Indian social reformer, journalist and the founder of Kerala Kaumudi daily. A follower of Sree Narayana Guru, Kunhiraman was the author of a number of books covering the genres of novels, short story, poetry, biographies and essays. He was one of the leaders involved in the Vaikom Satyagraha of Reformation movement in Kerala which led to the Temple Entry Proclamation.
In architecture, Rationalism is an architectural current which mostly developed from Italy in the 1920s and 1930s. Vitruvius had claimed in his work De architectura that architecture is a science that can be comprehended rationally. The formulation was taken up and further developed in the architectural treatises of the Renaissance. Eighteenth-century progressive art theory opposed the Baroque use of illusionism with the classic beauty of truth and reason.
Moral rationalism, also called ethical rationalism, is a view in meta-ethics according to which moral principles are knowable a priori, by reason alone. Some prominent figures in the history of philosophy who have defended moral rationalism are Plato and Immanuel Kant. Perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of philosophy who has rejected moral rationalism is David Hume. Recent philosophers who have defended moral rationalism include Richard Hare, Christine Korsgaard, Alan Gewirth, and Michael Smith.
Theistic rationalism is a hybrid of natural religion, Christianity, and rationalism, in which rationalism is the predominant element. According to Henry Clarence Thiessen, the concept of theistic rationalism first developed during the eighteenth century as a form of English and German Deism. The term "theistic rationalism" occurs as early as 1856, in the English translation of a German work on recent religious history. Some scholars have argued that the term properly describes the beliefs of some of the prominent Founding Fathers of the United States, including George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson.
The reformation movement in Kerala refers to a socio-cultural shift that began in the late 19th century, resulting in significant transformations in the social fabric of the southern Indian state of Kerala.
Ravipudi Venkatadri was an Indian activist in the rationalist and humanist movements.
Maharashtra Rationalist Association was an organisation dedicated to spreading rationalism and humanism in Maharashtra, India, and was an integral part of the rationalist movement in Maharashtra. The organisation is succeeded by Mumbai Rationalist Association, which in turn has paved the way for Sunday Sapiens.
Sahodaran was an Indian Malayalam-language newspaper published in Kerala from 1917 to 1956. It was the mouthpiece of Sahodara Sangham, an organisation founded by Sahodaran Ayyappan to fight against the caste system in Kerala.