Abstract:
The main objective of this research is to understand the deep structures in the ways of
thinking among Sri Lankans. This is mainly inspired by my preoccupations with the
historical consciousness of the Sinhala-Buddhist community in Sri Lanka in the last
three decades and the deep political changes in the last two decades. I am using the
phrase "ways of thinking" following Najime Nakamura's definition in his famous work
"The Ways of Thinking of the Eastern Peoples" (University of Hawaii Press, 1974).
"The phrase 'ways of thinking' refers to any individual's characteristic features of the
thinking habits of the culture to which he belongs [...J 'Ways of thinking' as here used
will designate especially ways of thinking about concrete, empirical questions, which
may, on many occasions, involve also value judgments and questions of values in
ethics, religion, aesthetics, and other such human concerns" (p.5). The outcome of the
research will be presented under the following thematic investigations:
