Satyagraha as the Philosophy of Nonviolent Resistance: Sermon on the Mount as the Ethico-Spiritual Source Pius V Thomas1 (original) (raw)
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Making Sense of Gandhi's Satyagraha
APA Studies on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies, Vol. 22, No. 1 , 2022
The 153rd Anniversary of the birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is as much a cause for celebration as for reflection on the future of this globe we inhabit. The global spurt in the incidence of violence, intolerance, and hatred in the twenty-first century has given rise to vast cultural and moral chaos. This phenomenon has its roots in the sad demise of humanitarianism and the concomitant history of moral decomposition the world over. At this crucial juncture, Gandhi’s worldview invariably activates the moral impulse towards building a nonviolent social order. Gandhi’s worldview in its pristine form represents an idea of an accommodative truth built not merely on mutual tolerance but on acceptance of the other as an equal and dignified soul. Gandhi’s life journey evolved through experiments for building a humane society based upon the troika of truth, nonviolence, and satyagraha. This paper aims to deliberate upon Gandhi’s worldview grounded in his moral philosophy of satyagraha and show how it can work as an effective countervailing tool and method to understand the growing culture and discourse of violence today.
Nonviolence and Religion.-reprint
Nonviolence and Religion, 2023
this is the printed edition of the Special Issue "Nonviolence and Religion," published in the open access journal "Religions." Editors: Wolfgang Palaver, Ed Noort, Louise du Toit and Ephraim Meir. ISSN 2077-1444 available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special issues/NaR.
2003
Unlike the situation existing for studies of aggression and violence, the literature on the psychology of nonviolence is sparse. Psychological perspectives on nonviolence can however be derived from the metapsychological and psychospiritual writings of major recognized practitioners of nonviolence. This paper will therefore draw on the thought and work of Mahatma Gandhi as well as three North Americans who were or are still involved in militant nonviolence and who recognize Gandhi as a mentor: Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Jim Douglass.
Revisiting Gandhian Philosophy: A Critical Study of R K Narayan’s Waiting for the Mahatma
English, 2021
R K Narayan’s novel Waiting for the Mahatma covers in considerable detail the years of political turmoil preceding the Partition of India, taking Mahatma Gandhi as one of its leading characters. The article attempts to analyse how the novel illustrates the role of Gandhi as a political leader and philosophical guide and the influence of his ideology and philosophy on other characters during the Indian independence movement. First, it pinpoints Gandhi’s philosophical thoughts as documented in his own writings and activities and then points out how those are integrated into the novel. The article also investigates the attitudes of Gandhi’s followers (as the characters of the novel) as well as those of the common people towards his thoughts and activities. Thus, the study aims to offer a textual analysis of the novel by revisiting Gandhian philosophy focusing, especially, on values of ahimsa, Satyagraha and non-violent resistance.
the cambridge companion to GANDHI Even today, six decades after his assassination in January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi is still revered as the father of the Indian nation. His intellectual and moral legacy -encapsulated in works such as Hind Swaraj -as well as the example of his life and politics serve as an inspiration to human rights and peace movements, political activists, and students in classroom discussions throughout the world. This book, comprising essays by renowned experts in the fields of Indian history and philosophy, traces Gandhi's extraordinary story. The first part of the book, the biography, explores his transformation from a smalltown lawyer during his early life in South Africa into a skilled political activist and leader of civil resistance in India. The second part is devoted to Gandhi's key writings and his thinking on a broad range of topics, including religion, conflict, politics, and social relations. The final part reflects on Gandhi's image -how he has been portrayed in literature and film -and on his legacy in India, the West, and beyond.
Fidelity to Truth: Gandhi and the Genealogy of Civil Disobedience
Political Theory, 2017
Mohandas Gandhi is civil disobedience’s most original theorist and most influential mythmaker. As a newspaper editor in South Africa, he chronicled his experiments with satyagraha by drawing parallels to ennobling historical precedents. Most enduring of these were Socrates and Henry David Thoreau. The genealogy Gandhi invented in these years has become a cornerstone of contemporary liberal narratives of civil disobedience as a continuous tradition of conscientious appeal ranging from Socrates to King to Rawls. One consequence of this contemporary canonization of Gandhi’s narrative, however, has been to obscure the radical critique of violence that originally motivated it. This essay draws on Edward Said’s account of travelling theory to unsettle the myth of doctrine that has formed around civil disobedience. By placing Gandhi’s genealogy in the context of his critique of modern civilization, as well as his formative but often-overlooked encounter with the British women’s suffrage mo...