Gandhi and his non-violence (original) (raw)
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GANDHI’S PHILOSOPHY OF NON-VIOLENCE: A CRITIQUE
The present paper discusses the philosophy of ‘nonviolence’ (ahimsa) of Mahatma Gandhi, which he devised as a weapon to fight the brute forces of violence and hatred, hailing it as the only way to peace. Gandhi based his philosophy of nonviolence on the principle of love for all and hatred for none. He thought violence as an act caused to a person directly or indirectly, denying him his legitimate rights in the society by force, injury or deception. Gandhi’s nonviolence means avoiding violent means to achieve one’s end, howsoever, lofty it might be, as he firmly believed that the use of violence, even if in the name of achieving a justifiable end was not good, as it would bring more violence. He firmly adhered to the philosophy of Gita that preaches to follow the rightful path, remaining oblivious of its outcome. Gandhi used nonviolence in both his personal and political life and used it first in South Africa effectively and back home he applied it in India against the British with far more astounding success, as it proved supremely useful and efficacious in liberating the country from the British servitude. However, he never tried to use it as a political tactic to embarrass the opponent or to take undue
Inspired by Gandhi: Mahatma Gandhi's Influence on Significant Leaders of Nonviolence
History in Flux, 2020
The leader of the Indian independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi, left an invaluable legacy: he proved to the world that it was possible to achieve political aims without the use of violence. He was the first political activist to develop strategies of nonviolent mass resistance based on a solid philosophical and uniquely religious foundation. Since Gandhi’s death in 1948, in many parts of the world, this legacy has been received and continued by others facing oppression, inequality, or a lack of human rights. This article is a tribute to five of the most faithful followers of Gandhi who have acknowledged his inspiration for their political activities and in choosing nonviolence as a political method and way of life: Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Martin Luther King, Louis Massignon, the Dalai Lama, and Malala Yousafzai. This article describes their formative leadership and their significance and impact on regional and global politics and history.
Gandhi's Philosophy of Nonviolence: Essential Selections
2021
A concise open-access teaching resource featuring essential selections from Gandhi on the philosophy of nonviolence. The book includes: a preface, brief explanatory notes, supplementary boxes containing related philosophical material, images and videos, an appendix on post-Gandhian nonviolence, questions for reflection/discussion, and suggestions for further study.
The Limits of Gandhian Non-Violence
Countercurrents, 2021
This article is a brief analysis of the conditions under which the strategy of non-violent political protest can be effective, and the consequences of their absence.
Rediscovering Gandhi and Principled Nonviolence: An Imperative for the 21st Century
Thammasat Review, 2015
Violence is the behaviour of someone incapable of imagining other solutions to the problem at hand" Bettelheim "I oppose all violence because the good it does is always temporary but the harm it does is permanent" Gandhi. "Nonviolence is a Weapon of the Strong" Gandhi "Nonviolence is fine as long as it works" Malcolm X "Nonviolence is a flop. The only bigger flop is violence" Joan Baez "To kill one man is to be guilty of a capital crime, to kill ten men is to increase the guilt tenfold , to kill a hundred men is to increase it a hundred-fold. This the rulers of the earth all recognise and yet when it comes to the greatest crime-waging war on another state-they praise it..." Mozi, China 470-391 BC This paper argues that while strategic nonviolence is necessary for the overthrow of repressive regimes it is not sufficient for the social, economic and political transformations that follow. Many of the nonviolent revolutions that have succeeded recently in overthrowing dictators and autocrats have not been successful in initiating short, medium and long term peace dividends for the people nor a radical critique of traditional approaches to governance. This paper argues that these things will only happen if nonviolent leaders and followers have a principled approach to social change. It is this which will enable a strong service oriented social and political compass. Without a deep and principled dedication to care for the welfare of others any tactical political change will founder on the rocks of pragmatic and sectional politics.
Another Realism: The Politics of Gandhian Nonviolence
American Political Science Review, 2012
Although Gandhi is often taken to be an exemplary moral idealist in politics, this article seeks to demonstrate that Gandhian nonviolence is premised on a form of political realism, specifically a contextual, consequentialist, and moral-psychological analysis of a political world understood to be marked by inherent tendencies toward conflict, domination, and violence. By treating nonviolence as the essential analog and correlative response to a realist theory of politics, one can better register the novelty of satyagraha(nonviolent action) as a practical orientation in politics as opposed to a moral proposition, ethical stance, or standard of judgment. The singularity of satyagraha lays in its self-limiting character as a form of political action that seeks to constrain the negative consequences of politics while working toward progressive social and political reform. Gandhian nonviolence thereby points toward a transformational realism that need not begin and end in conservatism, moral equivocation, or pure instrumentalism.
NON-VIOLENT TEACHINGS OF GANDHI
isara solutions, 2020
We find that much development and great achievements have been made in science and technology for human upliftment . These are external developments, but we have no internal or psychological development lack of which is the cause of violence . Many humanist thinkers and philosophers have contributed to build up a peaceful and perfect society. But there is a little impact of their message on human civilization . But with the help of modern science and technology , some political and social leaders of the world are performing inhuman actions day by day generating disintegration, violence, terrorism, war at national, international , religious, social and political levels .
MAHATMA GANDHI’S PHILOSOPHY ON NON-VIOLENCE
This paper demonstrates that the political theory of Mahatma Gandhi provides us a novel way to understand and arbitrate the conflict among moral projects. Gandhi offers us a vision of political action that insists on the viability of the search for truth and the implicit possibility of adjudicating among competing claims to truth. His vision also presents a more complex and realistic understanding, than some other contemporary pluralists, of political philosophy and of political life itself. In an increasingly multicultural world, political theory is presented with perhaps it’s most vigorous challenge yet. As radically different moral projects confront one another, the problem of competing claims of truth arising from particular views of the human good remains crucial for political philosophy and political action. Recent events have demonstrated that the problem is far from being solved and that its implications are more far-reaching than the domestic politics of industrialized nations. As the problem of violence has also become coterminous with issues of pluralism, many have advocated the banishing of truth claims from politics altogether. Political theorists have struggled to confront this problem through a variety of conceptual lenses. Debates pertaining to the politics of multiculturalism, tolerance, or recognition have all been concerned with the question of pluralism as one of the most urgent facts of political life, in need of both theoretical and practical illumination.
2009
The non-violent protests of civil rights activists and anti-nuclear campaigners during the 1960s helped to redefine Western politics. But where did they come from? Sean Scalmer uncovers their history in an earlier generation's intense struggles to understand and emulate the activities of Mahatma Gandhi. He shows how Gandhi's non-violent protests were the subject of widespread discussion and debate in the USA and UK for several decades. Though at first misrepresented by Western newspapers, they were patiently described and clarified by a devoted group of cosmopolitan advocates. Small groups of Westerners experimented with Gandhian techniques in virtual anonymity and then, on the cusp of the 1960s, brought these methods to a wider audience. The swelling protests of later years increasingly abandoned the spirit of non-violence, and the central significance of Gandhi and his supporters has therefore been forgotten. This book recovers this tradition, charts its transformation, an...