ISBN:
813222115X
Language:
English
Pages:
Online Ressource (3767 KB, 181 S.)
Edition:
1. Aufl.
Series Statement:
Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures v.9
Parallel Title:
Print version The Tagore-Gandhi Debate on Matters of Truth and Untruth
DDC:
10
Keywords:
Electronic books
Abstract:
Between 1915 and 1941, Tagore (1861-1941) and Gandhi (1869-1948) differed and argued about many things of personal, national, and international significance---satyagraha, non-cooperation, the boycott and burning of foreign cloth, the efficacy of fasting as a means of resistance and Gandhi's mantra connecting 'swaraj' and 'charkha'. The author tracks the development of this dialogue and argues that the debate was about more fundamental issues, such as the nature of truth and swaraj/freedom and the possibilities of untruth that Tagore saw in Gandhi's movements for truth and freedom. Puri shows that the differences between the two men's perspectives came from differently negotiated relationships to (and understandings of) tradition and modernity. Tagore was part of the Bengal renaissance and powerfully influenced by the idea that the Enlightenment consisted in the freedom of the individual to reason for herself. Gandhi, on the other hand, remained close to the Indian philosophical tradition which linked individual freedom to moral progress. Puri points out that Tagore cannot, however, be unreflectively assimilated to the Enlightenment project of Western modernity, for he came fairly close to Gandhi in rejecting the anthropocentricism of modernity and shared Gandhi's belief in an enchanted cosmos. The only single-authored volume on the Tagore-Gandhi debate, this book is a welcome addition to the existing literature. Bindu Puriis an associate professor with the Department of Philosophy, University of Delhi, Delhi, India. She has been interested in issues in political philosophy, moral philosophy, and modern Indian philosophy. She has published six books, including one monograph, entitled Gandhi and the Moral Life. She has edited Mahatma Gandhi and His Contemporariesand co-edited two volumes on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, entitled Reason, Morality and Beauty, and Terror, Peace and Universalism, published by Oxford University Press. She has recently co-edited a special issue of IIC Quarterly on Living with Religious Diversity(April 2014). She has published about 35 articles, including book reviews, in philosophical and interdisciplinary journals of international repute, including articles in Sophia, Philosophia and the Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research, some of which are: The Self and the Other: Liberalism and Gandhi(Philosophia, Vol. 39[4], 2011); Freedom and the Dynamics of the Self and the 'Other': Re-constructing the Debate between Tagore and Gandhi(Sophia 52[2], 2013); and Finding Reasons for Being Reasonable: Interrogating Rawls(Sophia 2014). Professor Puri has presented many papers in national and international seminars and has delivered several invited lectures in universities in India and abroad.
Description / Table of Contents:
Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgments; Contents; About the Author; Book Notes; 1 The Tagore--Gandhi Debate: An Account of the Central Issues; Abstract; 1.1 A Brief Chronology of Events; 1.1.1 An Account of the Central Issues; 1.2 The Four Phases of the Tagore--Gandhi Exchange; 1.2.1 The First Phase (1915--1922); 1.2.2 The Second Phase (1923--1928); 1.2.2.1 Tagore's Arguments Against Spinning; 1.2.2.2 Gandhi's Arguments in Support of ``Spinning for Swaraj''; 1.2.3 The Third Phase (1929--1933); 1.2.4 The Fourth Phase (1934--1941); 1.3 The Importance of the Tagore--Gandhi Debate
Description / Table of Contents:
A.0. Essays by Gandhi and Tagore cited from Bhattacharya (2008)A.0.0 M. K. Gandhi; A.0.0 Rabindranath Tagore; References; 2 Of Mantras and Unquestioned Creeds: Reconstructing Gandhi's Moral Insights; Abstract; 2.1 Gandhi and Yoga: A Brief Overview of Yoga; 2.2 Truth/God, Freedom and Love: Central Gandhian Insights; 2.3 The Priority of Virtue in Gandhi; 2.3.1 The Yama/Niyama as Gandhian Virtues; 2.3.2 Gandhi: The ``Great Tapasvi''; 2.3.3 Gandhi's Notion of Virtue and the Unity of a Good Human Life; 2.3.4 Asteya Aparigraha and Brahmacharya; References
Description / Table of Contents:
3 Gandhi's Truth: Debate, Criticism and the Possibilities of Closure in Moral ArgumentsAbstract; 3.1 Gandhi's Truth: The Rejection of Moral Principles and Moral Criticism; 3.2 Interrogating Gandhi: Moral Criticism, Moral Principles and Exemplars; 3.2.1 Moral Criticism and Gandhian Ahimsa; 3.2.2 The Possibility of Objective Moral Truths in Gandhi; 3.2.3 The Gandhian Exemplar; 3.3 Gandhi and Relativism About Truth; 3.4 Gandhi's Truth: Both Cognitive and Experiential; A.1. Essays by Gandhi and Tagore cited from Bhattacharya (2008); A.1.0 M. K. Gandhi; A.1.0 Rabindranath Tagore; References
Description / Table of Contents:
4 Tagore: On the Possibilities of Untruth and Moral TyrannyAbstract; 4.1 The Relationship Between Individual Freedom, Reason and Rationality; 4.1.1 Man Against the Background of the Whole: Not Alone; 4.2 On the Myriad Possibilities of Self-concern in Mantras and Martyrdom; 4.2.1 Of Ethical Self-assuredness; 4.2.2 Of Moral Tyranny and the Demand for Obedience; 4.2.3 Gandhian Asceticism: A Denial of Ordinary Life; 4.2.4 Martyrdom and Fasting: The Individual's Exultation in ``Self''-Effacement; 4.3 Tagore: Misunderstanding the Possibilities of Untruth in Gandhi's Methods
Description / Table of Contents:
4.3.1 Moral Practice and Testing One's Moral Beliefs4.3.2 Ahimsa as the Only Means to Truth; 4.4 Of Collectives: Nation, Caste and Varna; 4.4.1 Nation and Patriotism in The Home and the World; 4.4.2 Cosmopolitanism in The Home and the World; 4.4.3 Loss of Individual Freedom: Life in The Kingdom of Cards; References; 5 Understanding Swaraj: Tagore and Gandhi; Abstract; 5.1 Gandhi's Swaraj; 5.1.1 Gandhi's Swaraj: Home Rule and Self-Rule; 5.1.2 Satyagraha and Swaraj; 5.1.3 Ram Rajya: Swaraj for the Prince and the Peasant; 5.2 The Interrogative Outsider: Reconstructing Tagore's Notion of Freedom
Description / Table of Contents:
5.2.1 Tagore's Swarajya: A Kantian Reconstruction
Note:
Description based upon print version of record
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