"Gandhi's Synthesis of Liberal and Communitarian Values: A Guest Post by Sanjay Lal"
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Sanjay Lal
Issue Date
Type
Other
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Gandhi’s Synthesis of Liberal and Communitarian Values (a guest post by Sanjay Lal)
by elisa freschi
This is a guest-post by Sanjay Lal (Clayton State University). For further info on guest-posts on the Indian Philosophy Blog, check this page.
————————
I would like to share some of what I'm working on with the readers of the Indian Philosophy Blog. Recently made available on the web-site of The Journal of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (and uploaded on academia.edu) is my article “Gandhi’s synthesis of liberal and communitarian values: Its basis and insights” (http://link.springer.com/journal/40961/onlineFirst/page/1). In this piece, which I expect to appear in the journal’s June print issue (vol. 33 issue 2), I argue that an underlying harmony can be found in Gandhi’s philosophy among seemingly contradictory liberal and communitarian values (e.g. the right of conscience, and honoring one’s inherited social place) given his overall views on Self-realization. Ultimately, I aim to show that if we interpret Gandhi’s thoughts on the Self in a way that is in line with the Advaita Vedānta tradition (an interpretation textually justified) we can better understand his basis for thinking seemingly disparate liberal and communitarian concepts make up a coherent whole. Additionally, I argue that Gandhi’s synthesis of such concepts has relevance for present day conflicts which consume the “real world” (such as those relating to secular and religious understandings of the right kind of society). It is my belief that Gandhi shows there exist little noticed resources within classical Hindu philosophy which are useful for a world coping with sectarian conflicts and that are much more profound than the standard pluralistic interpretations of Hinduism suggest.
Description
Professional blog post