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.) He founded the Non-cooperationMovement in 1920, the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930 and theQuit India Movement in 1940.He was much distressed by the violencethat broke out between Hindus and Muslims after Indian independencein 1947.Despite increasing frailty he was by then seventy-eight hetravelled the country in various efforts to restore peace.He was shotdead by a Hindu militant.Gandhi s fundamental belief is in satya, truth , which (with an eyeto Western audiences) he also calls God.Satya is the ruling principleof the universe.Satya manifests itself in all living beings, and especiallyin humans, as self-consciousness or soul or spirit.Satya constitutes theessence of the human being.The body is merely material and, as such,unreal.The satisfaction of bodily desire is degrading inasmuch as it repre-sents a concession to the material and inauthentic.It follows that desirefor anything beyond what is necessary to sustain life is to be avoided.Western civilisation, in so far as it is centred upon the unrestricted satis-faction of material desire, suffers from a spiritual and moral shallownessthat will lead to its downfall.For this reason, Gandhi thinks that Westernmodernisation is not a suitable model for India s future development.Her future must grow from the traditional rural and agricultural rootsof her economy.Because human beings all participate in satya, all are parts of a singlewhole.External differences race, caste, class, religion, regional loyalties are irrelevant.The only appropriate relation between human beings islove.Love, Gandhi says, is the law of our being, and by love he meanswhat we might more usually call compassion: unconditional practicalconcern for the welfare and happiness of others.Such love implies ahimsa,193 MOHANDAS GANDHInon-violence, as a principle of social and political action.The achievementof political and moral ends through ahimsa is what Gandhi calls satyagraha, truth force or non-violent action.This notion of non-violent action isthe crucial part of Gandhi s political theory.But satyagraha is not merelypassive or sullen.It is a theory of action.It calls for courage, strength ofcharacter and positive commitment to a righteous cause.Nor is Gandhi sdoctrine of non-violence absolute or dogmatic.In some circumstances,he thinks, it might be better to choose violence than craven submissionto injustice.On Gandhi s account of the true essence or nature of humankind, thestate as we usually encounter it is the antithesis of how human beingsshould be organised.It institutionalises violence.It commands, compels,constrains.It encourages dependence and undermines self-reliance.Ina word, the state dehumanises us.Yet it is a truth of experience that, inthe present world, human beings lack the capacity to govern themselves.How, then, should government be organised so as not to be inimical tothe real nature and needs of its citizens? The answer is a minimal state:a state that is as non-coercive as possible and that leaves citizens withthe greatest possible degree of freedom to develop their potentialitieswith dignity and self-respect.Gandhi s ideal is of a state consisting ofself-governing village communities small enough for love to be a prac-tical reality and for communal approval and disapproval to be effectivemoral forces without the need for routine and formalised coercion.Theends of such a state will be achieved not through threats and force, butthrough persuasion and consensus.Conflict will be resolved construc-tively, through discussion and negotiation.Crime will be regarded notas wrongdoing to be punished, but as an illness to be treated by helpand understanding.Villages will elect district representatives, who willin turn elect provincial and national representatives.Decisions willnormally be taken by a majority; but there will be two important anti-dotes to a possible tyranny of the majority: namely, proper representationof minority interests and an indefeasible right of individual civil disobe-dience if one is called upon to act against conscience.This right of civildisobedience cannot be taken away, Gandhi thinks, without violating themoral nature of humanity.The state that Gandhi depicts will above all be committed to sarvodaya:that is, to the development or improvement of all human beings ratherthan a ruling class or favoured few (it must be remembered that he iswriting of an India in which there is still a deeply entrenched castesystem).Gandhi disapproves of private property in so far as privateproperty involves exploitation and inequality and accords primacy tomaterial desire, but he concedes that, since it is everywhere established,194 SIR KARL POPPERit would not be feasible to abolish it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.) He founded the Non-cooperationMovement in 1920, the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930 and theQuit India Movement in 1940.He was much distressed by the violencethat broke out between Hindus and Muslims after Indian independencein 1947.Despite increasing frailty he was by then seventy-eight hetravelled the country in various efforts to restore peace.He was shotdead by a Hindu militant.Gandhi s fundamental belief is in satya, truth , which (with an eyeto Western audiences) he also calls God.Satya is the ruling principleof the universe.Satya manifests itself in all living beings, and especiallyin humans, as self-consciousness or soul or spirit.Satya constitutes theessence of the human being.The body is merely material and, as such,unreal.The satisfaction of bodily desire is degrading inasmuch as it repre-sents a concession to the material and inauthentic.It follows that desirefor anything beyond what is necessary to sustain life is to be avoided.Western civilisation, in so far as it is centred upon the unrestricted satis-faction of material desire, suffers from a spiritual and moral shallownessthat will lead to its downfall.For this reason, Gandhi thinks that Westernmodernisation is not a suitable model for India s future development.Her future must grow from the traditional rural and agricultural rootsof her economy.Because human beings all participate in satya, all are parts of a singlewhole.External differences race, caste, class, religion, regional loyalties are irrelevant.The only appropriate relation between human beings islove.Love, Gandhi says, is the law of our being, and by love he meanswhat we might more usually call compassion: unconditional practicalconcern for the welfare and happiness of others.Such love implies ahimsa,193 MOHANDAS GANDHInon-violence, as a principle of social and political action.The achievementof political and moral ends through ahimsa is what Gandhi calls satyagraha, truth force or non-violent action.This notion of non-violent action isthe crucial part of Gandhi s political theory.But satyagraha is not merelypassive or sullen.It is a theory of action.It calls for courage, strength ofcharacter and positive commitment to a righteous cause.Nor is Gandhi sdoctrine of non-violence absolute or dogmatic.In some circumstances,he thinks, it might be better to choose violence than craven submissionto injustice.On Gandhi s account of the true essence or nature of humankind, thestate as we usually encounter it is the antithesis of how human beingsshould be organised.It institutionalises violence.It commands, compels,constrains.It encourages dependence and undermines self-reliance.Ina word, the state dehumanises us.Yet it is a truth of experience that, inthe present world, human beings lack the capacity to govern themselves.How, then, should government be organised so as not to be inimical tothe real nature and needs of its citizens? The answer is a minimal state:a state that is as non-coercive as possible and that leaves citizens withthe greatest possible degree of freedom to develop their potentialitieswith dignity and self-respect.Gandhi s ideal is of a state consisting ofself-governing village communities small enough for love to be a prac-tical reality and for communal approval and disapproval to be effectivemoral forces without the need for routine and formalised coercion.Theends of such a state will be achieved not through threats and force, butthrough persuasion and consensus.Conflict will be resolved construc-tively, through discussion and negotiation.Crime will be regarded notas wrongdoing to be punished, but as an illness to be treated by helpand understanding.Villages will elect district representatives, who willin turn elect provincial and national representatives.Decisions willnormally be taken by a majority; but there will be two important anti-dotes to a possible tyranny of the majority: namely, proper representationof minority interests and an indefeasible right of individual civil disobe-dience if one is called upon to act against conscience.This right of civildisobedience cannot be taken away, Gandhi thinks, without violating themoral nature of humanity.The state that Gandhi depicts will above all be committed to sarvodaya:that is, to the development or improvement of all human beings ratherthan a ruling class or favoured few (it must be remembered that he iswriting of an India in which there is still a deeply entrenched castesystem).Gandhi disapproves of private property in so far as privateproperty involves exploitation and inequality and accords primacy tomaterial desire, but he concedes that, since it is everywhere established,194 SIR KARL POPPERit would not be feasible to abolish it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]