Friday, June 3rd, 10.45 – 13.00, at Università di Verona, Room 1.3
Abstract:
Globalization has created incalculable structures that generate new forms of violence. Within these structures we as humans become, mostly unnoticed by ourselves, indifferent to this violence and lose our moral strength. Within this framework Gandhi’s famous call for comprehensiveness is more urgent than ever.
Despite the non-western origins of Mahatma Gandhi’s most important and inspiring concepts of ahimsa and Satyagraha, the depth and emancipating power of these concepts can nonetheless find resonance in and enrich western thinking. Ahimsa, or non-violence, was for Gandhi a concept much broader and deeper in meaning, than simply refraining from physical aggression. In this paper I will explore the dynamic relations between ahimsa and the search for Truth. Quintessential to this dynamic relationship is the means by which the ends are pursued, for according to Gandhi we can only control the former, whereas the latter cannot be separated from these. A call for a radical need for democracy and swaraj, or self-rule, is voiced by Gandhi, connecting it to his call for comprehensiveness. “True democracy can only be the outcome of non-violence”.