Gandhi, the Philosopher

Gandhi's thought and his ideas about specific political strategies in specific contexts flowed from ideas that were very remote from politics; instead they flowed from and were integrated to the most abstract epistemological and methodological commitments. The quality of his thought has sometimes been lost because of the other images Gandhi evolves - a shrewd politician and a deeply spiritual figure. Gandhi's view of moral sense, his denial of the assumed connection between moral sense and moral judgment, is of considerable philosophical interest and in his writings, take on a fascinating theoretical consolidation. In Gandhiâ??s highly 'integrating' suggestion, as this paper suggests, there is no true non-violence until criticism is removed from the scope of moral; the ideal of non-violence is thus part of a moral position in which moral principles, which lead us to criticise others, are eschewed.