Social Scientist

Making Sense of Gandhi's Idea of Truth

Author(s): R. C. Pradhan
Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 34, No. 5/6 (May - Jun., 2006), pp. 36-49
Published by: Social Scientist
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Making Sense of Gandhi's Idea of Truth

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U rY In this paper my effort is to bring out the significance of the concept
of truth which occupies a central place in the system of Gandhian
thought. Truth, according to Gandhi, is the corner-stone of his
thought and life as is reflected in his An Autobiography or The Story of
My Experiments with Truth} Truth is a multi-textured concept as it
appears in its spiritual, moral and metaphysical dimensions. It is
difficult to pinpoint which aspect of truth Gandhi espoused to the
exclusion of the other aspects, though it is apparent that it bears
predominantly a moral connotation, as it has been argued by
Professor Akeel Bilgrami2.
My argument will be that the concept of truth in Gandhi bears
multiple meanings in view of the rich theoretical and practical
implications which follow from it. For Gandhi, truth is not only a
metaphysical category but also a moral and spiritual concept
signifying the importance of truth in life.
I will also argue that Gandhi's idea of truth is free from any
theological connotation because, though he calls truth God he does
not intend to keep truth within the domain of religion alone. For
Gandhi, truth transcends the rigid framework of all religions and
therefore cannot be appropriated by any religion for that matter.
Truth is the foundation of all religions and so cannot be part of any
religion.

I.Truth in thought, speech and action

Gandhi has stumbled upon the idea of truth, not as a purely
philosophical concept, but as a concept in the complex maze of
myriad actions in practical life undertaken by him. Truth is a moral
link between one action and another in so far as it bestows on them
the virtues of honesty, sincerity of purpose, and rootedness in the
basic moral principles. An action is based on truth provided it follows
from the moral principles and is performed in the spirit of truth, i.e.,
the holding unto truth (satyagraha).3 All truth-based actions
constitute, according to Gandhi, the moral life, which is itself
integrated into the spiritual life of man.
Gandhi's concept of action cements the gap between the agential
freedom and moral necessity. Agential freedom is the absolute

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 Making Sense of Gandhi's Idea of Truth

presupposition of all truth-based actions, since truth itself is open to free 7?

choice at least in the sense of adherence to truth in all actions. However, truth -
itself brings in the element of moral necessity because it reveals the moral -?
principles which are for Gandhi the eternal laws.4 Truth itself is a moral law in ?=
view of the fact that it bridges the gap between the moral actions and the ^
moral principles and is the source of the moral significance of actions.
Therefore to adhere to truth is based on the principle that truth-based actions
are better than those not based on truth. Gandhi holds that truth prevails over
untruth and that truth is morally absolute and indeafisible.5
Gandhi adds that mere mental adherence to truth is not enough, because
it has to be translated into action. The idea of truth in mind must be
translated into action by making actions follow truth. For Gandhi, thought,
action and speech make one unity since one is involved in the other.
Therefore what is true in thought must be true in action and speech. Truth
thinking is as fundamental as truth-acting and truth-speaking. In order to
speak truth, one must also be thinking of truth and following truth in action.
Gandhi has thus unified all the aspects of truth-following in one intuitive act
of thought, action and speech. This has implicit consequences for moral
actions because there is unity in all these actions and truth is the common
moral principle bonding them together.
For Gandhi, morality lies in the truth-following, since moral life is
centred around the Law of Truth. Truth is taken by Gandhi as the supreme
principle of moral life since it is the law that regulates all human actions. All
actions are judged as morally good if they are based on truth; otherwise they
are morally bad or evil in nature. Gandhian morality could therefore be called
the morality of truth. Truth and Goodness converge in this system of moral
thought.

11.Truth as the moral law

It is now imperative to investigate truth as the moral law (dharma) in Gandhi.
It is repeatedly said by Gandhi that there is nothing higher in morality than
truth . He does not accept that there is a supreme moral law which can be
other than truth, be it the Kantian moral law issued by moral reason, or the
moral law prescribed by any religious authority. Truth as the moral law
(dharma) in Gandhi is an alternative to the Kantian moral law and also to any
religiously sanctioned moral law. Gandhi does not allow for a mere
rationalistic construal of the moral law or for a mere conventional religious
construal of it. Truth transcends both because it is the very basis of the moral
law and also of the religious order. Therefore it cannot be subordinated to any
particular domain of truth.
Gandhi's argument in support of this is that truth is the foundation of

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 Social Scientist

o morality as it is the supreme law in the sense that it is the law of all laws in
(N morality. This argument is underlying all of his moral deliberations in view of
c the fact that his is a truth-based morality. Non-violence and other moral
~r* principles are derived from the supreme principle i. e., truth. Truth subsumes
4^ all other principles in Gandhi's moral theory as the supreme moral law.
vo Gandhi most often places truth and non-violence on the same level and
Ln claims
to
that truth and non-violence are the two sides of the same coin.6 He is of
o the opinion that a truthful man is bound to be non-violent and vice versa.
^ That is why it is supposed that truth and non-violence cannot be kept apart.
Zl However, one can see the difference between the two principles in morality.
> While truth is the bed-rock principle, non-violence follows as a corollary . All
forms of non-violent behaviour follow from the adherence to truth as a deep
moral commitment. A satyagrahi is necessarily non-violent because he
contradicts himself if he is not so. This necessary relation between truth and
non-violence need not commit Gandhi to the identity of the two. A non
violent person is in better position to realize truth as the supreme value.
Truth qualifies to be a moral law in view of the fact that it shows how
moral values are possible at all. The presupposition of truth as the
fundamental moral principle makes it into a moral law in the sense that truth
prevails as the principle of good life in the world. Truth has the character of
the Kantian categorical imperative because it demands absolute obligation
from the truth-seeker. Truth acts as the moral law which is absolutely
imposed on the truth-seeker by moral reason or the "inner voice".7

III.'Truth is God'
Gandhi equates truth with God keeping in view the primacy of truth as an
ontological category. He says: truth is God, rather than God is truth. This
formulation speaks of the fundamental change that has occurred in Gandhi's
concept of God. That also speaks of his approach to religion and metaphysics
which consist in the following of truth and reflection on truth, respectively.
The ideas of truth-based religion and truth-based metaphysics dominate
Gandhi's philosophy. The following implications are entailed by the
formulation "Truth is God":
1. Truth has a spiritual dimension in addition to the moral dimension.
2. Truth is a metaphysical category as it characterizes the fundamental
nature of reality.
3. Truth is the Absolute Reality which is the source of all existence.
Thus Gandhi makes it clear that truth has a transcendental significance in
his metaphysical system in view of the all-comprehensive character of this
concept. Truth does not have a partial presence because, if partial it amounts
to a distortion of itself. Truth cannot be domain-specific, nor can it be
38

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 Making Sense of Gandhi's Idea of Truth

confined to any particular discourse. Those who argue for the discourse - F?
dependence8 of truth do not understand the deeply absolute character of
truth. Thus Gandhi emphasizes this point by showing that truth is God or the -?
Absolute Reality. Gandhi writes: ?.
The word satya is derived from sat, which means that which is. Satya ?J
means a state of being. Nothing is or exists in reality except Truth.
That is why sat or satya is the right name for God. In fact it is more
correct to say that Truth is God than to say that God is Truth... On
deeper thinking, however, it will be realized that sat or satya is the
only correct and fully significant name for God.9
The concept God signifies the Absolute Reality that cannot be subsumed
under any other Reality. This leads to the idea that God is the ultimate ground
of all existence.10 Gandhi makes his concept of God theology-free in order to
get rid of the attempt to absorb it to any particular theological tradition.
Gandhi's God is free from the theological frameworks which relativize God to
their particular conceptions. Gandhi writes:
The word satya comes from sat, which means 'to be', 'to exist'. Only
God is ever the same through all time. A thousand times honour to
him who has succeeded, through love and devotion for satya, in
opening out his heart permanently to its presence. I have been but
striving to serve that truth.n
Thus Gandhi gives absolute status to truth keeping in mind his
predilection towards equating truth with God. This makes truth a
metaphysical reality more than the moral law.

IV. Absolute vs. Relative Truth

The idea of truth as absolute is not only congenial to Gandhi but to also all
absolutist thinkers. In the Western tradition truth has been treated as
transcendental and absolute. For the absolutist thinkers, the idea of relative
truth is a misnomer as we cannot think of making truth a matter of our
opinion or belief. Truth when made a matter of our making in language and
knowledge becomes truth invented and constructed.12 In that case truth ceases
to be absolute and eternal. The relativists are of the opinion that truth is
relative to our knowledge and language and that it is embedded in our
conceptual scheme.
Gandhi refutes any claim regarding the relativity of truth. He presupposes
that truth is eternal and absolute and so cannot be relative to any perspective
or point of view. No man's understanding of truth is perfect and complete but
that does not relativize truth to any point of view. Admission of inability to
know the complete truth does not deny that truth itself is above the partial
points of view of truth. This speaks of Gandhi's humility towards truth and

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 Social Scientist

o not his concession to relativism or dilution of the absolute character of truth.

rN Gandhi writes:
c ...I believe in the Eternal Law of Truth and Love which I have
"T* translated as non-violence. This Law is not a dead thing like the law of
42 a king. It is a living thing the Law and the Law-giver are one.13
vo Here Gandhi is aware of the absolute nature of truth as the Law which is
^ supreme and abiding as the Law of all existence,
o The absolutist character of truth, according to Gandhi, entails the
following:
1. Truth is not man-made, but is presupposed by human existence.
> 2. Truth is transcendental in character as it is not a matter of fact in the
world but is the ground of the world. The description of things and
events in the world is what can be true; they are part of the factual fabric
of the world. Truth is their ground.
3. Truth is the Absolute Reality which is metaphysically ultimate.
That truth is absolute is argued for by philosophers who believe that there
is no alternative to truth as Reality and Value. The untruth is not only unreal
but is also a disvalue. Gandhi perceives truth as both a Value and Reality.
Nothing can surpass truth in its supremacy as Reality and Value.

V.Truth and Reality

In the metaphysical context, truth and reality go together because what is
called truth indicates what is real. Truth is the semantic face of reality, while
reality is the metaphysical face of truth. However, truth and reality come
together making it necessary that the search of truth is itself the search for
Reality. Calling a thought or proposition true is an invitation to the reality.
That is how philosophers would like to characterize truth in semantics and
metaphysics.14
Gandhi, however, is not concerned with propositional or semantic truth.
He is not interested in the cognitive relation between truth and reality.
Gandhi believes that what we call the cognitive relation is secondary to the
metaphysical and the moral nature of truth. Our knowledge of the truth of a
cognition is itself dependent on the irreducibility of truth as a metaphysical
reality. Truth is the indicator of what is real. Therefore the cognitive nature of
truth is overshadowed by the metaphysical and moral nature of truth.
Following truth is more important to Gandhi than knowing truth, though
knowledge itself is not ruled out. Besides, truth converges into a metaphysical
relation with reality rather than into a cognitive relation. Gandhi admits:
And where there is Truth, there is knowledge which is true. Where
there is no Truth, there can be no true knowledge.15
Thus there is a link between truth and knowledge, though truth need not
be a cognitive concept. Truth transcends the cognitive relation itself.

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 Making Sense of Gandhi's Idea of Truth

In our times, Putnam16 takes truth to be a pragmatic notion standing for T3

the ideal acceptability of an idea or theory. According to this view, truth itself
is not an eternal property which thoughts and propositions can have -?
irrespective of time, context and the speaker. It responds to the rational needs ^
of the speakers and the intellectual community. In this truth does not stand ^
isolated from the linguistic and intellectual practices of the community. Even
then Putnam keeps truth at the normative level so that it does not lose its
ideality and objectivity. However, Putnam's concept of truth is defined within
the cognitive framework of the Western scientific tradition which is opposed
to the Gandhian framework of truth.
Gandhi's idea of truth stands in contrast to the pragmatic notion, since he
makes the linguistic and intellectual practices dependent on truth and not the
other round. The linguistic community itself cannot determine truth, though
truth is manifested in these practices. These practices are the moral and
spiritual practices which need truth as the ideal and the rule and not as the
cognitive goal. Truth is the ideal value that must be put into practice. Thus
truth becomes historical in appearance, though it is non-temporal in essence.
Gandhi takes truth as eternal and a-historical, though he does not disown the
historicity of truth so far as truth is manifested in history. Gandhi writes:
But for me, truth is the sovereign principle, which includes numerous
other principles. This truth is not only truthfulness in word, but
truthfulness in thought also, and not only the relative truth of your
conception, but the Absolute Truth, the Eternal Principle, that is
God....But, as long as I have not realized this Absolute Truth, so long
must I hold by the relative truth as I have conceived it. That relative
truth must, meanwhile, be my beacon, my shield and buckler.17
This is to say that for Gandhi truth is an eternal principle that can be
realized in the world of time and relativity. This principle is above time and
history and is yet realizable by man in time and history. Since truth replaces
God for all practical purposes for Gandhi, it is necessary to believe that truth
is the Reality itself and is not different from the ultimate principle of all
existence.

VI.The idea of experiment with truth

Gandhi's idea of experiment with truth is novel and meaningful in the sense
of the partial and relative realization of truth by the human beings. Gandhi
believes that his method of realization of truth is experimental and so
practical. His experiments with truth are numerous and are part of his
struggle to realize truth.
The idea of experiment with truth primarily means the way one follows
truth and lives in it. Living in truth means abiding by the principle of truth in
thought, action and speech. This Gandhi calls the observance of the vow of ^ '

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 Social Scientist

vO
o truth which consists in telling truth, observing brahmacharya and other vows
csi like, ahimsa, asteya, aparigraha and so on. All these vows when fulfilled result
CD
c in purity of the soul. A pure soul is the home of truth, that is, a pure man
3
alone can realize truth. Gandhi writes:
Man does not and can never know God's law fully. Therefore we have
vo to try as far as lies in our power. I hold that our experiment in non
CO ^ violence has succeeded to a fair extent in India. There is, therefore, no
o room for pessimism shown in the question.18
^ The Gandhian experiments are the efforts made in all sincerity in
Zl realizing God and Truth. Thus the Gandhian idea of experiment accepts the
> provisionality of the effort and the result. There is no finality about the
experimental results.
Experiments with truth for Gandhi may mean the following:
1. That which is experimented with, namely truth already exists.
2. The results of experiments are provisional because the experiments may
fail.
3. Many people can participate in the experiment.
4. An experiment is always empirical and open to inspection and revision.
Thus the Gandhian experiments with truth are provisional, empirical and
open to revision. Gandhi believes that he has experimented with truth in all
his life, sometimes failing and sometimes succeeding in the effort. He writes:
Far it be from me to claim any degree of perfection for these
experiments. I claim for them nothing more than does a scientist who,
though he conducts his experiments with utmost accuracy,
forethought and minuteness, never claims any finality about his
conclusions, but keeps an open mind regarding them.19
Gandhi compares his experiments with truth with those of a scientist in
view of the fact that he has an open mind on the matter. However, like the
scientist he is clear that there is truth to be arrived at and comprehended by
the human mind. Truth is the goal of the experiments and so there cannot be
any doubt about the existence of Truth. As Gandhi says: " I have nothing new
to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as hills". This only
suggest that truth is not a matter of invention but is to be discovered and
disclosed by constant practice. The Gandhian experiments are all practices
undertaken in his own life. They are the moral and religious practices which
are undertaken in the midst of a political battle-field.
While concluding his An Autobiography Gandhi writes:
My uniform experience has convinced me that there is no other God
than truth. And if every page of these Chapters does not proclaim to the
reader that the only means for the realization of Truth is Ahimsa, I shall
42 deem all my labour in writing these Chapters to have been in vain.20

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 Making Sense of Gandhi's Idea of Truth

He continues:
To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one
must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man
who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field. That is
why my devotion to truth has drawn me into the field of politics...21
This testament speaks for itself so far as its commitment to truth is
concerned. That also explains why Gandhi chose politics as the field of his
experiments with truth.

VM.Truth and Ahimsa

For Gandhi, truth and ahimsa or non-violence go together, truth as the end
and non-violence as the means. It is through non-violence that truth can be
realized, according to him. No-violence is not a negative virtue, but the
positive one of love and compassion. On non-violence Gandhi writes:
...ahimsa is one of the world's great principles which no power on
earth can wipe out. Thousands like myself may die in trying to
vindicate the ideal but ahimsa will never die. And the gospel of ahimsa
can be spread only through believers dying for the cause.22
What Gandhi means by this is that non-violence is an eternal principle
underlying human civilization because human existence depends on this
principle. Man has been learning to practice this principle in life through
centuries, though complete non-violence has not been possible yet.
Gandhi considers non-violence as the foundation of human civilization
because it is this principle that prevents destruction of the human race along
with the rest of the creation. It is this principle that has made man realize that
human progress lies in the mutual love and respect for one another's life. Man
has come to realize this truth about ahimsa after centuries of experiments.
History of man is testimony to the triumph of non-violence because violence
has never brought any good to mankind.
Gandhi considers non-violence as a means to truth because he believes
that only a non-violent person can attain truth. Truth which is the supreme
principle of existence is attainable only by a person loving all existence. Non
violence is the love for all beings. Thus truth is fortified by and ushered in by
love, according to Gandhi. Truth and non-violence thus are the two
fundamental principles of existence, one standing for the ontological
principle that sustains all existence, the other for the moral law that ensures
and fortifies the former. Truth is the law of existence while non-violence is the
law of love. Both are moral laws in a sense but the law of truth is more
fundamental because the law of love presupposes it. Gandhi writes:
I am not a visionary. I claim to be a practical idealist. The religion of
non-violence is not meant for the rishis and saints. It is meant for the

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 Social Scientist

o common people as well. Non-violence is the law of our species as

cn violence is the law of the brute. The spirit lies dormant in the brute
c and he knows no law but that of physical might. The dignity of man
~r requires obedience to a higher law to the strength of the spiri*.23
y? Here Gandhi holds that the law of non-violence is the law of the spirit and
so is therefore superior to the law of the physical might. The law of non-violence
Lr>
CO
is the foundation of human life and culture. In this sense it is the law of the
o spiritual progress of mankind in general. Gandhi writes:
The rishis, who discovered the law of non-violence in the midst of
violence, were greater geniuses than Newton. They were themselves
> greater warriors than Wellington. Having themselves known the use
of arms, they realized their uselessness and taught a weary world that
its salvation lay not through violence but through non-violence.24
Non-violence is not the weapon of the weak but of the strong in the sense
that only the strong knows the limits of the physical strength. Non-violence
lies outside the boundary of violence because only when the limits of the latter
are known or realized that we come face to face with non-violence. The might
of non-violence is far superior to the total strength of violence in the world.
In comparison between truth and non-violence, truth stands at a very
fundamental level from the ontological point of view, whereas non-violence is
pivotal to the moral point of view in which truth itself is discovered. Non
violence forges the way for the discovery of and the ultimate encounter with
truth. Therefore non-violence is the moral way to truth and leads us to the
ultimate victory of truth over untruth. Gandhi admits:
My study and experience of non-violence have proved to me that it is
the greatest force in the world. It is the surest method of discovering
truth and it is the quickest because there is no other. It works silently,
but almost imperceptibly, but none the less surely. It is the one
constructive process of Nature in the midst of incessant destruction
going on about us.25
Thus non-violence pervades the entire space of human activities and
makes man morally responsible and responsive to truth. Truth as the law of
existence remains undiscovered in the absence of non-violence. While non
violence is the law of our species, truth is the law of all existence. In this sense
truth is to be treated as the ontological principle, while non-violence is to be
treated as the moral principle.
If truth and non-violence are both moral principles then there will be no
difference between them. In that case both will stand for the same law. If they
are identical, then Gandhi cannot hold that truth can never fail, though on
violence may fail. Gandhi is committed to the unfailing character of truth
a a because there can be no substitute for truth itself which is otherwise called

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 Making Sense of Gandhi's Idea of Truth

God, the supreme Reality. But non-violence fails more often than not because
man has weakness of will. This makes it evident why in the history of human
civilization, non-violence has been overshadowed by violence. Thus Gandhi
makes a distinction between truth and non-violence at least so far as they are
not of the same principle. He writes:
Non-violence is the greatest force man has been endowed with. Truth
is the only goal he has. For God is none other than truth. Truth cannot
be, never will be, reached except through non-violence.26
Thus non-violence is the surest moral way to the truth and cannot be
dispensed with if mankind has to be awakened to truth.

VIII. Satyagraha as a way of life

Truth imposes on man the adherence to truth as a moral duty, though truth
itself is unaffected by the failure in following truth. Thus satyagraha is taken
by Gandhi as the practice of moral principles such as non-violence, love,
sacrifice, etc. Satyagraha is the non-violent action itself because of its
adherence to truth.. For Gandhi, satyagraha means self-suffering and sacrifice
because the path of truth is full of difficulties for one's self. That is why he calls
it the path of sacrifice and moral suffering, though it could be called the path
of love.
Truth itself is the goal of the creed of satyagraha and therefore it is
considered to be the weapon of the man of truth. Satyagraha does not mean
mere theoretical knowledge of truth, but the practical commitment to the
truth-based actions. It does not mean that truth is only a distant goal to be
realized in the private life of an individual. It is a public action performed in
the public gaze of collective morality and determination to lay down life for
the sake of truth. Gandhi writes:
Non-violence for me is not a mere experiment. It is part of my life and
the whole creed of satyagraha, non-cooperation, civil disobedience,
and the like are the necessary deductions from the fundamental
proposition that non-violence is the law of life of human beings.27
Thus the principles of satyagraha are derived from the fundamental
principle of non-violence. That is why satyagraha is included in the principle
of non-violence keeping in view the fact that the non-violent actions are
ultimately based on adherence to truth.
A satyagrahi or follower of truth does not mind sacrificing his life for the
sake of truth and thus is ready to encounter any difficulty on the path of truth.
This requires that he be spiritually strong enough to suffer for the sake of
truth. Satyagraha as a political weapon also does not lose its moral grounding
in view of the fact that for Gandhi morality and politics go together. In fact,
for him politics bereft of morality is an empty notion. Satyagraha brings

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 Social Scientist

o politics and morality together by basing both on truth. Both politics and
fN morality are means to truth and are the ways one can realize truth. It is not
c that politics and morality are self-sufficient and are an end in themselves; for
Gandhi morality itself is way to the realization of truth. The realization of
truth is the foundation of the Gandhian morality and politics,
so For Gandhi satyagraha is not a mere political weapon to settle score with
10 the political opponent. It is not a coercive method of settling disputes. It
? appears as if it is a method of forcing the opponent to one's point of view. The
vulgarization of satyagraha ends in making it a cheap weapon of coercion.
Gandhi could sense this misunderstanding of the concept of satyagraha when
> he withdrew satyagraha and the civil disobedience as violence broke out.
In the Gandhian philosophy of truth and non-violence, satyagraha takes
the place of the practical means of achieving both. Satyagraha is intended to
realize truth and non-violence here and now in the midst of earthly life, not
excluding the political life of man. This ideal of satyagraha led Gandhi to
launch the Civil Disobedience for achieving India' freedom. His experiments
in satyagraha bear testimony to his resolve to make truth and non-violence
part of life of man in his quest for emancipation. Satyagraha epitomizes the
quintessence of the philosophy of truth and non-violence in the sense that it
embodies the human will and determination to make truth and non-violence
part of man's everyday life. Gandhi was no metaphysician but what he
thought to be a metaphysical principle was translated into life and action.
Truth and non-violence are not mere pragmatic principles of action but are in
themselves transcendental and metaphysical principles which are given to
human reason. Gandhi made the age-old metaphysics of truth a subject
matter of human experience and action. He does not find a gulf between the
metaphysical and the transcendental truth and truth in the mundane life in
the world.
In satyagraha truth wears a human face with the implication that truth is
the humanly realizable principle. Truth penetrates into the human world as
the supreme principle of existence and discloses itself in the "inner voice" of
man. Truth speaks to man in the inner voice, thus compelling man to respond
to truth in the most intimate way. This intimate way Gandhi calls the non
violent way of life and the associated religious or spiritual discipline.
Satyagraha represents the Gandhian conception of a religious or spiritual way
of life. Gandhi has reinterpreted the very idea of a religious life in terms of
satyagraha.

IX.The Gandhian Critique of Modernity

Gandhi has been a staunch critique of the modern civilization based on the
modern science and technology. In his Hind Swaraj2* he has outlined the
46

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 Making Sense of Gandhi's Idea of Truth

moral bankruptcy of this civilization because of its excessive reliance on the

brute force and the materialist values. Gandhi is of the view of that science
and technology of the West which have shaken the spiritual foundations of
human civilization are pursuing an amoral goal. He rejects the ideal of science
and technology which consists in securing human progress and happiness
through introduction of machines and other mechanical devices. Science and
technology have in fact contributed to the human misery, according to
Gandhi, by their relentless pursuit of material progress at the cost of spiritual
progress and happiness.
According to Gandhi, introduction of machines and industrialization
have resulted in poverty and misery because man has been displaced from his
natural habitat and work. This has made man dependent on the heavy
machines and the other gadgets which have replaced human labour. For
Gandhi, the industrialized civilization of the West has caused the moral and
spiritual sickness in man leading to a total collapse of moral values. Thus
modernity has failed to bring progress to mankind. Modernity has been
associated with the material progress and the consequent loss of human
values. Hence Gandhi calls for a total rejection of the soulless civilization of
the modern West. Gandhi's calls for a return to the simple and ideal village
life and the life of the less material needs and more spiritual aspiration is
predicated upon his belief that human spirit is higher than the human body
and that the moral and spiritual values are higher than the material values.
Gandhi's critique of modernity is based on his ideal of spiritual progress
of humanity which is based on the pursuit of truth and non-violence. A
spiritually enlightened human society will be far more non-violent and
wedded to truth than any other civilization. The foundation of this new
society will lie in our total dedication to truth and non-violence.
Moderni ty is based on the cognitive idea of truth as the foundation of a
scientific world-view.29 As Bilgrami writes:
This conception which set in sometimes in the seventeenth century
itself owes much to be a mere abstract element in our thinking, which
is that truth is a cognitive notion, not a moral one. Only if truth is so
conceived can science become the paradigmatic pursuit of our
culture, without it the scientific outlook lacks its deepest theoretical
source. It is a mark of his intellectual ambition that by making it
exclusively and exhaustively moral and experiential notion instead,
Gandhi was attempting to repudiate the paradigm at the deepest
possible conceptual level.30
Gandhi has thus drove home the point that the cognitive ideal of truth is
the source of the technological exploitation of man and nature and therefore
he pleads for a total replacement of this ideal by the ideal of truth as a moral

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 Social Scientist

vO
O and spiritual ideal. With truth as cognitive being replaced by truth as moral
O
rsi and spiritual, Gandhi has turned the modern civilization on its head. He has
cu
a shown that the new world-order he has envisioned is based on the spiritual
3
grasp of truth through non-violent actions and thus on the actions based on
o3
Z spiritual understanding of life of man and nature. This is predisposed to bring
about a moral and spiritual transformation of man thus entailing a
l? transformation in the metaphysics of man and nature.
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Z

R.C. Pradhan is at the Department of Philosophy, University of Hyderabad,

> Hyderabad.

Notes
1. M.K.Gandhi, An Autobiography, or The Story of My Experiments with Truth
(Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1927; Third Edition, 2003).

2. Akeel Bilgrami, "Gandhi, The Philosopher" (privately circulated).

3. See M.K.Gandhi, The Moral and Political Writings, Vol III, ed, Raghavan Iyer
(Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987), pp.55-57. See also Joan V. Bondurant,
"Satyagraha versus Duragraha: The Limits of Symbolic Violence" in Gandhi: His
Relevance for Our Times, eds. G. Ramachandran and T.K. Mahadevan, (Gandhi
Peace Foundation, New Delhi and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1967).

4. M.K.Gandhi, The Moral and Political Writings, Vol. II, ed. Raghavan Iyer
(Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1986), pp. 150-175. "I do not believe in a personal
deity, but I believe in the Eternal Law of Truth and Love which I have translated
as non-violence. This Law is not a dead thing like the law of a king. It is a living
thing the Law and Law-giver are one. For those who realize this Truth, the
Law-giver becomes a personal deity" (Ibid., pp. 192-193).
5. Ibid., pp. 150-154.
6. M.K.Gandhi, All Men are Brothers, Krishna Kripalani (Ed.) (UNESCO, Paris,
1958), pp. 70, 76. Quoted in Glan Richards, The Philosophy of Gandhi: A Study of
His Ideas (Curzon Press, Barnes and Noble Books, London, UK and NJ, USA,
1982), p. 31.
7. Ibid., pp. 130-135. Gandhi writes: "For me the voice of God, of Conscience, of
Truth, or the Inner Voice or ' the still small Voice' mean one and the same"
(Ibid., p. 131).

8. See Rom Harre and Michael Krausz (eds.) Varieties of Relativism ( Blackwell,
Oxford, UK and Cambridge, USA, 1996), Chapter 3. See also Richard Rorty,
Objectivity, Relativism and Truth (Philosophical Papers Vol. I) (Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1991), pp. 21-33.

9. M.K.Gandhi, The Moral and Political Writings, Vol.11, ed. Raghavan Iyer
48 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1986), p. 162.

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 Making Sense of Gandhi's Idea of Truth

10. Ibid., pp. 150-154. " Truth is That which Is and Untruth is That which Is Not. As 73
Bhisma says: 'Truth is eternal Brahman... Everything rests on Truth' h
(Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, clxii. 5 )", (Ibid., p. 151).

11. Ibid., p. 157. CL

pu
12. R. Harre and M. Krausz, (eds.) op.cit.
13. Ibid., pp. 192-193.
14. Cf. Donald Davidson,"The Method of Truth in Metaphysics" in Inquiries into
Truth and Interpretation (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1984), pp. 199-214.
15. M.K.Gandhi, The Moral and Political Writings, Vol. II, ed, Raghavan Ayer, p.
162.

16. See Hilary Putnam, Reason, Truth and History (Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1981), Chapter 3.
17. M.K.Gandhi, An Autobiography, p. xiii.
18. M.K.Gandhi, The Moral and Political Writings, Vol. II, ed Raghavan Iyer, p. 256.

19.. Ibid., p. 463.

20. Ibid., p. 463.
21. Ibid., p. 463.
22. Ibid., p. 256.
23. Ibid., p. 298.
24. Ibid., pp. 299-300.
25. Ibid., p.306.
26. ibid., p. 312.
27. Ibid., p. 320.
28. M.K.Gandhi, Hind Swaraj, translated into Hindi by A.T. Nanavati (Navajivan
Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1949).

29. Bilgrami, op.cit.

30. Ibid., p. 9.

49

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