Gandhi & the Stoics: Modern Experiments on Ancient Values Richard Sorabji, Oxford University Press, U.K., 2012.
| Date | 01 August 2014 |
| Published date | 01 August 2014 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2277401720140109 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
GANDHI & THE STOICS: MODERN
EXPERIMENTS ON ANCIENT VALUES
Richard Sorabji, Oxford University Press, U.K., 2012,
Pages – XIV+224, Rs. 995.
Pratyush Kumar*
Gandhi and the Stoics: Modern Experiments on Ancient Values by
Richard Sorabji is a one-of-a-kind work, a serious and unique attempt to
compare Mahatma Gandhi's 'philosophy' with those of the Stoics, and thus
explore the ideas which form the basis of both. Many comprehensive, and in
many ways complete, biographies of Gandhi have been written by scholars
1
like Louis Fisher, Judith M. Brown, D. G.Tendulkar and, of course,
4
Mahadev Desai's almost encyclopaedic work on him. Gandhi as a man of
action; Gandhi in history; Gandhi in politics and political memory have
been written about prolifically but Gandhi as a philosopher and thinker,
removed from the spiritual halo which surrounds him, is a relatively less
5
explored terrain. Sorabji's work is a major breakthrough in this field, and is
a valuable addition to the host of serious works on Gandhi. Sorabji's serious
engagement with philosophy for well over five decades makes him
6
exceedingly well-equipped for such a work.
Sorabji's is a work of convergence of Gandhian philosophy with those
of the Stoics rather than any claim of a direct influence of Stoic philosophy
on Gandhi's thinking because, as Gandhi's own written works indicate, he
2 3
* Research Associate, National Law University, Delhi.
1 LOUIS FISHER, THE LIFE OF MAHATMA GANDHI (1983).
2 JUDITH M. BROWN, GANDHI: PRISONER OF HOPE (1991).
3 1-8 D.G.TENDULKAR, MAHATMA: LIFE OF MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI (1951).
41-9 MAHADEV DESAI, DAY TO DAY WITH GANDHI (1968).
5Another scholar who has explored Gandhi as a philosopher is Akeel Bilgrami. See Akeel
Bilgrami, Gandhi, the Philosopher, ECON. & POL. W'KLY 4159 (Sept. 27, 2003).
6 Richard Sorabji is presently an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and a Fellow
and Emeritus Professor of King's College London. He has approximately a dozen important
publications to his credit like ARISTOTLE ON MEMORY (1972); MATTER, SPACE AND
MOTION (1988); EMOTION AND PEACE OF MIND: FROM STOIC AGITATION TO CHRISTIAN
TEMPTATION (2002).
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