Book Title: Philosophical Writings
Author(s): Hemant Shah
Publisher: Academy of Philosophy

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Page 188
________________ Values and Justice - A new Perspective 169 His argument was that the values of the western civilization, often represented as aspects of Truth and Beauty and Justice, were really simply ‘masks' or 'fictions' used in struggle for power - the 'will to power'-among thce powerful, which dissolved any objective distinction between 'good' and 'evil. Same is the case even in the post - independence (1947 - 2006) period of India. Religion and Religious Values are simply the ‘masks' for the political leaders to create an image before the utterly poor, illiterate villagers to grasp the votes at the election and get the power. In such countries of Asia and Europe, we find, the technical forms of reason have been established and eclipsed the Critical reasoning about moral and political values. We see Critical rationality almost lost being confused with scientific forms of reasoning. Values are always established by the people through healthy, reasoned debate and not by force. The error, in the modern world, is in the thinking "that science and technology could provide values, or even that societies do not need fundamental values.”30 The results are nihilism, fascism, disenchantment, and unhappiness. In India along with this we have fundamentalism and fanaticism. Let us remember, with reference to Justice and Law, that the power of punishment is a great power, but “it is given so as to maintain the dignity and authority of the courts and to ensure fair trial - keeping the stream , of justice clear and pure."31 The power, obtained as a result of the election or from the ‘majoritarianism', should not play with the constitution as a tool by frequent amendments distorting its fundamental character and its basic identity. Mr Soli Sarabji, an eminent lawyer of India's Supreme Court says: “I am saying that there is a concept that says that there are certain essential 'care values', to use the language of the German Constitution, or that there are certain 'Supreme Principles', to use the language of Italian Supreme Court, or as the Bangladesh apex court says, there are certain pillars that you cannot demolish because if you did that you would destroy the constitution, not amend it”. Jain Education Internationał For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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