Book Title: World of Philosophy
Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
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Mahatma Gandhi and Human Values
- Prof. M.P.Mathai
It is well known that Mahatma Gandhi was a dyed in the wool exemplar of moral values in his life which earned for him the title of Mahatma. The values that he followed and upheld in his life are widely known and therefore, it is not hard to enumerate those values that guided Gandhi's life and conclude by saying how relevant they are for the present times which is beset with multifarious complex problems. But the fact is that the question of values is not as simple as it might appear. Those who have some familiarity with Ethics or Moral Philosophy will know that the concept of values, their nature and application are problematic. In fact, values cannot be fully defined. It could be seen that right from the days of Aristotle (see Nicomachean Ethics) down to the post-modern times this difficulty has persisted with thinkers and academics alike. When we examine the study of values in various disciplines like ethics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, social work or economics what strikes us most is the confusion surrounding the concept. It appears astoundingly kaleidoscopic. Values have been viewed and explained as norms, as cultural ideals, as assessment of action, as beliefs, as objects regarded favourably or unfavourably, as value-orientations, as behaviour probabilities, as generalised attitudes, etc., etc.
When we navigate from the confusing terrain of definitions onto the discussion of values proper it could be noticed that there is a noticeable rise in temperature. The whole discourse changes into a debate mode and often more heat is generated than light. While on the one extreme we come across scholars who attribute the present predicament of humanity to its utter neglect of moral values and principles and characterize the contemporary crisis as a crisis in values, on the other there are scholars, especially those whose intellectual odyssey is still through the enlightenment trajectory (in other words, those in the scientific/rational tradition), who consider moral values as sheer chimera, not worthy of serious consideration in academic pursuits. They advocate an expulsion of values from all academic disciplines and stand for what they call 'value neutrality' even in social sciences. Any observation that has a touch value about it is stigmatized as 'value loaded' and summarily rejected. The contemporary scenario is different and slightly reassuring. It has been pointed out that in the recent history of ethics, theory has not been developed with an eye to application, and practice has not been adequately grounded in theory. And on how to bridge this gap between theoretical ethics and applied ethics, there has been no consensus among moral philosophers (see DeMarco and Fox, New Dimensions in Ethics, 1986).The twenty-first century has been characterized as the century of applied ethics because human transactions and enterprises of the century have thrown up practical issues and problems with clear ethical implications. So we talk about
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