Class Notes 4 You

Intro: Amongst the galaxy of thinkers in modern India, Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar stands on a pedestal quite different from others. This is because his life was a fight for the emancipation of dalits. His ideas: Critic of caste system. acc to him caste system does not make even economic sense. It forces  person to perform a task irrespective of his interest/talents. says w/o exogamy fraternity cannot develop and w/o fraternity nation cannot develop Caste is not a division of labor but of laborer Talks about Annihilation of caste educate.agitate.organise. for Ambedkar social justice in India cannot bypass the concern of bahujan samaj. for Gandhi and Marx, state was an instrument of coercion, but for Ambekdar state was an instrument of affirmative action (state as a source of virtue - Socrates and Aristotle) On social justice Dalits represented The most depressed section of Indian society. Acc to Pareto's circulation of elites, power has traditionally resided between foxes and lions ,...

Intro: S S A Khan was an Islamic scholar ,reformist and philosopher of 19th century.   Context: During his time his community was passing through the phase of frustration and stagnation as British viewed Muslims with scepticism due to their active involvement in 1857 mutiny His ideas: Said hold Quran in one hand and book of science in other Wrote book- asbab-i-bagawat-e-hind in which he wrote about causes of revolt 1857 and gave instances where Muslims had helped save British lives. Asked Muslim Youth to leave the idea of British resistance and focus on getting Western education and scientific knowledge Wrote pamphlet- loyal Mohammedans of India in which he promised the loyalty of muslims towards the british Magzine- tehzeeb ul akhlaaq in which he criticized out dated customs of Islam Gave modernist interpretation of Quran Started AMU Indian institute gazette- a scientific journal Originator of two nation theory: Initially called Hindus and Muslims as two eyes of a beautiful bride ...

Intro: was a lawyer, a freedom fighter and one of the most defining personality of the twentieth century. Inspired by John Ruskin's unto this last concept of Sarvodaya . components of Sarvodaya:  bread labour land reforms tursteeship: on the lines of Aristotle who proposed single ownership but common use. Acc to Marxist scholars trusteeship is to prevent any kind of revolution. It says capitalists should keep the amount for his needs and for running his industry but rest should be contributed for well being of the society. This is the basis of CSR. MN Roy projected Gandhi as the leader of bourgeoisie class.  revival of cottage industries Can be called as Gandhian socialism. 2.Rousseau and Edward carpenter on modernity  G K Gokhale who emphasized bringing ethics into politics( spiritualisation of politics). Henry David Thoreau on civil disobedience. On rights Nishkama Karma Rights are inherent in duties performed in embryonic sense- Bhagvat Geeta rights and duties are neit...

Intro: Was an Indian philosopher,yogi,poet and nationalist belonging to the extremist brand of nationalism  Context: was dissatisfied with early nationalists who believed British rule was a blessing in disguise and a source of modernization. his series of article titled new lamps for the old  criticized the moderates: foreign rule can never be a blessing, not even in disguise foreign rule stops the natural evolution of the nation. He said India as a nation is not dependent on Congress pandals On nationalism: Inspired from neo vedantism of Vivekananda based on Humanism and Universalism, two cardinal features of Indian spiritual thought. BC Chatterjee’s Anandmath Synthesied herder(cultural nationalism)+Hegel(state is a march of god on earth)with Viv+Chatterjee Ghosh was great synthesizer of rationality of west and spirituality of east. According to Ghosh, nation has a soul, a divine entity. Challenged the notion  that India was only a geographical  ...

Intro: M. N. Roy was an Indian revolutionary, radical activist, political theorist as well as a noted philosopher in the 20th century. His ideas: Represents rationalist tradition in Indian Political Thought said liberalism and communism have only fulfilled partial needs of man Radical humanism Humanism is the philosophy that places humans at the centre of all analysis. It approaches life from the assumption of sovereignty of man His ideas on RH are based on his thesis -New Humanism- A manifesto published in 1947. Inspired from scientific materialism of Marx, Ethics of Spinoza and Secular politics of Locke Three elements of RH- MRF Rationality - of thought Freedom- Freedom which he explains as the victory over struggle for existence Morality- emerges from rational desire of harmonious and mutually beneficial social relations it has Both critical and constructive aspect The critical aspect consists of describing the inadequacies of communism, including the economic interpretation of hist...

Intro: Father of Indian strategic thought, statecraft and political economy. Was Chandragupta Maurya’s chief advisor and helped him defeat Nanda dynasty and establish the Mauryan dynasty. Context: like Machiavelli was unhappy with corruption in Italy, Kautilya was unhappy with corrupt and inefficient governance of Nanda dynasty in Magadha and wrote Arthashatra in which he talks of making an ideal and corruption free state. Book: Arthashastra: deals with both Dharma(laws) and Danda(statecraft). Deals with both, internal as well as external aspects of statecraft. The Arthashastra talks about grand strategy that includes states military and non-military, material and ideational resources and using these power factors for the realisation of its foreign policy goals Comparable to Sun Tzu's art of war and Machiavelli's prince Deals with types of war, espionage, types of corruption. In the words of Bhikhu Parekh, Kautilya represents the realist tradition of India Ideas: Described stat...

Intro: political thought Based on ideals of buddhism emerged around 6th centruy BC during the time of Mahajanapads though the world identifies buddha as the messenger of peace and spirituality, scholars like Upinder kaur,Gail omvidt and kancha iliah considered Buddha as first social and political philosopher. Said many Kings like Bimbisara, ajatsatru went to Buddha for guidance . Upinder kaur Gail omvedt Kancha ilaiah ideas: Digha nikaya talks about origin of state- Initially an ideal state existed . But with time people became corrupt and greedy and the need for a central authority was felt to main peace and order (akin to hobbes social contract) king: was called mahasammat (the great elect) his duty was to uphold dharma and ensure material and spiritual well being of his subject ( rajadhamma) king was elected from an assemby (buddhist sanghas), which shows its republican and democratic nature . People chose among themselvses the noblest of all who was knowledgable,liberal,gentle,mode...

Intro: RAND corporation VP, George tanham in his 1992 paper, ‘Indian Strategic Thought: An Interpretative Essay’  argued that the Indian elite had not systematically or coherently thought about national security and india is intellectually empty as far as political ideas are concerned. Counters by: Prof Morris Jones says it shows ethnocentric attitude of Western scholars. Says ignoring indian values would lead to impoverishment of west. in his book “India and Asian geopolitics”- Saying that India has no strategic culture is only to say that it is different from the strategic cultures one is used to Rodney W jones- india’s strategic culture is not monolithic, rather it is mosaic like. Max muller- India: what it can teach us-says nowhere in the world, human mind has dealt the issues of different spheres of life with such depth as india. “If all the books on war and peace were to suddenly disappear form the world, and only the Mahabharta remained, it would be good enough to capture al...