Satyagraha and Swadeshi: Gandhian Principles for Life
Satyagraha and Swadeshi are fundamental to Gandhi’s philosophy of life. According to Gandhi, the whole gamut of human activities constitutes an indivisible whole. Life cannot be segregated into watertight compartments like social, economic, political, religious, and so on. So the ideas and concepts he developed during his relentless experiments with truth were an attempt to integrate the various aspects of life. The concept of Swadeshi was not an exception. It was not merely an economic doctrine.
Read MoreUnderstanding Scientific Methods and Research Types
What is Knowledge?
Knowledge is the act or effect of having an abstract idea or notion of something. Examples include knowledge of law, facts (sensory, intellectual, popular, scientific, philosophical, intuitive).
What is Science?
Science (goal + function + objects: material + formal) is the clear and evident knowledge of something, whether founded on clear principles and demonstrations, experimental reasoning, or the analysis of societies and human facts.
What is Scientific Research?
Scientific research
Read MoreImmanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: Limits of Knowledge
Historical Context
Immanuel Kant belongs to the period of modern philosophy, particularly the Enlightenment. Influenced by the rationalist and empiricist ideas about knowledge, he exceeded both positions with his own original philosophy: transcendental idealism. Furthermore, he represented an achievement in moral philosophy by proposing a novel formal ethics characterized by the defense of human dignity above all else.
Central Theme
Kant argues that it is impossible to apply the theoretical use of
Read MorePlato’s Philosophy: Epistemology, Ethics, and Politics
Epistemology
Epistemology: There are two levels of knowledge, called epistemological dualism. The first is scientific knowledge or episteme, in which the objective of knowledge has to be to give a clear, objective, and true reality. For Plato, the real is the world of ideas. To knowledge, we guide our soul to the contemplation of the world of ideas, leaving aside the misleading sense of the material world. Achieving this understanding is the goal of philosophy. Once it gets to this point, you can
Read MoreSatyagraha: Nonviolent Resistance and Its Principles
Satyagraha (from Sanskrit: सत्य satya: “truth”, आग्रह āgraha: “insistence” or “holding firmly to”), or “holding firmly to truth” or “truth force”, is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone who practices satyagraha is a satyagrahi.
The term satyagraha was coined and developed by Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). Gandhi practiced satyagraha as part of the Indian independence movement and also during his earlier struggles in South Africa for Indian rights.
Read MoreHuman Motivation: Needs, Potential, and Fulfillment
Broad Framework of Human Motivation
Humans are motivated by needs that are not formed from a gap, but rather from another statement of reasons: potential. Human existence involves not only lack but also potential.
Distinction Between Deprivation and Potential as Early Motivation
Deprivation is the lack of something a person needs either physiologically (body level) or psychologically (intimate level).
Potential is an internal force for growth through the deployment of consciousness that can achieve
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