#PJSA2021 Panel – "Gandhi and Conceptualizing Peace and Violence"
Channel: Peace and Justice Studies Association
Date: 2021-10-13

Virtural/Hybrid Panel – Gandhi and Conceptualizing Peace and Violence 
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“The Primacy of Mind in Gandhi’s Core Distinction: Rethinking the Terminology of “Violence” and “Nonviolence”

Todd Davies, Stanford University
The words “violence” and “nonviolence” are imperfect, and increasingly misleading, English translations for the Sanskrit words “hiṃsā” and “ahiṃsā”. The latter was used by Gandhi as the basis for his philosophy of satyāgraha. Drawing on Gandhi’s writing, as well as scholarship addressing these Sanskrit concepts and Gandhi’s life and thought, I will make a case for re-reading hiṃsā as “maleficence” and ahiṃsā as “beneficence”. These two more mind-referring English words — along with others more prevalent in religiously-inspired discourse of the past relative to today — capture the primacy of desire and intention implied by “hiṃsā” and “ahiṃsā”, much better than “violence”. and ” nonviolence” do. Contemporary understandings of “violence” and “nonviolence” reflect a political turn in moral accountability over the past century that can be demonstrated through linguistic evidence, and which obscures Gandhi’s intended meanings. New terminology, I argue, could clarify the distinction in a way that might prevent some misunderstandings of Gandhi that are common among 21st Century English-language native speakers. Language referring to mental states also connects these concepts to contemporary ideas in psychology which may shed light on the range of meanings they can have in practice. Based on a forthcoming chapter for the book *Gandhi’s Wisdom*, edited by Vinod Kool. 

“Influences on Gandhi’s Concepts of Peace and Nonviolence, and Gandhi’s Influence on Later Practitioners of Nonviolence in the Gandhian Tradition”

Linda Groff, California State University
This presentation will have four parts: (1) General Definitions of Peace and Nonviolence; (2) Key Influences on Gandhi’s Concepts of Nonviolence, including: Leo Tolstoy—Russia; the Jain monk, Shrimad Rajchandra–India; the Bagavad Gita and other spiritual traditions; and John Ruskin—English economist; (3) Characteristics, and Stages, of Gandhi’s Nonviolence—based on Satyagraha (Truth Force) and Ahimsa (Harmlessness); and (4) Gandhi’s Influence on Nonviolence Practitioners in the Gandhian Tradition, including; Badshah Khan—India, then Pakistan; the Rev. Martin Luther King—USA, along with Rev. James Lawson and Repr. John Lewis—USA; Cesar Chavez—USA; Bishop Desmond Tutu—South Africa; along with a number of Buddhists and one Hindu, including: His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama—Tibet, then N. India; Thich Nhat Hanh—Vietnam and Plum Village, France (originator of socially-engaged Buddhism); Maha Ghosananda-Cambodia; Sulak Sivaraksa—Thailand; A.T. Ariyaratne—Sri Lanka; Swami Agnivesh—India; along with one example of a fall from grace, Aung San Suu Kyi—Myanmar (formerly Burma); and Final Conclusions.

“Aurobindo Ghose’s Critiques of Mahatma Gandhi’s Early Mass Mobilization”

Ted Ulrich, University of St. Thomas
Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950) was at the forefront of the agitation for Indian independence a decade prior to Gandhi’s involvement. Unlike Gandhi, he was an advocate of armed rebellion. However, after a year in prison (1908-1909) in conjunction with a bombing, Ghose withdrew and gradually developed a reputation as a spiritual master. Yet, he continued to argue for the legitimacy and, in some cases, the necessity of violence in the affairs of state. This study will show his critiques of exclusively nonviolent approaches in his Essays on the Gita (1916-1920) and how he subsequently applied those critiques to Gandhian mass mobilization after its early failures in the 1920s.