BOOK REVIEW brought “in an explicit manner, the Gandhi in the Company of union of nature and value in Gandhi’s political theory, nature cure, sexual Western experimentation, and hypophysics” (p 20). The discussion continues by the authors recalling another long list of philoso- A Raghuramaraju phers from the West, including Spinoza, Wittgenstein, Luc Nancy, and Stuart he main task that and Gandhi and Philosophy: On Theological Anti- Kauffman (pp 23–26). set for themselves Politics by Shaj Mohan and Divya Dwivedi, Foreword This method of entangling Gandhi in writing this book was to out- by Jean-Luc Nancy, New Delhi: Bloomsbury, 2019; pp i–x, with forms the T 1–272 , `9,341 (hardcover). line a system for gathering together both common link across the chapters of this “Gandhi’s writings and practices” and pre- book. This approach becomes obvious senting them within a “corpus” in which of the subcontinent; his startling politi- when the authors, while discussing his “precise conception of nature, , cal positions with respect to great events Gandhi’s attempt at associating the violence, resistance and the end is clas- of the early 20th century such as Nazi earthquake in Bihar with the practice of sifi ed” (p 1). These multiple tasks are Camps and the atomic bomb”; and his untouchability, do not refer to or dis- undertaken against the background of experimental attempts to “determine cuss Ramchandra Gandhi’s important Gandhi’s alleged opposition to philo- Truth” (p 2). So, in their reading this and focused paper on this same theme sophy, which the authors claim, he con- concept of the “hypophysical” holds a (“Earthquake in Bihar: The Transfi gura- sidered “satanic.” Notwithstanding this central position for understanding the tion of Karma,” Indian Philosophical view, they do point out that philoso- “systematic unity and uniqueness of Quarterly , 1983, pp 125–51). phers, including Martin Buber, Maurice his thought.” papers by K J Shah and Amita Chatter- Blanchot, , Etienne Bali- To bridge the huge chasm between jee that subsequently engaged with bar and Slavoj Zizek “found it necessary “hypophysics” as a term in parenthesis Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore on to engage with him” (p 10). and its transformation into a central this theme too elude the attention of the Having juxtaposed this peculiar rela- concept, the authors undertake, in authors. tion between Gandhi and the philoso- Chapter 1, titled, “Hypophysics,” to build phers they turn towards another con- a larger scaffold around the term. In this Discussion on Speed cept, namely “hypophysical.” They fi nd context they take support from a long The next chapter discusses yet another this term within a parenthesis in a pas- list of philosophers from the West, inclu- important philosophical theme, namely sage from ’s Groundwork ding Edward Tiryakian, Hippocrates, speed. Measured by time and an impor- for the of Morals. They make , Rene Guenon, Stoa, , tant aspect in history, speed is the pulse an adventurous move to elevate it to the Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, Marcus Aure- of the universe. Moving, yet not moving level of one of central ideas in Gandhian lius, the Stoics, Diogenes Laertius, away to the extent of derailment, is the thought. Making an exact connection Hume, James Lovelock, Fritjof Capra characteristic feature of the universe. between Immanuel Kant and Gandhi, and Rupert Sheldrake (pp 17–18). They This moving yet not moving away and they go on to affi rm that this Kantian go on to claim that “Gandhian hypo- retaining equilibrium, it looks to me, is concept “fi nds a highly developed artic- physics, however, obtains a precision symbolically presented in the dance of ulation in Gandhi’s theory of nature which distinguishes it from both the Nataraja. This equilibrium, the authors where nature is value, the moral is the precursors and successors, including claim, according to Gandhi, is however natural” (p 2). Gandhi, they claim, held some inheritors, of the synonymisation thrown out of gear with the advent of that anything that conforms to nature is of nature and value” (p 18). Having civilisation and subsequently by moder- a virtue and that which does not is a de- made this claim regarding the precision, nity which promotes speed. The contin- viation from “nature’s moral course.” the authors do not actually state who uous and habitual promotion of speed These deviations consist of “the syn- these precursors, successors and inheri- impacts equilibrium in a way that drome of civilisation, the perils of speed, tors are. More importantly, they do not further dissociates nature from value. and the desire for progenies” (p 1). It is state what is the distinctive nature of This fundamental philosophical con- this idea of nature as a value, as hypo- Gandhian hypophysics that distinguish- cept, speed, is extensively discussed in physics, they claim, can explain a long es it from them. this chapter. They again turn towards list of Gandhi’s activities, many of them The other theme that this chapter dis- Western philosophers like Charles Bon- controversial and some experimental, cusses is how to read Gandhi. After net, Jacques Monod, Hannah Arendt including: his “sexual experiments; his referring briefl y to writers like Partha (p 33), Aristotle (p 35), Kant (p 36), resistance to democracy and women’s Chatterjee and Akeel Bilgrami on Gan- Heidegger (p 36) Paul Virilio (p 37), liberation movements; his to- dhi, the authors land the discussion in Nietzsche (p 37), Milton (p 38) and espe- wards the Africans and the untouchables front of John Alter who, they claim, cially towards Thomas Taylor who wrote

28 AUGUST 3, 2019 vol lIV no 31 EPW Economic & Political Weekly BOOK REVIEW The Fallacy of Speed, to show the con- lives by this eternal law of satya and into the internal milieu of a system” trast between modern life and village ahimsa, there will be no occasion for (p 209); “age of criticism” that is inter- life (p 39). civil or other resistance” (p 130). The ested “in the criteria, or ratio” (p 210) Having discussed two fundamental next two chapters discuss “Truth and and the “age of criticalisation” that looks ideas, namely nature and value on the Will” and “Violence and Resistance,” into what “happens to systems when one hand and speed on the other, the respectively. The summary of these their elements reach their limits, such as third chapter discusses the concept of chapters is aptly captured when they the heat of combustion, and heat toler- body. Rejecting the claim that Gandhi quote Gandhi who equates salvation of ance of an engine” (p 211). The authors follows the middle path between mind all the “exploited people of the earth fi nd “Gandhi’s efforts … towards discov- and body, the authors claim that for and, therefore, of the world” with strict- ering the limits of politics to the point of Gandhi, “the body aggregates under the ly adhering to the “reliance” on “truth” criticalisation of the human animal essence of good and evil which is not the and “non-violence” (p 164). Thus, for itself” (p 212). same as the distinction of healthy and Gandhi, truth and non-violence are both At one level one fi nds both: relating unhealthy” (p 68). The next chapter dis- universal and absolute concepts. Gandhi with a word in parenthesis, cusses the relation between mind and namely hypophysics, and making it one soul. Highlighting the “inverse relation” Age of Critique of the central concepts in his thought between the “powers of body and the The chapter on “Critical Nation” discuss- both challenging and problematic; and soul” the authors quote Gandhi who es Gandhi’s views of caste, untouchabili- relating Gandhi with Kant too is equally said, “It is my fi rm belief that the ty and racism (pp 189–90); politics as a problematic. The problem with the for- strength of the soul grows in proportion necessary evil (p 191); history as a dis- mer is with regard to the disproportion as you subdue the fl esh.” Taking the lead ruption of passive force (p 194); and in the extend of concept in parenthesis from this view they go on to claim that absolutising the virtues of non-violence and the philosophy of Gandhi. Regard- the “soul is defi ned as a distance and cleansing it of any shades of violence. ing the latter, Kant is the major philoso- between the body and the mind …” The conclusion embarks on summarising pher within the project of modernity (p 71). Again continuing their habitual the discussion in the preceding chapters and Gandhi is a strong critic of moder- style of argument, they relate Gandhi’s through the broad categories of the “age nity, in fact he terms it as satanic. This stand on the relation between the mind of critique” that begins from the 18th , nay, antagonism, is not and the soul by bringing into the discus- century that “refers to the investigation referred to. It looks as if both Kant and sion another long list of philosophers from the West. In this chapter they go EPWRF Time Series one step further when they claim that it is Gandhi’s “studies of Plato” that made EXPANSION (www.epwrfi ts.in) him to establish “a certain relation bet- ween Truth and the soul, that is, soul is State-wise Agricultural Statistics the faculty that has the power invested in it to recognise Truth” (p 84). This The Economic and Political Weekly Research Foundation (EPWRF) has added State-wise claim about Gandhi’s study of Plato is data to the Agricultural Statistics module of its online database, India Time Series (ITS). not substantiated by evidence. State-wise time series starts from 1960–61, depending upon data availability, and covers: Chapter 5, “Dynamics: Active and ● Area, Production and Yield (APY): Foodgrains, Oil seeds, Fibre crops, Spices, Passive,” identifi es active force with his- Horticulture crops, Plantation crops and Other crops tory that is “dis-essentialising of man” ● Land-by-Use and Area under Irrigation (source-wise and crop-wise) and identifi es passive force with “nature ● Production and Use of Agricultural Inputs: Fertilisers and Electricity which is value” (p 90). As an illustration they suggest that going to a temple on ● Procurement of Foodgrains foot is practising passive force whereas ● Livestock Statistics: Production and Per Capita Availability of Milk, Eggs, Fish, travelling by train to go there would be Meat and Wool employing active force. The next cha pter ● Livestock Population: Rural and Urban areas discusses “The Laws of the Maker,” ● Value of Output from Agriculture and Allied Activities, with different base years about how Gandhi distinguished man- Following statistics have been added to the All-India data series: made laws from the laws of the maker. ● Minimum Support Prices (MSP) of Crops The laws of the maker are unbreakable; ● Livestock Population: Rural and Urban areas and all “illness is the result of the viola- tion of the laws of nature” (p 116). Man- The EPWRF ITS has 18 modules covering a range of macroeconomic, fi nancial and made laws are legitimate only if they social sector indicators on the Indian economy. are grounded in Maker’s Laws (p 127). For more details, visit www.epwrfi ts.in or e-mail to: [email protected] Gandhi said that “if all of us regulate our

Economic & Political Weekly EPW AUGUST 3, 2019 vol lIV no 31 29 BOOK REVIEW Gandhi belong to the same schools of thinkers about speed, before and after in Western scholarship. The Western thought. Yet another problem is, though him, are. philosophers that are discussed over- the book is about Gandhi, there is less of Similarly, the text does not set out crowd Gandhi. One wonders what are him and far more of Western philosophy those existing interpretations of nature, the new insights the book gives about in it. truth, violence, resistance of Gandhi him apart from several claims made At a more scholarly level, there are with which the present book differs. about him. ideas that are attributed to Gandhi with- This scholarly practice of clearly stating out giving exact references. For in- the view with which a paper or a book Welcome Addition stance, the authors maintain that he was goes on to differ is the virtue of modern Notwithstanding these, from another “familiar with the theories of the mind Western scholarship. This practice has level the book is interesting and is well discussed by his contemporaries, includ- intriguingly not been adhered to in the written; the philosophical prose is tight ing the Darwinian theories of mind.” text. The inevitable outcome is that the and is of high quality. In this respect the And that “he avoided a lengthy discus- text under review lacks scholarly pre- book is in the company of Ajay Skaria on sion of the subcontinental theories of sentation of its purvapaksha. For ins- relating Gandhi with Derrida; and Aish- the mind in the religious texts while giv- tance, there are Marxists who alleged wary Kumar on relating Ambedkar and ing discour ses on them” (p 73). The evi- that his politics either wittingly or oth- Walter Benjamin. A book of this nature dence in support of this claim is not giv- erwise promoted bourgeoisie interests; on Gandhi is a welcome addition to the en. This ambiguity and not giving exact liberals who found him non-progres- existing literature. It makes good read- references to what is attributed to Gan- sive; feminists who criticised his views ing for those who are already familiar dhi is there when they maintain that on sex and women; and those like with, and or want to be familiar with there are “thinkers of speed before B R Ambedkar who found his views on Western philosophers and or want to see Gandhi and after him. But it is Gandhi’s Dalits less revolutionary or even promot- Gandhi in their company. resistance to speeding, which alone ing orthodoxy. This leaves the text mere- A Raghuramaraju ([email protected]) is is resistance, which sets him apart” ly to accumulate without cumulating. on deputation to Indian Institute of Technology (pp 38–39). This indeed is a big claim The development of thought through Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh from University of and one needs to know who those cumulative ideas is the dominant practice Hyderabad. He teaches philosophy.

30 AUGUST 3, 2019 vol lIV no 31 EPW Economic & Political Weekly