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Ethical Record The ISSN 0014-1690 Ethical Record Vol. 94 No. 6 JUNE 1989 Editorial In the event of planning permission SOUTH PLACE FLOWERS being obtained for redevelopment, as readers will already know from earlier CHRISTOPHER HILL'S 1989 Conway issues and also from the Development Memorial Lecture, History and the Newsletter edited by DON LIVERSEDGE, Present, featured (in an excerpt) in a further vote with a two-thirds The Guardian of May 29, and this has majority will be required before the led to the text being reprinted from planning permission could be acted the need to meet subsequent requests upon. The present course of action is for copies. In the tradition of a con- in line with the advice of the majority vergence between scholarship, public opinion and fruitful dissent, of the Trustees, made known to mem- History bers at the Annual General Meeting, and the Present locates and assists our point of transition. favouring redevelopment, and also takes into account. the Charity Com- The text is reaching both old and mission guidelines. new friends of South Place Ethical . Society. It has struck a chord in the In the last analysis, the Society per- spirit of the time (as too did A. J. forms for good or ill not because of AYER'S 1988 Conway Lecture, The any physical structure—for that way Meaning of Life). lies fetishisation, and neglect of the A more than crisis response to the spirit which moves through any valid opportunities (and also dislocations) group or voluntary organisation—but we share in willynilly and can help to because its aspirations harmonise with shape, is to be desired. One such new world views being called forth moment of change is the decision by from the old ones. A self-financing, the majority of members at the Annual truly independent and pulsating General Meeting in May to go for re- humanist centre is within reach, with : development—subject in the first case diverse . other roles capable of being to planning permission being obtained, realised within the same evolution of and also to safeguards for the Society's South Place. Let us cherish our past permanent location, for acoustics,, and achievement, nourish (alongside the enhanced effectiveness. complementary work of the British A further resolution, not incom- Humanist Association, and also the patible with the first decision...for National Secular Society, the Progres- redevelopment; urged the General COm- sive League and the Rationalist Press . rnittee to look also at partial redevelop- Association) the new perspectives now ment. These twin tracks, of redevelop- opening. ment and something less in 'scale;:will both doubtless be pursued with zest. NICHOLASHYMAN CONTENTS Page Coming to Conway Hall 17 V. D. Savarkar and Indian Nationalism: VIDYAS. ANAND . 3 The Case for a New Approach to Moral Philosophy or the Psychological Problem of Right and Wrong: DAVID IBRY . 13 What Motivates Monks and Nuns: BARBARASMOKER . 19 The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Society. Publishedby the South Place EthicalSociety, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square,London SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY The linnianist Centre, Conway Hall 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Telephone: 01-831 7723 Hall Lettings: 01-242 8032. Lobby: 01-405. 4125 Appointed Lecturers: Harold Blackham, T. F. Evans, Peter Heales, Richard Scorer, Barbara Smoker, Harry Stopes-Roe, Nicolas Walter. Trustees: Sam Beer, Christine Bondi, Louise Booker, John Brown, Anthony Chapman, Peter Heales, Don Liversedge, Ray Lovecy, Ian MacKillop, Victor Rose, Barbara Smoker, Harry Stopes-Roe. Honorary Representative: Barbara Smoker. Chairman General Committee: Norman Baciac. Deputy Chairman: Louise Booker. Honorary Registrar: Lesley Dawson. Honordry Treasurer: Don Liversedge. Secretary: Nicholas Hyman. Hall Manager: Geoffrey Austin. Honorary Librarian: Edwina Palmer. Editor, The Ethical Record Tom Rubens (assisted by Nicholas Hyman, Lesley Dawson and Jim Addison). Concerts Committee Chairman: Lionel Elton. General Committee: The OffiCers and Jean Bayliss, Richard Benjamin, Cynthia Blezard, Raymond Cassidy, G. N. Deodhekar, Martin Harris, Ellis Hillman, Naomi Lewis, Lisa Monks, Terry Mullins, Diane Murray, Les Warren, Alice Marshall and David Williams. The Re-Development Issue I was shocked to read the April Editorial. It was written after the Special General Meeting in March and quite misrepresents its conclusions. There .was no report of the meeting and no indication that the proposal to redevelop the Hall (i.e. knock it down and rebuild) was firmly rejected. That decision was referred to only obliquely, as though it was of no consequence, and the membership assured that "there'll be a chance at the AGM in May to reconsider developmental options." It will be quite clear to everyone who was present at the meeting in March that the membership has spoken and decided the issue. There are no grounds for raising the matter again at the AGM. To do otherwise is to make nonsense of democracy and the Rules of the Society. PETER CADOGAN,London NW6, 4/5/89 Nicholas Hyman replies: At the AGM (see this months' editorial) the Members decided by majority to go for re-development, subject to safeguards that had already been agreed by a majority at the deferred part of the 1988 AGM. In both the most recent and the 1988 decisions, members were in accord with the advice given them by the majority of the Societies Trustees. As the author of the editorial which has offended PETER CADOGAN, I have to observe that I was attempting a lucid résumé of development options in Members' minds up to then. As I am sure Peter would agree, the decision now to go for development confirms the speculative remarks I made then. The Ethical Record is postedfree to members. The annual charge to Subscribers is £4. Matter for publication should reach the Editor, Tom Rubens, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL (01-831 7723) no later Man the first of the month for publication in the following month's issue. Ethical Record, June 1989 V. D. SAVARKAR AND INDIAN NATIONALISM VIDYA S. ANAND Lecture given at Conway Hall on October 30, 1988 Ladies and gentlemen, Today represents the third occasion on which I have been honoured by an invitation to address the South Place Ethical Society and I must say that I have been watching the members of the society come in with a certain trepidation. When I was first invited to address your society some years ago I felt certain that a good number of members would attend, because your society has a record of kindness and tolerance towards all strandi of opinion, and has always extended a warm welcome to newcomers, like me, at this lectern. As to the second occasion on which I spoke, I knew full well that members would turn up once again, because they would not want to discourage my modest efforts as a speaker. On this third occasion, though, I feared that I would be stretching your tolerance to its limits. However, I am greatly heartened by the sustained interest which you, the members, have shown by your presence here today. You, have demon- strated, by that presence, an interest not only in Indian nationalism but also an interest in the history of this metropolis at the high point of its influence and power. 'RADICALSAND REVOLUTIONARIES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ATTRACTED TO THISCITY OF LONDON.Many, since the time of our great precursor, TOM PAINE,. roamed its streets through the ages and dreamt of building freedom, and more and more as the )(pith century progressed. I could take you to many streets within a short walk from this place and show you the haunts, dwellings and meeting places of those great souls who dreamt, organised and some eventually succeeded in demolishing imperialism and oppression in their respective lands. BENJAMINFRANKLIN and his associates were gathered in the Strand; MAZZINI and his carbonaris were once living in Bloomsbury and Leicester Square; KARL MARXand the German Socialists preferred the well known advantages of Soho; and LENINand his Russians favoured the bleaker acres of Kings Cross. One of these great revolutionaries who never knew the London of Queen Victoria was born in British India on May 23 1883 at Baghur, a village near Nasik, near Poona. I refer, of course, 20 VINAYAKDAMODAR SAVARKAR, the first Indian revolutionary to introduce his country's cause to a wider audience in the Western world. Savarkar hailed from a clan of Chitpavan Brahmin from which had sprung up not only NANASAHIB, the hero of the 1857 uprising, but also BAL GANGDHAR TILAK—thosewho lived, fought and died to free their motherland from her alien rulers. In many a life, later to mould the destiny of a nation, a certain momentous event presents itself. A rebel from Piedmont once begged MAZZIN1,a young stripling out for a walk with his mother, for alms in the name of the "outlaws" of Italy, and at that moment, Mazzini was converted and henceforth he dedicated himself to the struggle for the liberation and unification Of Italy. Such an event occurred in the early years of Savarkar's life as well. The India of the day was passing through her darkest period in her chequered history. Politically disrupted and socially degraded, she had reached her lowest ebb. India was the victim of hideous oppression. Famine, disease and all manner Ethical Record, June 1989 3 of other sufferings were widespread. The harsh restrictions placed upon the people by their alien rulers were designed to hasten the complete collapse of the Indian social fabric. I am talking about the days when to walk on the Mall Road in Simla was prohibited for Indians, even the opening of an umbrella in the presence of an Englishman was a grave offence.
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