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Gandhi and Tagore on the Idea of the Surplus, Creativity and Freedom: In Conversation with Richard Sorabji

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Abstract

This paper is in conversation with Richard Sorabji’s reading of the Gandhi Tagore debate. On Sorabji’s account freedom was an important issue in that debate as Gandhi was unable to appreciate Tagore’s emphasis on individual freedom as creativity. While I agree that freedom was an important issue, I argue that Gandhi understood and employed the resources made available by individual creativity. The differences arose because Gandhi thought of freedom as creativity primarily in moral rather than aesthetic terms.

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Notes

  1. The bauls are a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal.

References

  • Bhattacharya, S. (compiled and edited), (2008). The Mahatma And the Poet, Letters and Debates between Gandhi and Tagore, 1915–1941. New Delhi, National Book Trust.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Philosophy, School of social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110067, India

    Bindu Puri

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  1. Bindu Puri
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Correspondence to Bindu Puri.

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Puri, B. Gandhi and Tagore on the Idea of the Surplus, Creativity and Freedom: In Conversation with Richard Sorabji. SOPHIA 55, 563–572 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-016-0531-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-016-0531-3

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