A Comparison between Gandhi and Albert Camus - Research Paper Example

A Comparison between Gandhi and Albert Camus Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi [1898-1947] and Albert Camus [1913-1960] were almost contemporaries. Both were political thinkers and players. Any direct links between them in would be a bit superficial but both were great humanists and cared for the world around them [Dasgupta]. A valid way to understand them would be to consider the effect of their environment upon their thinking and actions. Their respective philosophies are also studied in this essay. Two of their works, “My experiments with Truth” by Gandhi and “The Stranger” by Albert Camus are also compared to understand these aspects. These highly attractive figures also had many similarities in their life. Both belonged to the same class of thinkers, the existentialists, Gandhi being accorded the status on being a religious man whose truths are subjective than objective. Both accidentally suffered the violent ends. Their life and significance and present day relevance are only being more understood in the in the recent years. A Comparison between Gandhi and Albert Camus Youth and Upbringing Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known in his country as “Mahatma” or great soul was the most popular and charismatic leader of the nation in modern times and the most powerful leader responsible for gaining independence for India from the British Empire. He was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, a small town on the western coast of India, which was then one of the many tiny states in Kathiawar where his grandfather and father were prime minister of that small royal state. He was sent to Britain to study law an occasion, which served to broaden his mind greatly. [Gandhi bio source 1] Affectionately called the father of the nation he was a man who led a spotless and model life so correct he was able to say, “My life is My Message” [Sarvodaya]. He acted as a moral leader who taught that freedom was directly related to a moral life and led by example. He inspired so much awe among the great men of the world that Einstein wrote "Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe, that such a one as this, ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth." [Gandhi Research].In short he was a thinker “who practiced what he preached”. All his simplicity and social involvement was the result of profound thought and religious idealism. Philosophy As a theoretical philosopher, he may fit in more as a religious person who has attained enlightenment than as an originator of totally new line of philosophical thought. “This is because Gandhi was not a philosopher trying to make sense of the world around him in abstraction. He was essentially a political actor.” [Dasgupta] Most of Gandhi’s potent ideas, like Ahimsa and Non-violence were not exactly originated by him but were of religious origin. In short, for comparative purposes, he was a man who was able to find meaning in life, which for him was God, which he also called the truth. [SOURCE].One of Gandhi’s motivators was also his feeling of religious guilt being a very morally reflective boy from his childhood. Born in a very traditional family environment he felt sorely from the instance of having been engaged in sexual intercourse with his own wife while his father was on his deathbed .Unfortunately while Gandhi was away his father happened to die. He felt very guilty about this, he constantly tried to become a purer man, and his grace spread to the society about him. [Gandhi Autobiography] He was also highly moved by the beauty of the ‘Sermon on the Mount’[New Testament]. Albert Camus [1913- 1960] was born 7 November 1913 in Mondovi, Algeria, into a working-class family and grew up in poverty. His mother Catherine Hélène Sintés was an illiterate cleaning woman of Spanish origin. Lucien Auguste Camus, his father, was an itinerant agricultural laborer He died when Camus was as a one year old of his war wounds in 1914 after the Battle of the Marne. His intense love for his mother expressed in the words “When my mother's eyes were not resting on me, I have never been able to look at her without tears springing into my eyes” [Liukkonen].This might explain why critical reviews describe his works as filled with a soft light. This intense soft love for his mother might explain the magically quaint famous starting lines of “The Stranger”—“Maman died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure.” Later on, the atmosphere of masked anguish is more highlighted in the lines “Mother was the only friend he ever had”. It is worth noting in this context that in childhood a child’s greatest fear is of the possibility of his mother’s death. [source mother d fear ] The synthesis of critical reviews of the two works leads us to some observations: Albert Camus is the one who sees the mud outside his prison cell [pessimist] while Gandhi sees the stars up in the sky [optimist] and seeks a way up there. Camus tries to explain why we should not give up hope and a way of adaptation for the man without God and in a way they could be considered complementary as Camus shows without God ,a material life can only “by an act of will’ be stopped from committing suicide. In their purity of thought, innocence, and keen reaction to the trauma of the reality they faced in the world, they are quite similar. Perhaps the fact that Camus, unlike Gandhi, never having known a happy childhood and ignorance of a happy childhood environment might explain his resignation to the despair he assigned to reality. [sources 2]. Both had a ‘hands on’ style giving a continuous stream of directions in the form of even daily articles in periodicals and newspapers and commanded the attention of the society. They detested the authoritarianism of the state, mental and physical slavery and exalted the power of the human spirit and freedom though they reacted in strikingly different ways and Camus going the aggressive way favoring temporarily even communism and anarchy. However, both were primarily warriors of the word than the sword. Fear of losing anything material, or anything physical, including one’s life, impedes the possibility of pursuing the truly important form of life, the moral life. In “The Stranger” the hero Meersault from his prison [note the image], “gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe” the philosopher paints his perception of his concept of The Absurdity, of man rotting away in presence of the indifference of the high heavens. The relentless assault of the judge in the courtroom strikes a chord in the heart of youth the world over facing alienation with the older generation who simply do not make the effort to understand them.[The Stranger].Camus’ other famous book “The Myth of Sisyphus’” describes his pet theory of “Absurdism “ even more thoroughly.[Sisyphus] Gandhi was less imaginary and academic but more journalistic and practical in his writings. http://www.camus-society.com/albert-camus-bio.html, Like Gandhi, Camus also had the advantage of advanced education not from family riches but by getting a scholarship to the grammar school [senior high] in and obtained his diploma in higher studies in Philosophy from the University of Algiers. Albert Camus was a passionate man, honest in his heart free of a lot of illusions that drug the society, who had the guts dared to look Reality in the face and yet tried not to give up hope. From one view point Gandhi had possibly more of sophistry but that is possibly the only way to avoid the personality disintegration that Camus possibly experienced indicated by his multiple marriage breakups .[ Camus bio UK] "The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth" "I rebel; therefore I exist. 6Works Cited Liukkonen Petri Liukkonen (author) & Ari Pesonen. Kuusankosken kaupunginkirjasto 2008 URL:http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/acamus.htm RL: www.macobo.com/.../epdf/CAMUS,%20Albert%20-%20The%20Stranger.pdf [Gandhi Autobiography [New Testament Sisyphus—WIKI the Myth of the Sisyphus [source mother d fear ] Camus bio UK Gandhi bio source 1] Read More