Answer to Question #267386 in History for Kelsey Jand

Question

Read, hihglight, and comment on the following excerpt:

I am not a visionary.  I claim to be a practical idealist.  The religion of nonviolence is not meant merely for the risbis (holy people) and saints.  It is meant for the common people as well.  Nonviolence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute... The dignity of a man requires obedience to a higher law to the strength of the spirit.

Answer 1

The practical idealism is a term first used by John Dewey in 1917 and which subsequently was adopted by Mahatma Gandhi in 2002. It holds on ethical imperative to implement ideals of virtue or good.

Gandhi was the first to extend the principle of non- violence from individual level to the social and political arena. He entered politics for the sole purpose of experimenting non- violence and proving it's validity.

He said that non- violence should not only apply to the holy people but to all and that should apply it since violence is for the brute and that obedience of the spirit brings dignity. This gospel was preached to ensure violence when handling issues is not applied whether in the political arena or social life.