Gandhian Political Economy: The Methodological Structuration

Abstract

The methodological boundary of the GPE is demarcated by truth and non‐violence. It needs to be emphasised that the GPE is dependent on a type of methodological individualism where individuals matter most in the operation of the whole system. Individuals are the true entities and their holistic development is the basic purpose of the GPE, and this goes a long way to achieve the desideratum of a self‐reliant society. These are the basic instrument variables so to say. To ignore the development of individuals in the system of the GPE is like playing Hamlet without the prince of Denmark. For the proper working of the Gandhian system, many instruments, and institutional and organisational changes are indeed necessary and in some cases, what Schumpeter calls creative destruction, becomes inevitable. Gandhi's methodology was a combination of both realism and idealism. Very often he used the method of eclecticism through a fusion of empirical pragmatism with metaphysical idealism. This is evident in many of his writings including the theory of state, and political and social philosophy.

Citation

Ghosh, B.N. (2002), "Gandhian Political Economy: The Methodological Structuration", Humanomics, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 9-28. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb018869