THE HIDDEN HERITAGE OF INDIA - 2
sothipi...@yahoo.co.in
(A dialogue)
Jothi Pragasam
X Let us now talk about the modern individual.
Y Are we going to discuss modernism and post-modernism too?
X Not at all!
However, simple things are made difficult and subtle by assuming
writers and modernism is one of those things!
Y Do you mean to say that modernism is one of the terms misused by the
modern writers?
X Of course, yes; by most of them!
Y How?
MODERNISM AND POST-MODERNISM
X The term, modern age refers to the latest period in the history of
mankind, and, incidentally, it coincides with the age of capitalistic
mode of production.
However, some western writers in the nineteenth century did not wish to
call a spade a spade, and it is they who renamed capitalism by
modernism.
Consequently, Western writers of the twentieth century, who did not
know this renaming process, thought that they had crossed the age of
modernism and gave a new name to their age, and called it the age of
post-modernism.
Y Well, I am not able to follow you!
X It is very simple!
The capitalistic system has thoroughly been a revolutionary social
system compared to the previous systems of society.
However, the revolutionary march of capitalism that was transforming
social life in every respect had to stop, and it became
counter-revolutionary in the nineteenth century due to its own economic
crises.
Writers who were admiring the revolutionary process of capital until
then had to fight shy of its reactionary process, and therefore they
found it desirable to rename capitalism by modernism.
Y Well, it has been simple indeed!
But, what I do not understand is that why writers should be assuming.
X It is their business, and we have nothing to interfere with that.
However, should they not be assuming in order to attract assuming
readers?
Y Well, the modern age is the age of capital and modernism is but
capitalism!
That is what you are saying now!
X Yes!
Therefore, the modern individual is an individual living in a
capitalistic society.
Y A bourgeois individual in a bourgeois society?
X Yes, if you want it with a French tint!
Y Now, tell me about the modern individual!
X The modern individual is a free individual whom we do not find much
in the Indian sub-continent.
We may also not find him in the rest of Asia and Africa.
But, then, that is not the point now.
Y What, then, is the point now?
X The concept of man is the point now!
We have to know the development of the concepts of man and human
nature, in order to comprehend the revolutionary merits of the modern
individual.
Y Please proceed.
THE CONCEPT OF MAN
X With the emergence of the capitalistic mode of production, vast
changes began to take place in the social life of the people.
And, the most important of such changes is that each natural human
being was recognized to be a social human being for the first time in
history.
The concept of man in general and the concept of human nature itself
began to take shape in the minds of the social thinkers only during the
process of such material changes.
Y I am afraid that your estimation of thinkers is diminutive.
X That is not the point I am driving at!
Thinkers, like many others, are certainly great.
However, there must be something for them to think about!
SOCIAL THINKERS
Y Do you mean to say that thinkers by themselves would not have been
able to formulate the concepts of man and human nature by their own
thinking process?
X Well, do you believe that thinking emanates from heaven?
Y Oh, no, certainly not!
X You must then believe that thinkers cannot conceptualize things
they do not encounter on earth.
Y Well?
X The mass of the people who were practically making changes in the
material conditions of their own life, or creating their own history by
their own actions did know what they were doing, but only empirically,
just from their own practical experiences.
But thinkers are a special kind of people who can never be satisfied
with the empirical knowledge of the common people.
Y But, why?
X It is because the knowledge at the level of mere experience is
insufficient for them to grasp the chain of events in their totality,
and therefore they go for a knowledge at the level of reason, and
therefore reasonal concepts!
Y One moment, please!
X Yes?
Y What are you trying to say now?
X All that I am trying to say is that the thinkers come to the stage to
carry out their job of conceptualization, only after the empirical
people have carried out the changes they had wanted to, or have failed
to!
Y Well, it is not easy for me to agree with you.
Thinkers have been great people by themselves!
X Shall we agree to disagree?
Y No!
That would amount to evading the question without any seriousness, and
that is not what we intend to do here either!
Please proceed!
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
X There was a time when human beings were recognized only as human
groups, and not as human individuals!
Y Like groups of monkeys?
X Yes!
They had no individual identity except for the tribal or clan identity.
Y Was it like the caste identity in the Indian Union?
X Of course, yes!
Before the expansion of trade and industry, in the feudal, or the
medieval age, man was recognized as either a slave or a master, but not
as a man in general!
Thinkers of those days could therefore think only of a slave and of a
master, and conceptualize them only as such, and not as individual
human beings.
It is because the slave had only slave's duties and the master had
only master's rights, and both did not have any human duties and
rights.
Y Well, I understand!
Man became an individual human being only after the emergence of
the capitalistic social system, and therefore he could be conceived of
as a human being in general only after such a becoming.
Am I right?
X Yes, you are!
And, trade meant money and money meant independence and freedom.
In this process of independence, money became capital creating
factories and thereby making the slaves and the masters independent
individuals.
With the expansion of the production of commodities for the market,
production was getting socialized on an expanded scale, transforming
the whole society into a market, where money alone could ensure
livelihood, happiness, freedom, and social relationship.
Y Well, I think that we could go into such details later.
However, what do you mean by the term, socialization of production?
X Well, the natural economy is one under which all the members of a
family can live by consuming their own productions.
With limited needs, their dependence on the market is very much limited
and therefore their social contacts are also limited.
Under the market economy, on the contrary, every individual has to
depend upon the market for satisfying every one of his needs.
The more an individual depends on the market, the more his social
contacts expand, and he becomes more and more social.
It is therefore the market that socializes production, and thereby
socializes the members of a society.
Y Well, it is strange that the whole society is a market place!
However, let us now go back to the modern individual.
DEMOCRATIC INDIVIDUAL
X The modern individual is a capitalistic individual, and therefore a
democratic individual.
Y Well, what is democracy, any way?
X Equality, liberty and fraternity are the basic principles of
democracy, and they are directly linked to the economic relations of
capitalism, which are characteristic of the same principles.
Y You seem to imply that these principles would not at all have been
possible without capitalism.
X Well, these principles never operated in any previous form of
society!
Is this not proof enough to show that these principles are those of
capitalism?
Y I, for one, would like to say that the principles of equality,
liberty and fraternity are the developments of human thought and
culture.
X Certainly they are!
But, they do not come from heaven.
Human thought and culture are but human economic thought and culture.
Do you think that the human economy and culture could have been
emanating from two different sources?
Y Oh, no!
At least not now!
X It is therefore clear that the principles of equality, liberty and
fraternity are but the principles of the capitalistic economy and
culture.
BOURGEOIS DEMOCRACY
Y Well, all that you are trying to say is that the democracy we are now
talking about is just bourgeois democracy!
X Yes!
But, what is wrong with that?
It is the bourgeois revolution that has given us this democracy, and
until mankind is able to create a better system of society, it is going
to be the best system we can have, and certainly it is a better system
than all the previous systems.
Y You seem to have forgotten the negative aspects of the capitalistic
economy!
X Certainly not!
And, that is the reason why we have to talk of a better system.
At the same time, let us not forget to appreciate the positive
contributions made by the capitalistic system to the development of
mankind.
Y Well, can you point out some of them?
X Why not?
Democracy is one example.
And, there are other things too!
Y Other things?
What are they?
X Well, you seem to have become negative to the positive aspects of
capitalism!
Y You are right to some extent.
However, let us proceed with our discussion.
X It is capitalism which created the material conditions for the
(1) freedom of the slaves from feudalism and serfdom;
(2) recognition of every human being as a free individual;
(3) abolition of hereditary kingship with its dictatorial and
unlimited powers;
(4) establishment of representative governments with separate
judiciary, legislature and bureaucracy;
(5) election of the people's representatives with adult franchise;
(6) prevalence of rule of law over the whims and fancies of the
authorities of the state and government;
(7) free-play of market forces and the production of commodities on an
expanded scale thereby socializing production, distribution and
consumption;
(8) competition among individuals leading to the free development of
various faculties;
(9) development of science and technology in industry and commerce;
and, there are so many other things we need not enumerate here.
Y But all these are just for the further accumulation of capital!
X Yes, but what do you expect of the capitalist?
Do you expect him to work for the welfare of the whole of humanity?
Can you just show me a single individual or a group of that kind,
including yourself?
Y Well!
X It is a straight question and I demand a straight answer!
Y Do you mean to say that the motive force of history is but
self-interest?
X Please tell me if there is anything else!
Y Well, I am not able to, now!
But, I think that there must be something else.
X All right!
Shall we wait until you find that something?
Y No, let us proceed!
DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
X The modern individual is a democratic individual who has the right to
equality and liberty.
Unlike the master and the slave, or the brahmanical priest and the
dalit, who were respectively considered to be high and low by birth,
the modern individual is born free and is equal to every other member
of his society.
Y Well, what does it mean?
X This means that he has the right to be treated as an equal citizen,
and the duty to treat all other members of his society as his equals.
And, any violation of his right by any one on earth is an offence and
is
illegal.
He has also the right to enforce his rights all alone by himself!
Y All alone as an individual?
X Yes!
DEMOCRATIC CULTURE
It is because democracy is a culture of the people, a way of their
life, where each individual is aware of his own rights as well as those
of his fellow citizens.
Y Well, do you mean to say that democracy is a culture and a way of
life?
X Yes!
Y As far as I know, democracy is a political system!
X Yes, it is!
And, it is also a way of life, a life-culture!
Moreover, in a society where there is no democratic culture, its
function as a political system would also be defective.
Y Well, it is true that democracy in the Indian Union is not as good as
it ought to have been.
X Yes!
And, it is mainly because of the caste-culture still prevailing in the
Indian Union!
Y Please wait; let me finish!
It is just not the caste system that is the cause of the defects in the
democratic system of the Indian Union.
X What else is it, then?
Y I think that it is due to the lack of education in the Indian Union.
X It is true that the level of education in the Indian Union is very
low.
But, education is not everything in life.
In fact, it requires a culture to know the role of education itself.
Y Do you mean to say that culture and education do not go
together?
X Not necessarily!
And, casteism and racialism are some of the best examples!
Y Yes, you seem to be right!
X Any social culture is but its economic culture, or industrial culture
if you would like it that way, and it is also the result of the
spontaneous growth of one's personality.
In fact, the need for one's education itself arises from one's own
culture; or it may even be a calculated step for various other reasons.
Y Yes, I can understand that!
Unless democracy becomes a culture embedded in our mind and is a way of
our life, it is impossible to have a functioning democracy in politics.
Is that what you are saying?
X Yes!
And, shall we proceed then?
Y Yes, to our discussion on equality!
THE RIGHT TO EQUALITY
X In a democratic society, all citizens have to consider every other
citizen as his equal.
Y Have to?
Is it not spontaneous?
X Yes, it is!
But, there is an element of compulsion too!
Objectively, it is a social compulsion; and subjectively, it is a
personal need!
It is the fusion of these two elements that characterizes everything
that is spontaneous, and so is it with the sense of equality among
citizens!
Y It is interesting indeed!
X The modern individual is aware that every other individual is endowed
with equal rights and status in life.
He recognizes human dignity in every other individual because he is
aware of his own dignity.
He knows for certain that he disregards his own dignity when he
disregards the dignity of another.
Y It is incredible!
X Well, I am not talking about the common individual in the Indian
Union.
Y I am not on that point either!
The rationality of your reasoning that when some one disregards the
dignity of another, he disregards his own dignity itself is what is
incredible.
It is like saying that I respect others only because I respect myself,
which however is not practically possible.
THE SELF AND ITS OTHER
X Well, what is a relationship?
Y A relationship?
It is a meeting, a coming together of individuals!
And, what else could it be?
X All right!
Has there to be some ground for any meeting, or coming together of
people?
Y Well, people may like each other and come together.
And, there may be so many other reasons too!
X Like what?
Y Is it very important?
X Why not?
Do you mean to say that people come together without any purpose?
Y Well, there may be some purpose, at least in a meaningful
relationship.
X So, a relationship is a purposeful coming together of individuals.
Am I right?
Y Yes, you are!
And please proceed!
X Every individual has a purpose in life.
He has some level of knowledge, some traits, a character, a future
plan, an outlook, and some likes and dislikes!
Y Yes!
X How would you like to define them?
Y All put together?
X Yes!
Y Well, it is one's ego!
Or is it one's psyche or self?
X Let us say that it is the self!
Y The self?
What is it like?
X Just like yours, your own self!
It is the whole personality of an individual; and it includes his
consciousness of his life with the whole lot of his experiences, his
successes and failures, and the confirmation and recognition of his
existence.
Y Confirmation?
X Yes, confirmation by others of his own existence!
Y Why?
X Well, let us suppose that you are the only human being on earth.
Y All right!
X You will be the ruler of the whole earth, with the animals and plants
as your subjects.
Y Well!
X Will that make you happy?
Y Oh, no!
That would be horrible!
X The whole world is your property!
And, would that not make you happy?
Y It is impossible.
X That is right!
It is because you would not even know whether you were a human being or
something else!
Y Yes!
X This means that you need another human being to identify yourself as
a human being.
And, at the same time, it is the other human being who recognizes you
as a human being and confirms your existence as a human existence.
Y Yes!
You are right!
X And, what if the other one is a female?
Y Well, I would be very happy about it.
X Of course, yes!
But that is not the point now.
Y What, then, is the point now?
X The point is that you need a woman even to know that you are a man!
Y Ah, yes!
X This means that your existence as a man is recognized and
confirmed by a woman.
Y Yes!
She is the other of myself, my other self!
X And what if she does not like you?
Y She has no other choice!
X Are you still in the supposition that you were the ruler of the
earth?
Please come to the present!
Y Well, I am sorry!
X Now, do you agree that she has many choices to make?
Y Yes!
But, then, she has to make a choice any way!
X Well, you too have choices to make.
And, how you make them is the question.
Y Yes, now I understand!
Please proceed!
X The self of an individual has to be realized in the self of another
individual.
It is in this process that both the selves are recognized and
confirmed, and one becomes the other of another.
Y You are right!
But how do you connect it to our discussion on human equality?
X It is very simple.
The modern individual is a democratic individual; his self is
a democratic self; he recognizes and confirms human dignity in every
other self.
It is therefore implicit in his very existence that he supports every
struggle of every other individual for a decent, graceful and dignified
existence.
Y So, one has to struggle for the confirmation of his dignity!
X Yes, without doubt!
Objectively, the material conditions for realizing human dignity might
have emerged in society.
However, subjectively, it is for the individual to realize it
consciously.
Y Well, it is really interesting!
X And, what is ailing the individuals in the Indian Union is their
caste psyche!
Y Please wait!
Do you mean to say that individuals in the Indian Union would have been
modern and democratic in their culture and behavior but for their caste
psyche?
X Yes, you are right!
And, the caste psyche has penetrated their conscience too!
Y Well, it is highly shocking indeed!