The Metaphysics of Diversity and Authenticity: A Comparative Reading of Taylor and Gandhi on ...

430 Pages·2015·2.83 MB·English

The Metaphysics of Diversity and
Authenticity: A Comparative Reading of
Taylor and Gandhi on Holistic Identity
Author: Joshy P. Varghese
Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104265
This work is posted on eScholarship@BC,
Boston College University Libraries.
Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2013
Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted.
Boston College
Graduate School of Arts and Science
Department of Philosophy

THE METAPHYSICS OF DIVERSITY AND AUTHENTICITY:
A COMPARATIVE READING OF TAYLOR AND GANDHI ON HOLISTIC IDENTITY
a dissertation
by
JOSHY P. VARGHESE

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

April, 2013
©Copy Right by JOSHY P. VARGHESE
2013
ABSTRACT

THE METAPHYSICS OF DIVERSITY AND AUTHENTICITY:
A COMPARATIVE READING OF TAYLOR AND GANDHI ON HOLISTIC IDENTITY

By Joshy P. Varghese
Director: Prof. Jeffrey Bloechl

The human self and society in general have always been in transition and transformation. Our senses of
ourselves and of our society are in dialectical relation with our sense of whether or to what degree we feel part
of important dimensions such as religion and politics, which are both an expression of our identity and factors
that may sometimes change our identity. In modern western society it seems that identity has shifted from what
Charles Taylor calls “embeddedness” in religion to a mode of life where religion is, to a great extent, expected
to be a personal matter and even a personal choice. This is not impossible to understand, and historical work
shows us that there are important continuities between the modern reason that rejects religion and the religion
that it rejects. In this complicated process there is no mistaking the emergence of a democratic politics that
rests to a significant degree on the rational project of modernity. We might even say that the success of that
politics is one of the most important signs of the success of modern reason. In any case, we see in the west the
development of a political system that has made society increasingly secular and religion increasingly private.
This is not the case everywhere in the world. In may other places outside the “west” religion and its
expressions are more public and individuals consider religion as a significant factor in defining their self-
identity. In these places, many people are found expressing and promoting an identity that they consider
meaningful in a world that is not fundamentally defined—or only defined—by the sort of secular political
system that restricts religious beliefs and practices to the private domain. In these places, there is somewhat
less difficulty with the sort of dilemma that we find in many liberal secular parts of the modern west, where
even public expressions of religious beliefs are protested or challenged even though the right to such
expressions are constitutionally guaranteed for all citizens.
The dialectics of religion and politics and their importance in defining human self-identity is the central domain
for my research, though I need many detours into other cultural factors in order to substantiate my claims.
Bouncing back and forth between western and eastern religious, philosophical, and political perspectives, I
finally found some points of contacts in Charles Taylor and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. They became my
focus of this research. Still, I felt it necessary to offer a preliminary account of secularism, as our present
context, in order to set the background of my exploration of the works and, in some important respects, the
lives of Taylor and Gandhi. Hence, my first chapter is an overview of the sources of secularism in the West and
in India. The second chapter deals with the Taylorian understanding of diversity, authenticity, and holistic
identity. My third chapter is on Gandhi’s understanding of diversity, authenticity, and holistic identity. My
fourth and final chapter brings to light my own sense of our prospects for an integral understanding of religion,
politics, and self-identity within the contexts of post-religious, post-secular, and post-metaphysical thinking.
While claims for secular humanism and secular politics have always been somewhat convincing to me, I was
not sure why religion should be necessarily so ‘problematic’ for such a program. In fact, the pathologies of
both reason and religion have become more explicit to us today. Secularism seems to repeat the exclusivism of
the anti-secular stance of some religions by becoming anti-religious itself. Indeed, among secularists and even
atheists there is a general trend to consider religions as intrinsically “anti-humanistic” in nature. It is true that
secular humanism has sometimes helped religions to explore how deeply “humanistic” they are at heart, in
their revelations and traditions. So perhaps, it is possible to have comprehensive frames and theories of
humanism and secularism from within the boundaries of religions themselves without negating or diminishing
either the spiritual or the secular. A dialogue between Taylor and Gandhi can be useful for us today especially
as pointers toward such a humanistic approach to self, religion and politics. This dialogue between these
western and the eastern thinkers can enlarge, enrich, and enlighten each other. What we then see, on the one
hand, is the limit of a purely secular politics that is lacking a proper metaphysical foundation to guarantee the
religious needs of humanity; and on the other hand, we also see the hesitation and struggle of religions to
accommodate the demands of secularism. In both cases, we have reason to hope for a new ‘metaphysics of
diversity and authenticity’ which in turn might validate a role for religion, and perhaps also the ethical
principles that it yields. Still, this is an incomplete and inconclusive dialectic and in that sense only a
contribution to ongoing debate. I thank for your attention to my narrative and my proposals. Let me conclude
now, so that I can listen to your stories, because you too help me to define myself.
Dedicated to
My Parents and
Rev. Thomas A. DiLorenzo
Agape and Ahimsa to whom I am indebted for my pursuit of life.
ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation has been made possible by the constant and continued support of numerous
people and institutions. I am extremely grateful to the Boston College Graduate School of Arts
and Science for extending to me admission to the Department of Philosophy with a full
scholarship. I am truly thankful to Holy Rosary Parish in the Archdiocese of Boston and very
specially and personally to Fr. Tom DiLorenzo, my pastor for extending to me a residence and
opportunity to do my priestly ministry. His love, care, concern, and friendship are beyond words.
I am so grateful to my Carmelite Community in India for permitting me to do my higher studies
in the US. I also acknowledge the support and friendship of the Jesuit Community in the
Campus, especially to Prof. Gary Gurtler, Prof. Arthur Madigan, and Prof. Ron Tacelli.
I have my sincerest gratitude to my reader and friend Prof. Richard Kearney. His range of
philosophical and literary interests, including aspects of Indian culture, always has been an
inspiration for me.
For Prof. Frank Clooney, my Co-director, I owe very special thanks. His in-depth knowledge and
even association with South Asian theological and philosophical issues enriched my reading and
understanding in countless ways and his continued support made this work possible. I am
extremely grateful that he accepted me as a student.
And I have my deepest gratitude to Prof. Jeffrey Bloechl, my director. His job has been to guide
me through the inter-disciplinary concerns of my dissertation. His guidance was so far reaching
that he even found time to make my language readable and stylistic. Undoubtedly, this work
would not have been possible without his constant support, directions, and corrections. It is
really enriching to know him, and his family, and to benefit from his wide range of academic
interests, especially in the area of Philosophy of Religions.
iii

I must also thank my parents and other family members in India and my parish community in
Winthrop, for supporting me spiritually by their prayers and moral support. I would like mention
the names of Fr. Joseph, Fr. Steve, Fr. Martin, Sr. Elizabeth, Eleanor MCullen, Marianna
Reynolds, Leslie Manson Hing, and Marie Sullivan for their support, love, and care. My special
thanks to Vincent who found time to go through my work and made my English presentable.
Finally, my gratitude goes to God, for the gift of life, gift of faith, and for the gift of reason, who
constantly inspires me to flourish my human nature and fulfill my spiritual aspirations.
iv

THE METAPHYSICS OF DIVERSITY AND AUTHENTICITY: A
COMPARATIVE READING OF TAYLOR AND GANDHI ON HOLISTIC
IDENTITY
Acknowledgment ii
Table of Contents iv
Abbreviations xi
General Introduction 01
CHAPTER 1: 3-124
RETRIEVING THE ROOTS OF SECULARISM IN THE WEST AND IN INDIA: A
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF MODERN SELF-
IDENTITY
0.0. Introductory Concerns
0.1. Pluralism, Civil Society, and Secular Public Sphere
0.2. Secularization as a Process, Secularism as an Ideology, and Privatization of Religion
0.3. Secularism and Modernity
0.4. Self-Identity and Secular Modernity

1.1. RETRIEVING THE GENEALOGY OF SECULARISM IN THE WEST

1.1.1. Ancient trends in ‘secular’ Thinking
1.1.2. Modern and Contemporary Trends in Secularism
1.1.2.1. Reformation and Its Impact on Secularism
1.1.2.2. Prominent Proponents of Secularism
1.1.2.3. Enlightenment Thinkers of 18th and 19th Centuries and their Contribution to Secularism:
1.1.2.4. British Secular Thinkers
1.1.2.4.1. Conceptual Origin – George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906)
1.1.2.5. Science and Secularism
1.1.2.6. Immediate Philosophical Strands
1.1.3. Development and Variant understandings of the Concept ‘Secularism’
1.1.4. Historical Encounters And Evolution of Prominent Forms of Secularism
1.1.4.1. Separation of Religion and State
1.1.4.1.1. French Laïcité
1.1.4.1.2. The US and the Wall of Separation

1.1.4.1.3. Turkey and the Abolition of the Caliphate

1.1.5. Ungrounded ‘Liberalism’ of the West – Pseudo Secularisms