A new look at Gamwell's proposal for political ethics: The contribution of M. K. Gandhi in the reformulation of Franklin I. Gamwell's metaphysical teleologically grounded political ethical theory

Democracy may be the best form of government known to us so far, yet even its ardent supporters like Jeffrey Stout and Cornel West are critical of the contemporary Western democracies dominated by secularism and political liberalism. They argue that by keeping religion out of the public sphere deprives the economic political realm of moral and spiritual values. Though theistic faith used to provide a firm ground for morality, with the Enlightenment, this theistic ground was rejected as pre-modern, part of the hierarchical world view and inconsistent with democratic values. Franklin I. Gamwell and M. K. Gandhi are the representatives of those who argue for a theistic teleological ground for morality and political ethics, but at the same time uphold the enduring contributions of the Enlightenment, such as democracy, religious freedom, autonomy and human rights.;The thesis of this work is that Gamwell's proposal, a metaphysical teleologically grounded political ethics, establishes a firm ground for morality and political ethics. A reformulation of Gamwell's theory, using the insights and resources provided by Gandhi's proposal, will not only address some of the problems in Gamwell's theory but also bring a global dimension to it. The first and second chapters of this work examine Gamwell's theory and the third and fourth explore Gandhi's proposal. The fifth and sixth chapters compare their positions on important aspects of their proposal, identify the weak areas in Gamwell, and explore how Gandhi's insights strengthen Gamwell's theory.;Gamwell uses the contributions of philosophers like Alasdaire Maclntyre and Karl-Otto Apel to underscore the moral crisis that plagues the West today. The domination of emotivism and existentialism in morality led to nihilistic, skeptical and radical relativistic tendencies, and the difference between manipulative and non-manipulative social relationships has blurred. Even analytical philosophers failed to give complete justification for morality. Gamwell argues that the present moral crisis can effectively be addressed through a metaphysical teleology ground based on process theology as developed by Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne. According to him the ultimate goal of humans is to maximize the divine good, and the comprehensive goal of political community is general emancipation. He argues that the formative rights, including religious freedom, should be included in the constitution and substantive justice should be decided by full and free democratic discourse.;Gandhi also developed his metaphysical teleological ground for his political ethics and asserts that God-realization is the ultimate goal for humans and Sarvodaya (welfare of all) is the comprehensive telos for a political community. The insights from Gandhi which are identified to reformulate Gamwell's theory include minimum capabilities guaranteed in the constitution, swaraj (self-rule) in all levels of life, Panchayat Raj or the principle of decentralization of power and resources, Trusteeship or right attitude toward wealth based on a sound theological vision, Swadesi or the principle of economic independence, Satyagraha or to resist evil through nonviolence, the role of voluntary organizations in democracy, Ahimsa or the need to address directly violence and promote love, and Karma Marga or to selflessly serve humanity as worship to God.