Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to analyse Mahatma Gandhi’s (1869-1948) attitudes to technology and their connections to his socio-economic and political ideas focusing on the religious aspects of his thought, as it views them ass the direct source of his ideas concerning technology.

Paper long abstract:

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), the leading figure of the Indian independence movement is usually examined as a religious and political leader. His ideas concerning economy and technology were and are often considered as utopian and idealistic at best or criticized as backwards and even out of touch with economic and social reality. While they were never implemented on a nationwide scale, due to Nehruvian policy of economic development emphasizing the need for industrialization and technological advancement they were nevertheless an important part of Gandhi’s though and public activity.

The paper argues, that the attitudes towards the use and spread of technology and its influence on social and individual life, economy and politics stem directly from Gandhi’s interpretation of Hinduism and go beyond simplifying labels such as 'luddism' or 'anarcho-primitivism'. The paper aims to examine these attitudes focusing on three values of religious significance namely, ahinsa (nonviolence) aparigraha (nonpossesiveness) and śrama (labour), while looking into their religious origins and meanings attributed to them by Gandhi and covering the way he used them to present his vision of society and the role of technology in its life. The paper, while being based on Gandhi’s writings, will also take into account the criticisms delivered by his contemporaries and the non-Indian influences that have shaped Gandhi’s approach to technology.