Religion, Morality and Socio- Political Philosophy (A Comparative Study of John Dewey and Ambedkar's)

ABOUT THE BOOK The present study tries to examine John Dewey and Ambedkar's views on religious morality and socio-political philosophy in which both Ambedkar and John Dewey shared same ideas. Dewey opined that many religions generally consider themselves to be great. Their religious morality is important because they give more importance to human values. According to him practising a dignified social life is the greatest religion than other religions. In the same way, Ambedkar's model of theory on religion is a good model available for us in India to emulate. We need to follow Ambedkar's methodology not only to learn from the great master and achieve what he did, but also to carry forward his struggle to liberate all stigmas. It is quite clear that Ambedkar and John Deweys' intervention in the philosophical realm is clearly guided by the socio-political reason. This book takes its independent stand on this philosophical ground.

INTRODUCTION Comparative philosophy is a distinguishable field of inquiry in philosophy. When interpreted as a branch of philosophy, it stands alongside with those which pertain to the philosophy of science, the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of social science, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of art. Comparative philosophy has its own methods, presuppositions, activities and frameworks which set it apart from the others. When interpreted as a discipline which takes comparison as its central concern, however, it lapses into the whole itself of which it is supposed to be a part. For philosophy, the whole which comprises its parts is an activity which is always involved in comparing different views about various issues. Socrates philosophized via dialogues in which views held by others were constantly scrutinized and compared with his own; Confucius began his work by refining wisdom previous to his time and in this transformation lays an implicit comparison'.

Comparative philosophy is a subfield of philosophy in which philosophers work on problems by intentionally setting into dialogue sources from across cultural, linguistic, and philosophical streams. The ambition and challenge of comparative philosophy is to include all the philosophies of global humanity in its vision of what is constituted by philosophy. Comparative philosophers most frequently engage topics in dialogue between modern Western (American and Continental European) and Classical Asian (Chinese, India and Japanese) traditions, but work has been done using materials and approaches’ from Islamic and African philosophical traditions as well as from classical Western traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam).

This approach distinguishes comparative philosophy from several other approaches to philosophy. First. comparative philosophy is distinct from both area studies philosophy (in which philosophers investigate topics in particular cultural traditions, (Buddhism) and world philosophy in which philosophers construct a philosophical system based on the fullness of global traditions of thought. Second, comparative philosophy differs from more traditional philosophy in which ideas are compared among thinkers within a particular tradition; comparative philosophy intentionally compares the ideas of thinkers of very different traditions, especially culturally distinct traditions.

The unique approach of comparative philosophy also comes unique difficulties and challenges that are not as characteristic of doing philosophy within a particular tradition. Such difficulties to be avoided include descriptive chauvinism (recreating another tradition in the image of one's own), normative skepticism (merely narrating or describing the views of different philosophers and traditions. suspending all judgment about their adequacy), incommensurability (the inability to find the common ground among traditions needed as a basis for comparison), and perennialism (failure to realize that philosophical traditions evolve, that they are not perennial in the sense of being monolithic). Furthermore, since comparative philosophy involves an approach that is not dominant in academic philosophy, it has been somewhat neglected by the mainstream of the profession." However, comparative philosophy is fairly early in its developmental stages.

**Contents and Sample Pages**