While to most,Dr BR Ambedkar represents a social thinker,the new book based on his ideologies portrays him in the light of a philosopher Indians probably best remember him as the person who drafted the Constitution or the person who led the fight for the equal rights of those people who were pronounced as untouchables by society,successfully,but very few people remember Dr BR Ambedkar as a philosopher who wanted to change the way people perceived things. The new book The Philosophy of Dr BR Ambedkar,which has recently been released by the Department of Philosophy,of the University of Pune,aims at highlighting this less written aspect about his life. Speaking about it Prof P Gokhale of the University Department of Philosophy,who is also the editor of the book,says,"The book is basically a composition of articles,which were written by other writers. It also features Dr Ambedkar's ideologies. Dr Ambedkar has been projected as a social thinker,not many know him as a philosopher,and that is what we are highlighting in the book. The book deals with Dr Ambedkar's own background of western education and also about his interpretation of Buddhism. It deals with a unique style of philosophy wherein his philosophical orientation,which is more social in nature is highlighted." Adding more he says,"Even as far as his embracing Buddhism is concerned he didn't accept all the concepts of the religion. He interpreted the religion in his own way. In fact he has not accepted the concepts of Karma and re-birth and according to him Karma has an impact on the universal social actions,and not just on the individual." On the philosophy of Ambedkar,he says that Ambedkar talked about his philosophy in two context,the first one was enshrined in three words- liberty,equality and fraternity. It was essentially social and normative in nature and in due course assumed a new foundation in Buddhism. In the second context Ambedkar described philosophy,more elaborately,from the perspective of the philosophy of religion in general and Hinduism in particular. He favoured the combination of both critical and normative aspect of philosophy. Elaborating on Ambedkar's idea on religion,the Professor says,"Ambedkar's was not religious in the sense of a man of blind faith and devotion. He did not allow his rationality to be overpowered by faith. He was religious in a wide sense as a person of noble principles and sublime values. He was at the same time practical minded. He was not interested in idealising or mythologising noble principles,but in testing their practicability. However,he considered religion to be necessary for social well-being." According to the articles in the book,Dr. Ambedkar had fixed ideas of religion,which also incorporated the values of liberty,equality and fraternity. In fact according to him both religion and science need to go hand in hand and also it should not distinguish between people as being born of different castes or creeds. In addition to this it also deals with the question of whether suffering should be removed from life,or is death a way to finally escape suffering that a person encounters,he says. The book has articles,which are written by Dr BR Joshi of the University of Pune (UoP),Dr Suresh Mane of the Law department of the UoP,Dr. Lata Chattre (UoP),and Dr K Mahadevan (Mumbai University).
