56 Philosophy Now ●^ August/September 2019Mill Meets Gandhi
Utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill worked for the British East India Company
for 35 years. Long after Mill’s death, Gandhi led India to independence.
Eugene Alper imagines a meeting of these two great political thinkers.
Fiction
Gandhi: Ha! Maybe there is a monsoon section?
Mill: Haven’t seen it, but wouldn’t be surprised. They’d know in
the office.
Gandhi: To each his own climate. That’s what Icall progress.
Mill: So you think progress possible, after all?
Gandhi: Only after all.
Mill: I always wondered about those bright young men who
come from the colonies in Africa or Asia to study in Europe.
They learn her values, they enjoy her freedom, they get her edu-
cation, and then they go back, don native garb, denounce what
they so voraciously imbibed, and declare war on her. Blaming
their own corruption and lack of progress on Europe, as if she
were somehow holding them back. Whence comes all this, I
wonder? But then again, who else can they blame? Who else can
a teenager blame for his immaturity and illiteracy, if not his
mother? She’s the only one available.
Gandhi: A mother who is less mature than her children. I’ve
always wondered whence comes Europe’s domineering patroniz-
ing – or should I say matronizing? – of other peoples. Whence
her gung-ho optimism about a bright future, about history
unfolding towards some shining goal, with her sons somehow
always at the forefront, leading others? Why is she so self-assured?
Mill: But she is not. I agree, Europe may at times be too opti-
mistic about human progress. I have my doubts about it, too. Yet
it would be a caricature to paint Western culture as being uncrit-
ically proud of what it grew to be, or somehow methodically ful-
filling some grand plan for progress, or technological achieve-
ment, or conquest. Until recently we did not know all this was
possible either. We did not plan to create a strong civilization: it
just happened to us. All we wanted was survival, security, maybe
some prosperity... Is that so different from others? All we did
was face our challenges the best we could. True, at the end we
found ourselves with better tools, stronger weapons, taller build-
ings, and faster ships. But we did not plan it so. It was as surpris-
ing to us as it was to you.
Gandhi: Did it just happen to you that your government ruled
India for ninety years?
Mill: It’s easy for you to see everything we symbolize as evil:
“They’re to blame for our misery!” But that’s an easy way out.
You should thank us, the strangers in your midst, for giving you a
convenient target. But everyone is miserable, and so were we,
except we had no one to blame for it. It is our empire where the
sun never sets.
Gandhi: Accept my deepest sympathies.
Mill: I do – because we were in a worse position. You have the
hope that now we’ve left, you’ll be happier. It’s an illusion, so
enjoy it while you can. But no one rules us, so we have no illu-
sions, and no hope. Who is better off?
Gandhi: Poor souls.What appears to be a park somewhere. It’s sunny, with a light breeze.
John Stuart Mill is sitting on a bench dressed in his Victorian attire as
Mohandas Gandhi walks in, leaning on a cane. It’s January 31, 1948- the day after Gandhi’s assassination – and Gandhi’s white shawl still
shows splashes of red.
Mill:I am sorry about what happened to you, sir.
Gandhi:Ah, it doesn’t hurt anymore. The good thing, I sup-
pose, is that pain is no more, ever. What hurts, though, is that
just when you think the British are your enemies, or the Mus-
lims are your enemies, or Western civilization is your enemy,
just then a fellow Hindu shoots you! Learn until you die – and
then learn some more. May I?
Mill:Of course. [Gandhi sits.] Truth be told, Western civilization
was never your enemy. A Western doctor might even have saved
you yesterday.
Gandhi:I would have sent him away. Didn’t Socrates send
Crito away?
Mill:Indeed.
Gandhi:So would I. When it’s time to go, go without an
English lancet sticking out of your chest. Besides, for a spiritual
leader it’s not bad to be martyred. It improves the resumé.
Mill:Right you are, sir, and good-natured as always. Socrates,
lancets, resumés – why would you dislike a civilization that’s so
much a part of you?
Gandhi:A cancer can be part of you too. Mohandas K. Gandhi
at your service. And to whom do I have the pleasure...?
Mill:John Stuart Mill. The pleasure is mine.
Gandhi:Ah. You are one of those Victorians who had an
unshakeable belief in progress, in Western civilization, in solving
all human problems through technology.
Mill: I suppose so. [An awkward silence follows ]. The weather’s nice.
Gandhi:Indeed. I heard that here it always is.
Mill:Oh, no – then it would be as humdrum as, I don’t know...
Los Angeles. Here you have choices – you can choose desert,
forest, mountains, tropical beach, frozen tundra, whatever you
like. I prefer drizzle. It reminds me of my childhood.Mill Gandhi