Book review: Scott R. Stroud,The Evolution of Pragmatism in India: An Intellectual Biography of B. R. Ambedkar

The Evolution of Pragmatism in India: An Intellectual Biography of B.R. Ambedkar is the conscientious work and a carefully researched book in which Scott Stroud explores Ambedkar as a pragmatist and John Dewey’s pragmatism influence on Ambedkar’s thought. Stroud not only outlined the intellectual and philosophical relationship between Dewey and Ambedkar, but also demonstrated how Ambedkar’s thought and Dewey’s pragmatism are related historically, conceptually and methodologically. For example, Ambedkar and Dewey share a common understanding of social democracy, which aids in Ambedkar’s struggle against caste oppression.

Because of the intriguing biography of young Bhima to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, many well-known academicians and well-argued authors have written extensively on Ambedkar and his life and career, which has numerous features, areas and phases. But Ambedkar’s perspective on Dewey and Dewey’s particular form of pragmatism, as well as how Ambedkar was influenced by Dewey’s pragmatism in the formative years of his educational journey, is a novel subject that Stroud deftly addresses in this book. Therefore, this book is very relevant which provides readers with an authentic yet compelling account of how Ambedkar contributed to the growth of Indian pragmatism in the twentieth century.

Ambedkar’s ideology is similar to Dewey’s pragmatism, according to Stroud. This is evident in all of Ambedkar’s political and scholastic writings, as well as in his entire life work. Therefore, Stroud (2023) claims, ‘Ambedkar as a pragmatist’ (p. 12). However, he makes it very clear in his capacity as a writer that identifying Ambedkar as a pragmatist does not imply rejecting alternative interpretations of his life narrative. There are many ways to present the biography of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar because of his extensive work and multiple roles, which made him one of the most iconic public figures of his time. These roles include being the chief architect of India’s constitution, one of the greatest legal, social, economical and political philosophers, lawyer, anti-caste activist, liberator and globally recognized political thinker. Stroud’s study, then, is a new layer to the many that gives us a new approach to rethink Babasaheb Ambedkar’s global vision. Stroud (2023) points out, ‘it does give us additional traction in placing Ambedkar as a global philosopher’ (p. 19).

In the introduction of the book ‘Exploring the Evolution of Pragmatism in India’, Stroud provides a comprehensive overview of the development of pragmatist thought in India through the life, works and thoughts of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. John Dewey was Ambedkar’s teacher during his time at Columbia University and had a significant influence on him. Dewey had died of pneumonia in New York on 1 June 1952 and Dewey’s death devastated a more mature Ambedkar, who wrote to his wife Savita from New York on June 4, ‘I was looking forward to meet[ing] Prof. Dewey. But he died on 2nd when our plane was on Rome … I am sorry. I owe all my intellectual life to him. He was a wonderful man’ (Ambedkar, 1952, as cited in Stroud, 2023, p. 2).

There are scholars who have observed Ambedkar’s relationship to his academic mentor Dewey even before Stroud. For instance, Teltumbde notes

[U]nder the influence of John Dewey, his professor at Columbia University, he remained a pragmatist in dealing with history. If one examines his methodology, one cannot miss this philosophical strand. What is called Ambedkarism actually boils down to pragmatism, a way of practically resolving particular issues with available resources, rather than relying on grand narratives and a politics of overhaul. (Teltumbde, 2018, p. 22, as cited in Stroud, 2023, p. 3)

Although Dewey’s influence on Ambedkar’s thinking has been acknowledged by some, neither the historical development of pragmatism in India nor Ambedkar coined as a pragmatist have been thoroughly examined or explored. In this pursuit then, Stroud relies on a wealth of archival material for this study, having tracked down books by Dewey and others that Ambedkar owned and in which Stroud made notes. Stroud discovered, at Siddharth College, a copy of Dewey’s 1910 book, The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy, which was acquired in 1914 at the start of Ambedkar’s first seminar with the American pragmatist. Stroud also observed, within the folds of the book’s back page, a scrap of paper on which the student Ambedkar practiced his signature and mark—and next to these he wrote ‘John’ in cursive using the same pen and ink (Stroud, 2023, p. 6).

The book’s opening chapter, ‘Ambedkar and Dewey at Columbia University’, uses a variety of lecture notes that Dewey scowled and typed, along with handouts he prepared in advance and notes that Ambedkar and his fellow students took, to uncover and present a detailed content of the three courses that Ambedkar took from him at Columbia University. With this, Stroud highlights what Ambedkar heard and learned in Dewey’s classes and how it gave his actions, writing and speeches more significance after he returned to India and began engaging with the psychology and customs of the caste systems.

Ambedkar experienced enormous feelings of loneliness and fear throughout his life due to untouchability and caste injustice since his childhood. Consequently, as Stroud (2023) points out, ‘one cannot understand Ambedkar’s life or writings, or untouchability in general, if one does not understand the deep existential loneliness he felt throughout his life … each person felt alone and devalued by a system that assigned them worth, occupations, and prohibition based on their birth family’ (p. 21). According to Paik (2022), ‘For Ambedkar, the only rational strategy to escape from historical hurt and humiliation of caste slavery was dharmantar, religious conversion and apostasy from Hinduism’ (p. 125). It shows that Ambedkar’s pursuit for dignity, community and an escape from loneliness had its origins early in his life, and his involvement with pragmatist philosophy and his early abroad studies enabled him to develop his ideas, thoughts and beliefs. According to Stroud (2023), ‘Ambedkar would see philosophical tools such as John Dewey’s notion of democratic community as an ideal or hope that loneliness could be erased and bridges with dignity be built between agreeing and disagreeing community members’ (p. 21).

The second chapter, ‘The Genesis of Ambedkar’s Reconstructive Rhetoric’, focuses on how Ambedkar changed from being an economist and a student of social phenomena to a critic and an advocate. It highlights his 1918 book review of Bertrand Russell’s book, titled ‘Mr. Russell and the Reconstruction of Society’, in which Ambedkar draws on Dewey’s theory of force, which he learned from the American professor in 1916, and starts to synthesize ideas of constructive or intelligent force with the emphasis on individual reformers as educative—as Russell’s book is fundamentally concerned with oppression and the cycle of oppression that may follow changes in society. Stroud (2023) points out, ‘this review article in 1918 marks the most evident start of Ambedkar’s project of reconstructive rhetoric, or his attempt to fashion and refashion problematic habits, costumes, and institutions in readers or public through acts of persuasive speech and writing’ (p. 70).

The book’s third chapter, ‘Reconstructive Rhetoric, Appropriation, and the Strategic Use of Reference’, critically discusses Ambedkar’s 1919 statement before the Southborough Commission on voting reforms for India’s numerous constituencies, which was his first notable public appearance in the country. Ambedkar used and modified passages from Dewey’s groundbreaking 1916 book Democracy and Education for this public statement. Dewey’s texts and ideas are crucial to explain Ambedkar’s original conception of social democracy and to voice his personal criticism of caste discrimination. Ambedkar’s reconstructive rhetoric, a method that creatively employs texts, writers and historical traditions to convey the pragmatist ameliorative themes (Stroud, 2023).

The fourth chapter, ‘Pragmatism, Reflection, and the Annihilation of Caste’, explores Ambedkar’s distinctive take on pragmatism as it appears in his writings like his own well-known undelivered but later self-published speech, Annihilation of Caste, and how it both develops and departs from Dewey’s pragmatism. Stroud gives a thorough description of Ambedkar’s activities as a pragmatic text reader, orator and rhetor, including his reading of Dewey’s Ethics and Democracy and Education from 1908. Stroud (2023, p. 181) points out, ‘it represents an intelligent use of persuasive force as one primary way to change or meliorate habits in line with the democratic ideals and ends that Dewey and Ambedkar shared’.

Chapter 5 of the book, ‘Education, Force, and the Will to Convert’ explores Ambedkar’s speeches and writing targeting his Dalit followers, including powerful addresses in the 1930s arguing for Dalit conversion from Hinduism and various speeches in the 1940s and 1950s that argued for conversion to Buddhism. These rhetorical artefacts add further support to the idea that Dewey mattered for the direction and content of Ambedkar’s philosophy of emancipation. Stroud showed that Ambedkar used some aspects of Dewey’s concept of personality from his early writings in the 1880s but also resisted other parts of the American early pragmatism. Moreover, Stroud demonstrated that Ambedkar’s reconstructive method picks and chooses ideas, ideals and texts from Dewey and strategically reworks them into various parts of his arguments concerning democracy, caste and social justice. Furthermore, it focuses on Ambedkar’s approach to promoting social and political change, with emphasis on his modes of non-violent persuasion, education and reform. Such efforts are presented as culminating in Ambedkar leading hundreds of thousands of followers in conversion to Buddhism, a religion that he saw as fundamentally grounded in equality. Stroud (2023) points out, ‘Ambedkar’s pragmatism and Buddhism led him to develop a way of speaking that could enable equality, liberty, and community … conversion to Buddhism was an extremely visible example of the sort of force that hoped for- and that did not preclude-fraternity with friends and foes alike’ (p. 235).

The concluding chapter, ‘The Vision of Ambedkar’s Navayana Pragmatism’, based on the description of Ambedkar’s Buddhism as the ‘new vehicle’ Buddhism, Stroud outlines the features of Ambedkar’s Navayana pragmatism, which further demonstrates Ambedkar’s deep belief in democracy and emancipation. Ambedkar’s Buddha and his Dhamma (1957), which are founded on equality and fraternity—the foundations of democracy—were termed the ‘Buddhist Bible’ by Stroud. Ambedkar’s Navayana pragmatism, which is devoted to the notion that humans are living, breathing species that are a part of the always changing natural environment, is a component in the worldwide growth of pragmatic philosophy. Ambedkar’s Navayana pragmatism upheld the broad notion that using communication as a tool to accomplish this kind of objective is beneficial. The search for specific capacities among people and groups to communicate and engage with other persons and organizations was central to Ambedkar’s attempts to build democracy. Communication, by definition, is the free contact inside and between groups within a society. Caste, with its customary stratification of group and individual merit, killed this kind of contact and equitable involvement (Stroud, 2023).

The book illustrates evidence of how intellectual relationships can be just as real as personal ones, and how meaningful relationships can entail various forms of appropriation, refusal and interaction. The commencement of Ambedkar’s personal reconstructive endeavour is facilitated by his connection with Dewey. As per Stroud (2023), Dewey and the people who followed him clearly owe Ambedkar even more for his vision and bravery in moving forward the pragmatist tradition.

From beginning to finish, Stroud clarifies that Dewey’s pragmatism was fundamental for Ambedkar’s own immensely original thoughts. Pragmatism’s ideas, methods, literature and themes all had distinct and noticeable effects on Ambedkar’s growth. Stroud does concede, though, that Ambedkar was influenced by ideas beyond Dewey’s pragmatic approach. But in order to truly comprehend Ambedkar, one should understand and ascertain how Dewey’s ideas impacted and moulded Ambedkar’s own thoughts and actions, which makes this book extremely crucial and relevant. As a result, this book is a unique and significant addition to the field, containing a wealth of new knowledge that allows us, the readers, to completely understand that Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was a modern thinker, a global philosopher and a pragmatist.