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Dans le monde et hors du monde

Dans le monde et hors du monde
Louis Dumont sous l'influence de Nehru

Une précision de Catherine Clémentin-Ojha

séminaire du 30 mars 2010

Au cours d'une passionnante discussion le 30 mars, Catherine Clémentin-Ojha a souligné l'influence sur Louis Dumont des remarques de Nehru relatives au sannyâsin (le renonçant) et à la position de l'individu par rapport à la caste, et elle a aussitôt versé ce texte de Nehru au dossier:

“An individual was only considered as a member of a group; he could do anything he liked so long as he did not interfere with the functioning of the group. […] If he could not fit in with any group that meant that he was out of joint so far as the social activities of the world were concerned. He could then become a sanyasi who had renounced caste, every group and the world of activity, and could wander about and do what he liked. It must be remembered that while the Indian social tendency was to subordinate the individual to the claims of the group and society, religious thought and spiritual seeking have always emphasized the individual. Salvation and knowledge of the ultimate truth were open to all, to the member of every caste, high or low. This salvation or enlightenment could not be a group affair; it was highly individualistic. In the search for this salvation also there were no inflexible dogmas and all doors were supposed to lead to it. Though the group system was dominant in the organization of society, leading to caste, there has always been an individualistic tendency in India. A conflict between the two approaches is often in evidence. Partly that individualism was the result of the religious doctrine which laid emphasis on the individual. […] But this individualism became associated with a withdrawal from normal social activities. It offered no effective alternative social structure to caste, and so caste continued then and later.” (Nehru 1985 [1946]: 252-253).

Nehru, Jawaharlal, The Discovery of India, Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1985 (1ère edition 1946).

Catherine Clémentin-Ojha signalait aussi ce que Dumont lui-même (1957 : 17) dit de l’influence des remarques de Nehru sur sa conception. Voici ce paragraphe de For a sociology of India qui nous intéressera tous, mais plus particulièrement peut-être les étudiants de philosophie comparée:

“Now, what one is in the habit of calling Indian Thought is for the very great part the thought of the sanyasi, that is to say of someone who has denied society, who is dead to society and has transcended his caste and castes in general. Knowledge of the absolute presupposes not only the renunciation of the world but the rejection of social forms. In fact things are more complicated, for the sanyasi although dead to society not merely has the right to speak but also is a sought after spiritual teacher; his thought, which is a negation of caste, in this way filters back into the caste. The two kinds of thought, or thought on one side and worldly wisdom on the other, blend; one can live in the world and still make the philosophy of the sanyasi one's own. It is here, around the dialogue of the sanyasi and the man of the world, that religio-philosophical speculation revolves, concealing a contradiction, a dichotomy. Mr Nehru (21) has rightly noted that the thought of the sanyasi is much closer to our own than that of the man within the caste, because the sanyasi like us exists as an individual. (On the other hand, his point of departure is the negation of the world, while ours is its affirmation.)” (Dumont 1970 [1957]: 12-13).

(21) J. Nehru, op. cit. [1946], p. 136, 249.

Dumont, Louis, For a sociology of India, Contributions to Indian Sociology, 1 (1957); repris dans L. Dumont, Religion, Politics and History in India, Paris/La Haye, Mouton, 1970. Version originale en français: «Pour une sociologie de l'Inde» [Conférence inaugurale à l'EPHE-VIe section, 8 novembre 1955], repris dans L. Dumont, La Civilisation indienne et nous. Esquisse de sociologie comparée, Paris, Armand Colin, 1964 (Cahier des Annales, 23). Ce passage est p. 104.

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