Truth - Themes, The Story Of My Experiments With Truth | The Story of My Experiments with Truth - Summary & Themes - Novels PDF Download

What is truth? According to Gandhi in his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth, it's God and the greatest good after which we should be seeking. While most of us associate the term "experiment" with controlled settings in laboratories (and maybe with Frankenstein), Gandhi applies it to his actions in the everyday world.

He seeks to find truth by participating in politics, restraining his passions, and being honest in business and law. The foundation of his search for truth is ahimsa, or non-violence. Check out these quotations to better understand his view.

Questions About Truth

1. What does Gandhi mean by an "experiment with truth"? Consider examples in the text where he changes his mind or makes mistakes. How does his attitude differ from someone who might cling to any particular absolute ideology?
2. What's the relationship between our passions and seeking truth, according to Gandhi? How might our emotions interfere with a clear-eyed perception of truth? Are there any arguments against this view, that emotions actually clarify our understanding of the world?
3. Is truth possible in business? We know what Gandhi thinks. Invent a scenario where truth might be difficult to practice in a business setting. What might be the outcome of being truthful? Of being dishonest?
4. Gandhi says the means to find truth is non-violence. But how might non-violence help you obtain truth? What can tolerance and peace achieve in disagreements that violence cannot?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Truth can only be obtained by rigorous application of the scientific method.

There can be truth, even if imperfect, in everyday life, in matters ranging from business to diet.