Скачать или смотреть ‘Disagreeing Well?’: religious ethics and postcolonial perspectives in the thought of Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore is a titanic figure within India’s history, postcolonial studies, the history of independence movements, and imperial history more broadly.

At the same time, some of the ideas he developed about freedom and education that derive from Tagore’s reading of Hindu religious texts – specifically the Upanishads - have been misinterpreted, misrepresented, or downplayed by postcolonial scholars.

In this lecture, held in March 2025 at UC Berkeley, Dr. Michael Collins - from the Department of History at UCL - reflects on the legacy and thought of Tagore.

In particular, Dr. Collins illustrates - through the lens of Tagore’s relationship with Gandhi - what Tagore’s ideas and intellectual approach might teach us about ‘disagreeing well’.

Tagore and Gandhi held differences of opinion on Indian nationalism and what constituted appropriate action to secure independence from Britain. However, they were united in their concern for India, and a global ambition for a better world.

Dr. Collins characterises Tagore and Gandhi’s debate as underpinned by a desire to be challenged intellectually, an acceptance of vulnerability, a willingness to fully understand the ‘other’, an emphasis on mutuality and trust, and a belief in the possibility of being wrong.

These principles reveal a commitment to argue not for the sake of ‘winning’ the debate, but to learn from one another, and to get closer to ‘truth’. This spirit of critical inquiry can serve as a model of how we might ‘disagree well’ today.

Dr. Collins also argues, crucially, that ‘disagreeing well’ in present times requires not only a diversity of identities – class, sex, gender, ethnicity, and so on - but also a robust exchange of ideas and diverse philosophical perspectives too. The latter does not always emerge from our focus on the former.

Discover more about UCL’s Disagreeing Well campaign, including events, resources and upskilling tools: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/about/disagreei...

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