TAGORE’S UNDERSTANDING OF CIVILIZATION

İHSAN ALTINTAŞ

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to analyze the ideas of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) on
civilization. The codes of civilization and future of mankind have been discussed by many
Western scholars in the early 20th century. Most of them accept the West as a dominant
and supreme civilization. Tagore was one of the significant Eastern scholars who thought
on civilizational issues deeply. He critiques the dominant hegemony of Western world
and proposes a harmony of both sides. He specifically paid attention to education.
Moreover, he claimed that the idea of nationalism is a danger for the humanity. Instead,
he proposed the idea of internationalism as an indispensable destination for humankind.
This paper analyzes how Tagore approached the Western civilization in particular; in
general, it explores what a civilization looks like for Tagore. Tagore’s understanding of
“dharma” (civilization), “education”, “universal religion” and “international humanism”
is considered as the subjects of discussion on civilizations. My method is a discourse
analysis of his writings and an inquiry from secondary books; articles and scholarly
works that have been written on his thought.