Morality, Authority and Society: The Problem of Dharmapramanya

Summary

M. V. Baxi tackles the philosophical problem of dharmapramāṇya – the grounds of moral authority – in Hindu thought. He begins by outlining the traditional triad of sources for dharma: śruti (revealed scripture), smṛti (remembered tradition) and sadācāra (conduct of the good). The paper probes how these textual authorities interact with social change, questioning whether scriptural injunctions are eternally valid or subject to reinterpretation. Baxi argues that texts themselves arise within particular historical contexts and that their authority is mediated by the community that upholds them. As society evolves, new practices emerge that are later sanctioned and codified in secondary texts, revealing a dynamic interplay between scripture and lived morality. The article critiques purely individualistic ethics that ignore this social dimension and calls for an epistemology of ethics attentive to the historical sources of moral knowledge. Baxi also draws parallels with debates in Western moral philosophy on the roles of reason and revelation. By advocating a sociological approach to dharma, he demonstrates how Hindu ethics can accommodate both continuity and change without abandoning its foundational principles.