Gandhi and Confucius were both political reformers who believed in an organic holism where individuals have integrity within an interdependent society. They both believed in human dignity and divine providence, and used experiments in truth to promote unity between truth, goodness, and beauty. For them, inner moral beauty is shown through elegant behavior rather than physical appearance.

1. Gandhi♦♦♦Both Confucius and Gandhi were fervent political reformers, and
this paper argues that their views of human nature and the self-society-world
relationship are instructively similar. Gandhi never accepted Shankara=s doctrine
of maya and the Gandhian self never dissolves into the Atman-Brahman. Gandhi=s
view has been best described as an organic holism in which, much like the
Confucian view, individuals preserve their integrity within the interdependent web of
society. Both of them also balance a belief in human dignity and integrity with a belief
in divine providence. I will also demonstrate that both have their own method of
experiments in truth. On the fundamental issue of the unity of truth, goodness, and
beauty they are in profound agreement. On the basis of this fusion of fact and value
I will suggest that they both share an aesthetics of virtue that prizes inner moral
beauty, which is manifest in elegant behavior rather than a beautifully formed body.
♣♣CONFUCIUS, GANDHI, AND THE AESTHETICS OF VIRTUE♣♣
I see and find beauty in Truth and through Truth. All Truths, not merely
true ideas, but truthful faces, truthful pictures, or songs are highly
beautiful. People generally fail to see beauty in Truth, the ordinary
man runs away from it and becomes blind to the beauty in
it. Whenever men begin to see Beauty in Truth, then true Art will
arise.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliˈɬ aɬ a manˈdeˈla];
born 18 July 1918) is a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician who
served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South
African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial
election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through
tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial
reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as
the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997.
Internationally, Mandela was the Secretary General of the Non-Aligned
Movement from 1998 to 1999.
A Xhosa born to the Thembu royal family, Mandela attended Fort Hare
University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law. Living
inJohannesburg, he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the ANC and
becoming a founding member of its Youth League. After the Afrikaner nationalists of
the National Party came to power in 1948 and began implementing the policy of
apartheid, he rose to prominence in the ANC's 1952Defiance Campaign, was elected
President of the Transvaal ANC Branch and oversaw the 1955 Congress of the
People. Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and,

2. with the ANC leadership, was prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961 but
was found not guilty. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in
association with the South African Communist Party he co-founded the
militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, leading a bombing campaign against
government targets. In 1962 he was arrested, convicted of sabotage and conspiracy
to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia
Trial.
Mandela served 27 years in prison, first on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor
Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release,
which was granted in 1990. Becoming ANC President, Mandela published his
autobiography and led negotiations with President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid
and establish multi-racial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory. He
was elected President and formed aGovernment of National Unity. As President, he
established a new constitution and initiated the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission to investigate past human rights abuses, while introducing policies to
encourage land reform, combat poverty and expand healthcare services.
Internationally, he acted as mediator between Libya and the United Kingdom in
the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, and oversaw military intervention in Lesotho.
He declined to run for a second term, and was succeeded by his deputy Thabo
Mbeki, subsequently becoming an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in
combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.