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{{Short description|Indian philosopher and professor}}
'''K. J. 'Kanti' Shah''' (1922–1994) was a 20th century Indian philosopher and professor at [[Karnataka University]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Girish Karnad’s remarks leave philosopher’s family seething |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/girish-karnads-remarks-leave-philosophers-family-seething/article4466614.ece |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=2 March 2013 |archive-date=3 March 2013 |access-date=18 September 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303175932/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/girish-karnads-remarks-leave-philosophers-family-seething/article4466614.ece |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

==Biography==

Shah was born in [[Gujarat]], India. He received a [[Bachelor of Arts]] from the School of Economics and Sociology at the [[University of Bombay]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Berkman |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Teichmann |editor2-first=Roger |title=Anscombe on Wittgenstein: Reminiscences of a Philosophical Friendship |date=2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=224}}</ref> He attended [[Cambridge University]] in the latter half of the 1940s where he was taught by [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Weiss |editor1-first=Daniel H. |editor2-last=Andrejč |editor2-first=Gorazd |title=Interpreting Interreligious Relations with Wittgenstein: Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies |date=2019 |publisher=Brill |page=47}}</ref> His lectures notes were later compiled with those of A. C. Jackson and [[Peter Geach]] and published as ''Wittgenstein's Lectures on Philosophical Psychology, 1946–47''. While at Cambridge he got to know the author [[Iris Murdoch]] who he discussed Wittgenstein with.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Horner |editor1-first=Avrl |editor2-last=Rowe |editor2-first=Anne |title=Living on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch, 1934–1995 |date=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=103}}</ref> Iris Murdoch mentions Kanti Shah in her Journal (no. 15, 1992–96 at the Iris Murdoch Collections, Kingston University Archives).<ref>Journal no. 15, 1992–96, p. 39, KUAS202/1/15 at the Iris Murdoch Collections, Kingston University Archives</ref> In 1948 he travelled to [[County Galway]] in [[Ireland]] to visit Wittgenstein.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=McGuinness |editor1-first=Brian |title=Wittgenstein in Cambridge: Letters and Documents 1911 - 1951 |date=2008 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |page=431}}</ref>

As was the case with his other students, Wittgenstein had a significant impact on Shah, who reportedly picked up some of his speaking manerisms.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Karnad |first1=Girish |title=This Life At Play: Memoirs |date=2021 |publisher=Fourth Estate}}</ref> They use to go on long walks to together. On one occasion Wittgenstein asked him if he was a Muslim or a Hindu. Shah informed him that he was a [[Jain]], to which Wittgenstein asked if it was true that the Jains believed that the enlightened ones all come together on a rock to meditate when they die. This embarrassed Shah who told him "I don't believe in these foolish things now". Wittgenstein was furious and scolded Shah that "You think you are very clever, Shah, you think you know more than these ancestors of yours who have thought about these things for thousands of years?". This remark had a profound impact on him and inspired Shah to dedicate his life to understanding his ancestor's intellectual and spiritual traditions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gandhi |first1=Ramchandra |title=Two Cheers for Tolerance |journal=India International Centre Quarterly |date=Summer 2007 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=146-151 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23006054}}</ref>

His work focused on [[Indian philosophy]], particularly the [[Gandhism|political philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parel |first1=Anthony J. |title=Pax Gandhiana: The Political Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=17}}</ref> whose grandson [[Ramchandra Gandhi]] he befriended. Among his friends he also counted [[Ramaswamy R Iyer]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Iyer |first1=Ramaswamy R. |title=Chomsky and Wittgenstein A Short Reflection |journal=[[Economic and Political Weekly]] |volume=48 |issue=44 |url=https://www.epw.in/journal/2013/44/commentary/chomsky-and-wittgenstein.html}}</ref> who dedicated his book ''Towards Water Wisdom: Limits, Justice, Harmony'' to his memory.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Iyer |first1=Ramaswamy R. |title=Towards Water Wisdom: Limits, Justice, Harmony |date=2007 |publisher=Sage Publications}}</ref> The book ''Word and Sentence; Two Perspectives: Bhartrhari and Wittgenstein'', a collection of essays discussing [[Bhartrhari]] and Wittgenstein, was the product of a seminar organised by Shah on this topic. It is dedicated to his memory.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Das |first1=Veena |title=A life in books |journal=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute |date=2015 |volume=21 |issue=1 |url=https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9655.12159}}</ref>

==Selected Bibliography==
* ''[https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.13273/page/513/mode/2up Some Presuppositions of Gandhi's Thought]'' (1969) in S.C. Biswas (ed.), ''Gandhi: Theory and Practice, Social Impact and Contemporary Relevance'' (Indian Institute of Advanced Study), pp. 513-31.
* ''[https://archive.org/details/cmhh_indian-philosophical-quarterly-vol-4-no-1-1978-ed-by-s.-s.-barlingay-pune-university-of-pune-2/page/101 Conflict and Consensus: Some Considerations]'' (1978) in ''Indian Philosophical Quarterly'', Vol 4 No 1, pp. 101-7.
* ''[https://archive.org/details/lnwo_indian-philosophical-quarterly-vol-7-no-1-2-3-4-1980-ed-by-s.-s.-barlingay-pune-university-of-p/page/327/mode/2up The Emergency — The Way Out]'' (1980) in ''Indian Philosophical Quarterly'', Vol 7, No 3, pp. 327-37.
* ''[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/006996678101500106 Of artha and the Arthaśāstra]'' (1981) in ''[[Contributions to Indian Sociology]]'', Vol. 15, No. 1-2), 55-73.
* ''[https://archive.org/details/gandhisphilosoph0000unse/page/n7/mode/2up Foreword]'' (1983) in V. S. Hegde, ''Gandhi's Philosophy of Law'' (Concept Publishing Company).
* ''In Search of Development'' (1984) in ''Indian Philosophical Quarterly'', Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 5-13.
* ''Word and Sentence; Two Perspectives: Bhartrhari and Wittgenstein'' (2002) in Sibajiban Bhattacharyya (ed.) ''Word and Sentence; Two Perspectives: Bhartrhari and Wittgenstein'' (Sahitya Akademi).

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* {{Cite book |last=Wittgenstein |first=Ludwig |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=y5QMEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA39&dq=kj+kanti+shah&ots=c2R0VwSbUl&sig=mfx47laqsL-3vnvgkrs558I-PMs#v=onepage&q=kj%20kanti%20shah&f=false |title=Lezioni di psicologia filosofica Vol. II: Dagli appunti (1946-47) di Kanti J. Shah |date=2020-12-03 |publisher=Mimesis |isbn=978-88-575-7546-9 |language=de}}

[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian Jains]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:Indian political philosophers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Karnatak University]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:People from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Students of Ludwig Wittgenstein]]
[[Category:University of Mumbai alumni]]

{{India-philosopher-stub}}

K. J. Shah - Revision history

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