Abstract
‘Human nature’ explains how Gandhi's theory of man bypasses the traditional Western debate on whether human beings were naturally good or evil. Since human beings had souls and were spiritual in nature, they had a deep tendency towards good. He thought that three fundamental facts characterized human beings. First, they were an integral part of the cosmos. Second, they were necessarily interdependent, and developed and fell together. And third, they were four-dimensional beings made up of the body, the
manas
, the
ātman
, and the
swabhāva
, whose interplay explained their behaviour and formed the basis of morality.