Can Asian Think?: Understanding the divide between east and west
By, Mahbubani, Kishore
Publisher: Penguin Books
Class No.: 950.4 MAH
Accession No.: 011596
Year: 2004
Pages: 263 p.

Of the week: 30th June to 06th July, 2008

Can Asians think? Is Western civilization universal? Does the West promote human rights for altruistic reasons? These are some questions Kishore Mahbubani has sought to answer in this volume of essays written over the past decade. Contrary to the prevailing view in the West that the centuries-old dominance of Western civilization points to it being the only universal civilization, Can Asians Think? argues that Asia is now witnessing a major cultural rediscovery. Asian civilizations, by moving from Western models to those evolved from their own rich heritage, are beginning to contribute to the development and growth of mankind in the measure that one one would expect from there large and diverse continent. Mahbubani, hailed as 'an Asian Toynbee' and 'the Max Weber of the new Confucian ethic', continues to illuminate his central arguments, in this revised and updated edition, adding two new essays on power, responsibility and the United Nations.