Summary
India is a country with many distinct traditions, widely divergent customs, vastly different convictions, and a veritable feast of viewpoints. In The Argumentative Indian, Amartya Sen draws on a lifetime study of his country's history and culture to suggest the ways we must understand India today in the light of its rich, long argumentative tradition. The millenia-old texts and interpretations of Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Muslim, agnostic, and atheistic Indian thought demonstrate, Sen reminds us, ancient and well-respected rules for conducting debates and disputations, and for appreciating not only the richness of India's diversity but its need for toleration. Though Westerners have often perceived India as a place of endless spirituality and unreasoning mysticism, he underlines its long tradition of skepticism and reasoning, not to mention its secular contributions to mathematics, astronomy, linguistics, medicine, and political economy.
Contents
The argumentative Indian
Inequality, instability, and voice
India: large and small
The diaspora and the world
Tagore and his India
Our culture
their culture
Indian traditions and the Western imagination
China and India
Tryst with destiny
Class in India
Women and men
India and the bomb
The reach of reason
Secularism and its discontents
India through its calendars
The Indian identity.