Description
Daniel Bell gets to the hard philosophical and empirical questions that hide behind the often corrupt political rhetoric about cultural difference and human rights. This fine book explores the major issues about the universality of human rights and democracy with great sensitivity, nuance, and rigor. It is full of new and interesting insights, ideas, and arguments. -- Charles Taylor Daniel Bell is one of the few political theorists who is able to write dialogue, actually to conduct a philosophical conversation on the printed page. In this book, this difficult genre is used in an exemplary way to teach us about the political engagement of Western liberalism and 'Asian values'-and also about the possible meaning of human rights in a global setting. -- Michael Walzer Unlike some Western critics who easily satisfy themselves by launching polemical criticisms of human rights violations and authoritarianism in Asia, Daniel Bell insists on giving a fair hearing to different political and philosophical voices from that region. The result of this is that he is able to develop powerful criticisms of Asian authoritarianism with careful philosophical and empirical support, and to construct alternative proposals of political institutions that may have appeal to people in the region. -- Joseph Chan, University of Hong Kong
About the Author
Daniel A. Bell is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public and Social Administration at the City University of Hong Kong He has also taught at the National University of Singapore. He is the author of Communitarianism and Its Critics, the coauthor of Towards Illiberal Democracy in Pacific Asia, and coeditor of The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights.
Reviews
"Bell has produced a tour de force of great depth ...[A] solid philosophical work, respectful but tough minded, that illuminates East Asian political perspectives and forces Americans to reexamine their own assumptions."--Lucian W. Pye, Foreign Affairs "Daniel Bell has produced a book that is as creative and intriguing as it is scholarly and substantial. He has created three dramatic, engaging, philosophically penetrating dialogues illuminating the 'Asian Values' debate... These dialogues are accessible and even entertaining, but they are also thoroughly researched and tightly argued."--Steven Wrage, Millenium "Bell's East Asian interlocutors express some of the bewilderment felt by the recipients of America's moral advice, and the offer a robust critique... American advocates of human rights tend to argue from principle: East Asians from how things currently are on the ground."--Alex de Waal, London Review of Books "Bell criticizes 'West-centric perspectives,' which assume that every society aspires to the ideal of becoming a Western-style liberal democracy. [This is an] extremely rich new book."--Jerry Burke, Philosophy East & West
Book Information
ISBN 9780691005089
Author Daniel A. Bell
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 539g