Asian Values and Human Rights: A Confucian Communitarian Perspective

by William Theodore de Bary and Wm. Theodore de Bary

Book Overview

Since the horrific Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, the debate on human rights in China has raged on with increasing volume and shifting context, but little real progress. In this provocative book, one of our most learned scholars of China moves beyond the political shouting match, informing and contextualizing this debate from a Confucian and a historical perspective.

"Asian Values" is a concept advanced by some authoritarian regimes...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674001966
• ISBN13: 9780674001961
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Good arguments although the style was pretentious.

This work effectivley demonstrates how oppressive Asian nations have attempted to justify their rule using Confucian concepts to argue that western ideas about human rights do not apply to them. The author clearly demonstrates that Confucian principles are not inherently in conflict with western ideas about human rights, despite the cultural differences that do exist between "Western" philosophy and "Eastern" philosophy about the individual and the state. The only weakness in the book is its pretentious style. I mean do you really have to have a sentence that is seven lines long? I don't think that shows intelligence but a desire to appear smarter than you really are.