The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity

by Amartya Sen

Overview

In sixteen linked essays, Nobel Prize—winning economist Amartya Sen discusses India's intellectual and political heritage and how its argumentative tradition is vital for the success of its democracy and secular politics. The Argumentative Indian is "a bracing sweep through aspects of Indian history and culture, and a tempered analysis of the highly charged disputes surrounding these subjects—the nature of Hindu traditions, Indian identity, the country's huge social and economic disparities, and its current place in the world" (Sunil Khilnani, Financial Times, U.K.).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312426026
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	09/05/2006
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	975,501
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.96(d)

About the Author

Amartya Sen is Lamont University Professor at Harvard University, and also Professor of Economics and Philosophy there. Previously he was the Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford and, earlier, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, Delhi University and Jadavpur University. His publications include Collective Choice and Social Welfare; Choice; Welfare and Measurement; Poverty and Famines; On Ethics and Economics; and Inequality Reexamined, among others. He is past president of the Econometric Society, the International Economic Association, the Indian Economic Association and the American Economic Association.

Editorial Reviews

This is a book that needed to have been written. . . . It would be no surprise if it were to become as defining and influential a work as Edward Said's Orientalism.” —Soumya Bhattacharya, The Observer (London)

“The product of a great and playful mind at the peak of its power, The Argumentative Indian is the most stimulating and enjoyable book about the idea and identity of India to be written for years.” —William Dalrymple, The New York Review of Books

“An intellectual tour de force from an economist who can lay equal claim to the designations of sociologist, historian, political analyst, and moral philosopher . . . Breathtaking in its range and scholarly eclecticism.” —Shashi Tharoor, The Washington Post Book World

“Masterfully tying Indian concerns to broader social and philosophical questions, Sen addresses the many aspects of Indian identity.” —Library Journal

From the Publisher

This series of essays on Indian culture and identity by a Nobel laureate in economics is both intellectually challenging and a pleasure to read, an exceptional study by a wise scholar who has given careful thought to the complexities of India. Moving beyond the standard depictions of "Spiritual India" in mainstream sociology and anthropology, Sen delights in exploring paradoxes, in which Indian cultural attributes usually seen as problems and liabilities are made into virtues. With wit and insight, he turns conventional views on their heads: the "argumentative Indian" has produced a highly secular, heterodox culture that is comfortable with diversity and thus open to the pluralism fundamental to democracy. Sen advances his views in relaxed, undogmatic prose (providing support for his thesis that India's cultural tradition makes Indians exceptionally tolerant of diversity and contradictions). The reader may have some trouble keeping up with Sen as he shifts among ancient Indian history, theological debates, modern science, postindependence politics, and numerous other lively topics. Yet the reader can also be thankful that Sen spares him the theoretical jargon popular in contemporary social science.

Foreign Affairs