In conversations with hundreds of Koreans from diverse religions and walks of life—students, politicians, teachers, Buddhist monks, Confucian scholars, Catholic priests, housewives, psychiatrists, and farmers—Alford found remarkable agreement about the nonexistence of evil. Koreans regard evil not as a moral category but as an intellectual one, the result of erroneous Western thinking. For them, evil results from the creation of dualisms, oppositions between people and ideas.
Alford's interviews often led to discussions about imported ways of thinking and the impact of globalization upon society at large. In particular, he was struck by how Koreans' responses to globalization matched Westerners' views about evil. In much of the world, he argues, globalization is the ultimate dualism—attractive for the enlightenment and freedom it brings, terrifying for the great social and personal upheaval it can cause.
In conversations with hundreds of Koreans from diverse religions and walks of life—students, politicians, teachers, Buddhist monks, Confucian scholars, Catholic priests, housewives, psychiatrists, and farmers—Alford found remarkable agreement about the nonexistence of evil. Koreans regard evil not as a moral category but as an intellectual one, the result of erroneous Western thinking. For them, evil results from the creation of dualisms, oppositions between people and ideas.
Alford's interviews often led to discussions about imported ways of thinking and the impact of globalization upon society at large. In particular, he was struck by how Koreans' responses to globalization matched Westerners' views about evil. In much of the world, he argues, globalization is the ultimate dualism—attractive for the enlightenment and freedom it brings, terrifying for the great social and personal upheaval it can cause.
Think No Evil: Korean Values in the Age of Globalization
224Think No Evil: Korean Values in the Age of Globalization
224Hardcover
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780801436666 |
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Publisher: | Cornell University Press |
Publication date: | 08/11/1999 |
Pages: | 224 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.94(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |