For centuries, the West was a model for the world. While anti-imperialists condemned the West for betraying its own ideals of freedom, even black radical CLR James declared: ‘I, a man of the Caribbean, have found that it is in the study of Western literature, Western philosophy and Western history that I have found out the things that I have found out even about the underdeveloped countries’.
Today, however, there are those who question some of the most basic values of the West and, in particular, its universality – the very idea that its legacy is for everyone. As capitalism seemingly wanes in the West, and the East is on the rise, is there anything in the legacy of the West we should preserve? Speakers include Ian Morris, author and professor of history and archaeology at Stanford University, Sabine Reul, society and politics editor at NovoArgumente, Gaspar Miklos Tamas, author and visiting professor at Central European University and Tarun J. Tejpal, author and editor at Tehelka, former editor of India Today.
Recommended links:
- Article by Lindsay Johns, In praise of dead white men
- Times Higher Education, The Tyranny of Guilt
