William Theodore de Bary was John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University, Emeritus, and Provost Emeritus at Columbia University.
By addressing the fundamental question of whether Asian values can
enrich liberal concepts such as liberty, rationality, human rights,
and the due process of law, de Bary makes a significant
contribution to the current dialogue among civilizations.
*Tu Wei-ming, Harvard University*
Since the clash of cultures has replaced the wars of nationalism,
whoever wants to be intelligent about American foreign policy needs
to know more than the press supplies. In Nobility and Civility Wm.
Theodore de Bary, the ranking authority on East Asian
civilizations, gives the reader a vivid account of the mingled
traditions that guided rulers and moved masses over the ages and
that still govern feeling and action in China, India, and
Japan.
*Jacques Barzun, author of From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of
Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present*
De Bary shows how notions of nobility and civility arose in South
Asia and East Asia and formed the background for their encounter
with Western European thought and various forms of modernization
and globalization today. These are topics of immense importance not
only to scholars but also to any educated person in the modern
world.
*John Berthrong, coeditor of Confucianism and Ecology*
De Bary, arguably the West's leading scholar of classical Asian
thought, has written an elegant and thoughtful essay on the essence
of true leadership and political virtue as expounded in the
classics of Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Japanese thought.
Instead of treating the classical writings of Asia as mere relics
of 'traditional' thought that will be replaced by more 'modern'
thinking, he demonstrates that the great books of Asia contain
within them valuable concepts and insights for preserving civilized
life in an age of materialistic globalization...Just to follow de
Bary's journeys through Asian classical texts is an intellectually
broadening experience for anyone, including specialists on
contemporary Asia.
*Foreign Affairs*
De Bary...is one of the few scholars trying to probe beneath the
easy generalizations about East Asian values. [He] has devoted his
career to probing the moral underpinnings of Asia's successes and
failures--and his latest book explores how those ethics are poised
to transform the West.
*Vancouver Sun*
In a time when nobility is scarce, civility in short supply, and
intercultural understanding badly needed, this book belongs in
every library. De Bary draws on a lifetime of study and reflection
to summarize and distill how three very different Asian traditions
(Chinese, Indian, Japanese) addressed issues of governance and
civil life in a process shaped by intellectual and political
contestation and compromise. Written in a clear language free of
jargon and supported by quotations from major texts, de Bary
presents a coherent overview that should generate discussion (and
contestation).
*Choice*
William Theodore de Bary has long been an influential voice among
Asianists and a leading proponent of cross-cultural dialogue. The
author’s insightful discussion about inter-Confucian discourse
concerning nobility and civility is carried over into the
four-chapter study of how the Japanese have tended to think about
and develop interpretations of noble personhood and the common
good.
*Journal of Ethics in Leadership*
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