Ashwani Peetush – författare

The idea of human rights has raised both hope and concern. The hope is for universality, that every person matters, and matters equally, and therefore that everyone has equal rights. The concern is that human rights are a Trojan horse concealing implicit attacks on non-Western cultures and values. Even though a delegate from India was included in the committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Western thinking was regarded as the paradigm, and only a minority of the countries that now exist voted on the Declaration in 1948. An important contribution to resolving this conflict can be made by exploring the insights and rich resources offered for an intercultural understanding of human rights that come from India. This volume offers pioneering essays that approach the question from theoretical, social, legal and political perspectives, contributing to a global understanding of human rights. The contributors develop new methodologies for examining what all may learn- including the West from Indian articulations of human rights.

With a focus on Asian traditions, this book examines varieties of thought and self-transformative practice that do not fit neatly on one side or another of the standard Western division between philosophy and religion. It contains chapters by experts on Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Hindu and Jain philosophies, as well as ancient Greek philosophy and recent contemplative and spiritual movements. The volume also problematizes the notion of a Western philosophical canon distinguished by rationality in contrast to a religious Eastern "other". These original essays creatively lay the groundwork needed to rethink dominant historical and conceptual categories from a wider perspective to arrive at a deeper, more plural and global understanding of the diverse nature of both philosophy and religion.The volume will be of keen interest to scholars and students in the Philosophy of Religion, Asian and Comparative Philosophy and Religious Studies.