Title: To uphold the world : a call for a new global ethic from ancient India /
Authors: Rich, Bruce.
Publisher: Beacon Press,
Year: 2010
Subjects: Aśoka,; Kauṭalya.; Globalization Social aspects; International cooperation; Social ethics.
Abstract: In 1991, the author traveled to Orissa and gazed upon the rock edicts erected by the Indian emperor Ashoka over 2,200 years ago. Intrigued by the stone inscriptions that declared religious tolerance, conservation, nonviolence, species protection, and human rights, Rich was drawn into Ashoka's world. Ashoka was a powerful conqueror who converted to Buddhism on the heels of a bloody war, yet his empire rested on a political system that prioritized material wealth and amoral realpolitik. This system had been perfected by Kautilya, a statesman who wrote the world's first treatise on economics. In this powerful critique of the current wave of globalization, Rich urgently calls for a new global ethic, distilling the messages of Ashoka and Kautilya while reflecting on thinkers from across the ages -- from Aristotle and Adam Smith to George Soros.
Contents: Past present -- The age of transcendence -- The great dilemma -- The Arthasastra: wealth above all -- The gift of dirt -- The greatest conquest -- Ashoka's legacy: conundrum and challenge -- To uphold the world.