When Argument Becomes Opium: Amartya Sen, Indian Paralysis, and the Indianization of the West
When Argument Becomes Opium: Amartya Sen, Indian Paralysis, and the Indianization of the West Words without actions and the magic of turning defeat into victory Hua Bin I wrote an essay titled “The Myth of India Becoming the Next China” last November to debunk a popular but fallacious Western narrative. https://huabinoliver.substack.com/p/the-myth-of-india-becoming-the-next The essay continues to get views and feedback. A reader recommended the 2005 book The Argumentative Indian , by an Indian author Amartya Sen, to understand the cultural roots of the state of affairs in the self-claimed Bharat empire. I got a copy and skimmed through. While Sen’s title seems to suggest a cultural weakness, his central argument is the opposite. India, Sen argues, possesses a millennial tradition of public debate, skepticism, and pluralism. This argumentative heritage, far from being a weakness, is the true source of Indian democracy’s resilience. It is why famines have been prevented, why secul...