Searching for the Red Hue: Problems and Prospects for Global Norms

Authors

E.R. Klein

Publication Date

2002-01-01

Abstract

This paper argues for the establishment of global norms and rejects relativism. This is accomplished, not through the usual avenues of explicit epistemic justification, but through an exploration of the more subtle and fundamental values of aesthetics. Klein illustrates this process through the example of red clay architecture of Fatehpur Sikri, and urges theorists to take seriously the search for transcultural objective truths. "You can't believe how they loved it," Geeta says. "Somany people loving to bow down and say, Sir, Sir, we just love America." "India and the U.S. as the two great democracies," Vivan adds. "India and America as partners and equals. That was the idea, and it was said without any sense of irony." "The India that remains in thrall to religious-communalist sectarians of the most extreme and medievalist type; the Indian that's fighting something like a civil war in Kashmir; the India that can not feed or educate or give proper medical care to its people; the India that can't provide its citizens with drinkable water; the India in which the absence of simple toilet facilities obliges millions of women to control their natural functions so that they can relieve themselves under cover of darkness- these India were not paraded before the of the United States. Gung-ho nuclear India, fat-cat entrepreneurial India, glam- rock high-life India all pirouetted and twirled in the international media spotlight that accompanies the Leader of the Free World wherever he goes." Salman Rushdie

First Page

14

Last Page

28

Recommended Citation

Klein, E.R. (2002) "Searching for the Red Hue: Problems and Prospects for Global Norms," Manusya, Journal of Humanities: Vol. 5: No. 3, Article 2.
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/manusya/vol5/iss3/2