The New England Conservatory opened its Presidential Lecture Series this year on October 20 with the Nobel Prize-winning economist and philosopher, Amartya Sen. The event, held in Williams Hall, attracted approximately forty people, many of whom were NEC faculty and students.

A winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics, Professor Sen is known for his groundbreaking research on welfare economics and his social choice theory. More importantly, his work has a practical application in the lives of the poor around the world.

The focus of his lecture at the NEC was not on economics, but instead on his new book, The Argumentative Indian, which deals with the relevance of argumentation on the development of India’s intellectual history. The President of the NEC, Daniel Steiner, introduced Professor Sen and praised him as a man of “all substance and no fluff” while the modest professor approached the podium and immediately began his lecture.

Although the focus of his talk may have appeared to be parochial, he said that it also has a global outreach because international interaction has increased greatly. He began by elaborating on the tendency that Indians have towards “prolixity,” or the excessive use of words. He traced this tendency back to the ancient Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which he discovered as a “restless youngster looking for intellectual stimulation and entertainment.” Indian culture, Sen said, has always had a point-counterpoint tradition – Indians have always loved to argue.

Next, the professor confronted the view that India is overly religious and dominated by spirituality. He argued that religion has coexisted with deeply skeptical argumentation, tracing this concept back to the Vedas. In fact, Sanskrit has more religious, agnostic, and atheist works of literature than any other language! There have also always been lengthy debates among the different religious schools in India. As a classic example, Professor Sen mentioned the Buddha, “who made the choice of good behavior separate from God.”

Sen’s third major point traced the actual connection between this argumentative tradition and the development and resiliency of democracy in India. Refuting the claim that democracy in India should be attributed to the British as a “poor explication,” he showed that the British factor applies to numerous other countries, only some of which are presently democracies. It is actually in India’s indigenous roots that one can find the tradition of public arguments. Buddhist councils were the first to settle disputes, and even Emperor Asoka tried to formulate one of the earliest rules for public discussion. In part, this has effected the acceptance of such democratic ideas as freedom of the press and verdicts of the electorate in modern India.

From religion to secularism, India has always tolerated religious diversity. Professor Sen used the ideal example of the Mughal Emperor Akbar to illustrate this important point, for he was one of the first leaders to emphasize the need for a secular Indian state. The professor recognized that good friends of his, including the famous Harvard political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, believe that tolerance is “quintessentially a western idea.” In opposition to this view, he quietly noted, much to the suppressed laughter of the audience, that during Akbar’s peaceful rule in India, the Europeans were experiencing the Spanish Inquisition against Muslims and Jews.

Finally, the professor challenged the assertion that the tradition of argument in India has been confined to the male elite. He agreed that deep inequalities still exist with regard to gender, caste, class, and community, but he also pointed out that more women participated in India’s freedom struggle than in the Chinese and Russian revolutions combined. He also stressed that it is necessary to look beyond income and wealth, for the Indian lower classes have contributed greatly to India’s intellectual history. For example, they spread Buddhism throughout the nation, and gave us legendary poets like Mirabai and the tailor, Kabir.

Concluding his lecture with the words, “silence is a powerful enemy of social justice,” and an appreciative smile in response to the applause from the audience, Professor Sen took to answering questions. His straightforward and organized response to every question posed by the audience was not only impressive, but further revealed why intellectuals throughout the world give him universal respect. The goal of the Presidential Lecture Series is to “enrich the lives of NEC faculty and students through exposure to scholars and thinkers in many disciplines,” and no guest could have better inaugurated the series than Professor Amartya Sen.

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