Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, among other authors, clarifies in his book The Argumentative Indian that what we now call Human Rights, gender equality, and science do not originate in the West but stem from the contributions of countries, peoples, and individuals from diverse backgrounds. In that publication, he focuses primarily on India’s contributions. For instance, he highlights that there have been female presidents in India and Pakistan, even when there have been none in the United States. He also shares his personal experience of encountering more women in positions of power during his work at Indian universities than in Western ones. Furthermore, he explains how, although much is said about the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are older and longer. Along these lines, he emphasizes discoveries from his country, such as being precursors to heliocentrism, which reached Europe much later.
One of the common mistakes among intellectuals is ignoring that ethnocentrism and relativism share the same fundamental basis of analysis—they are two sides of the same coin. Ethnocentrists assume that science, democracy, gender equality, and racial equality are creations of the West, which has generously shared them with non-Western countries. Therefore, they view it as highly positive that these “gifts” have enabled others to join in this development. Relativists, on the other hand, start from the same analytical premise—that these contributions originate in the West—but argue that they were forcibly imposed on other countries, destroying their own ways of life and culture.
In summary, the analytical basis of both ethnocentrism and relativism is identical and equally flawed: attributing democracy, science, and the equality of rights for men, women, and races solely to the West. In contrast to these two erroneous perspectives, scientific evidence shows that these contributions have been built in parallel and through increasing contact and dialogue among peoples, countries, and individuals from diverse origins. It is the dialogue among them that has shaped these values and knowledge. The pursuit or affirmation of who has contributed more than whom hinders this dialogue, often slipping into racist, sexist, and pseudoscientific positions. Science and society advance through the contributions of a dialogic perspective, which replaces and surpasses the outdated debate between ethnocentrism and relativism.
Emeritus Full-Professor at the University of Barcelona. Number 1 researcher in Google Scholar Scientific ranking in the categories of "Gender Violence" and "Social Impact". Director of REVERS-ED.