Author Description

Everything we think and all the ways we think originated in Asia. It is therefore interesting to know what Asia still thinks and how it does it; a curiosity of this kind is already sufficiently justified by the motives which I allege, at least for men who like not to lose sight of the traces of history. But if we reflect that our relations of all kinds with the peoples who occupy the eastern parts of our globe are becoming more numerous and more fruitful every day, and that our interests, both material and political, the highest like many of those who are less so, are committed and will become more so every day in such questions, we will completely admit, not only the opportunity, but the to deal with nations without knowing them, without understanding them, is good for conquerors; less good for allies and even for protectors; and nothing is more detestable and more senseless for civilizers, which we claim to be. I therefore do not believe to place myself outside the general necessities of this time, nor to write a book of pure speculation by coming to analyze as closely and as well as I can the religious, philosophical, moral notions and even the current literary habits. inhabitants of Central Asia. Perhaps the results which I am about to present and the considerations to which these results give rise will be able to furnish the explanation of many facts which, up to the present, seem to be imperfectly understood, even admitting that they are somewhat so. What matters above all, in this study, is to consider the true nature of the Asian genius.