Old and the new world : their cultural and moral relations

This study formed part of a series of investigations and discussions, begun in 1949, on cultural relations between the peoples of different regions of the world; all this work undertaken by Unesco is designed to develop international understanding by promoting among the different peoples a fuller appreciation of their respective ideals, cultural achievements and modes of thought and feeling. In 1949 and 1950 an international enquiry was conducted on the problem of the relations between certain great civilizations in different con tinents.¹ As a sequel to this first undertaking, Unesco carried out a special study of cultural relations between the East and the West, by way of an international discussion organized at New Delhi in December 1951.
The problem primarily concerns the peoples belonging to these parts of the globe, but its importance to the world as a whole must not be overlooked. Western civilization, like any great civilization, offers men of all countries certain intellectual and spiritual values; the flowering of this civilization and the opportunities thereby offered for exchanges between it and other civilizations are there fore likely to enrich the heritage of all, and may help in all countries towards the solution of human problems whose terms have been radically affected by many aspects of contemporary western de velopment.