Abstract
Hegel was neither the first nor the only Western philosopher to present theories about Asian cul-tures. Yet his thoughts on the dialectical movement of history still inform contemporary Western thinkers and the way they conceptualize the East. The specter of Hegel can be found in the stereo-types of Asian culture. Asians are often characterized as passive and lacking in individual identity. On the one hand, Asian cultures are obviously not monolithic. On the other hand, Hegel believed that all Eastern cultures remained stuck in the childhood of history. Hegel’s philosophy, in the hands of contemporary thinkers, becomes the link between Asian stereotypes and present theo-ries about a fundamental difference between East and West