M5: East and the West

The Western concept of the self is divided into three periods of historical development while the Eastern concepts of the self are presented based on the four great systems of Eastern thought: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism.

The western view of the 'enduring self' refers to the notion that “you are the same person you were earlier in your life. In other words, it assumes that we humans are selves that endure through time” (Velasquez, 2017).

The Western concept of self is defined as a "bounded, unique, more or less integrated motivational and cognitive universe, a dynamic center of awareness, emotion, judgment, and action organized into a distinctive whole and set contrastively both against other such wholes and against its social and natural background…"  a contrasting assumption that eastern people do not possess an individuated self that is differentiated from the "other".

Concept of self: Western

  1. Western Self as Analytic

   Independent Self- others not as self.

   Context Independent- attend to focal not gestalt.

   Analytic Reasoning- proper use of rules, contradictory statements cannot be true.

   Internal Attributions- behavior of others reflect on their traits.

  1. Western Self as Monotheistic -**the belief that there is only one God.
  2. Western Self as Individualistic -equality, rights, freedom and property.
  3. Western Self as Materialistic and Rationalistic -heavily reliant on Descartes’ Meditation- establishing knowledge through rational institution deduction.

Eastern Perspective of the Self

The major Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism are the common representatives of Eastern concept.

eastern thought is described as pluralistic (Go-Monilla, 2018).

These four systems of Eastern thought differ in their approaches but they share the same goal which is to teach how to become a perfect person (Villaba, 1995).

Hinduism

-the goal of the person is to have a knowledge of the true reality which is Brahman.

-is expounded in Vedanta, a major school of Indian thought based on Upanishads, the classical Indian philosophical treatises.

Brahman is an absolute reality, and Atman (soul or spirit), the true knowledge of self, is identical to Brahman.

-Self-realization is being united to all-embracing Brahman. But the realization of true selfhood will result in a complete dissolution of individual identity (Ho, 1995).

Vedanta characterizes human suffering as the result of failure to realize the distinction between the true self (permanent and unchanging) and the non-true self ( impermanent and changes continually).

Buddhism

To be awake may mean that opening the eyes would lead to understanding more about the self and the world.  Siddharta Gautama, known as the Buddha, is the founder of Buddhism.

The root word of Buddhism is Budh meaning awake.

According to the teachings of Buddhism, every person has the seed of enlightenment, which is the potential to be a Buddha. But the seed should be nurtured (Go-Monilla & Ramirez, 2018).

The Four Noble Truths, basic principles of Buddhism which are:

  1. life is suffering
  2. suffering is caused by attachment to desires
  3. suffering can be eliminated
  4. elimination of suffering is through the practice of the eightfold path (right view, right aspiration, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration)

Philosophy: man is just a title for the summation of the five parts (matter, sensation, perception, mental constructs, and consciousness) that compose the individual, however, each of the parts distinctly is not man (Villaba, 1995).

Man has no self (or no soul). There is only nothing and all else is an illusion.

The ideal is to experience Nirvana (literally meaning "blowing out," as of a lamp), a state of transcendence devoid of self-reference. This state of transcendence can be achieved through meditation (Ho, 1995).

Confucianism  "Do unto others what you want others to do unto you" or "Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you".

The core of Confucian thought is the Golden Rule or the principle of reciprocity.

the Five Cardinal Relationships and the associated virtues:

  1. between ruler and minister - rightness = loyalty, filial piety
  2. between parent and child - affection = filial piety
  3. between husband and wife - differentiation = harmony
  4. between brothers - precedence = affection
  5. between friends - trust/honesty = trust and honesty

Therefore, the self is known as a relational self.

Taoism also known as Daoism

- promotes achieving harmony or union with nature.

-The pursuit of spiritual immortality being virtuous for self development.

a Chinese philosophy attributed to Lao Tzu (c. 500 BCE)

Taoism is about the Tao, the force that exists before all things - The Way of Nature.

Philosophy: "By giving birth to one, Tao gave the world the mechanism for balance. The birth of two means the birth of opposites. The birth of three refers to the heaven, earth and humanity. Therefore creation can be related back to the Tao"

The Tao is not God and is not worshipped.

Eastern= more on duty, doesn’t really put emphasis on being different. “culturally collective” outward

Western= more on rights, puts emphasis on being unique. “individually collective” Inward