Module 1 Flashcards
EASTERN PHILOSOPHIES
● Confucianism
● Taoism
● Buddhism
● Hinduism
- can be seen as a code of ethical conduct of how one should properly act according to their relationship with other people; it is focused on having a harmonious life
● Therefore, the identity and self-concept of the individual are interwoven with the identity and status of his or her community and culture, sharing its pride as well as its failures. - Self-cultivation is seen as the ultimate purpose of life but the characteristic of a chun-tzu, a man of virtue or noble character, is still embedded in his social relationships.
- The cultivated self is what some scholars call a “subdued self” wherein personal needs are repressed (subdued) for the good of many, making Confucian society also hierarchical for the purpose of maintaining order and balance in society.
- Do not do to others what you would not want
others to do to you - This is the Golden rule and
the Core
CONFUCIANISM: RELATIONAL SELF
Cardinal Relationships
● Ruler and subject
● Father and son
● husband and wife
● brothers
● Friends
- Is living in the way of the tao or the universe. However, Taoism rejects having one definition of what the Tao is, and one can only state clues of what it is as they adopt a free-flowing, relative, unitary, as well as paradoxical view of almost everything.
- Rejects the hierarchy and strictness brought by Confucianism and would prefer a simple lifestyle and its teachings thus aim to describe how to attain that life.
- The self is not just an extension of the family or the community; it is part of the universe, one of the forms and manifestations of the Tao.
- The ideal self is selflessness, but this is not forgetting about the self, it is living a balanced life with society and nature, being open and accepting to change, forgetting about prejudices and egocentric ideas, and thinking about equality as well as complementarity among humans and other beings.
- The perfect man has no self
- There should be unity and harmony among opposing elements: the yin and yang. Hence the oneness of the tao.
TAOISM: TAO (NATURE)
- “Budh” - Awake
- Every person has the seed of enlightenment. Humans can be a buddha provided it must be nurtured.
- The self is seen as an illusion, born out of ignorance, of trying to hold and control things, or human-centered needs
- Thus, the self is also the source of all these sufferings.
- It is, therefore, our quest to forget about the self, forget the cravings of the self, break the attachments you have with the world, and to renounce the self which is the cause of all suffering and in doing so, attain the state of Nirvana or perfect happiness.
BUDDHISM: NIRVANA
Four Noble Truths: Basic principles of Buddhism
● Life is suffering
● Suffering is caused by attachment to desires
● Suffering can be eliminated
● Elimination of suffering is through the practice of
Eightfold path
Eightfold Path
● Right View
● Right Aspiration
● Right Speech
● Right Action
● Right Livelihood
● Right Effort
● Right Mindfulness
● Right Concentration
- Human suffering is due to failure to realize the distinction of true self and the non-true self.
- Our goal is to know the Brahman. The true reality
- The realization of true selfhood will result in a complete dissolution of individual identity
HINDUISM
VEDANTA
Upanishads, the classical Indian Philosophical treaties
BRAHMAN
Absolute reality
ATMAN (Soul / Spirit)
true knowledge of the self (Same to Brahman)
● The self or the individual is not the focus of the abovementioned Eastern philosophies or beliefs. Even with extended discussions about how the self should work, Confucianism and Taoism still situate the self within a bigger context.
● In striving to become a better person, one does not create the self above other people or nature but a self that is beneficial to his or her community as well as in order and harmony with anything else
● As for Buddhism, the self, with all its connections and selfish ideas, is taken not just out of the center of the picture, but from the whole picture entirely.
COLLECTIVISM
● This ancient symbol of harmony reminds us that life is a balancing act and most fulfilling when we learn to embrace its dualities: the ups and downs, the good and bad times, and the joys and struggles.
● The best harmony and duality we should attain in life, for Eastern Philosophy, is that we are always with other people. We are not alone.
YIN AND YANG
WESTERN PHILOSOPHIES
● Analytic
● Monotheism
● Individualism
● Materialistic & Rationalistic
● Western way of thinking is Analytic-Deductive (Parts to whole)
● Western perspective does not discount the role of the environment and society in the formation of the self but the focus is always looking forward to the self
● You compare yourself in order to be better; you create associations and bask in the glory of the group for your self esteem; you put primacy in developing yourself.
INTROSPECTION/ANALYTIC
● Several studies showed that Americans, for example, talk more about their personal attributes when describing themselves while Asians in general talk about their social roles or the social situations that invoked certain traits that they deem positive for themselves.
● Evaluation of the self also differs as Americans would highlight their personal achievements while Asians would rather keep a low-profile as promoting the self can be seen as boastfulness that disrupts social relationships.
MONOTHEISM
● Western individualism exhibits the coexistence of favorable and unfavorable conditions inherent in personal freedom. although the right to individual freedom provides opportunities for self-fulfillment, it also increases the likelihood of experiencing alienation and frustration
● Eastern or oriental persons look after the welfare of their groups and values cooperation. They would also be more compromising, and they tend to go around the bush in explaining things, hoping that the other person would “feel” what they really want to say.
INDIVIDUALISTIC
● Westerns way of thinking is focused on material “things” and favors a rational-empirical approach over magical and superstitious explanations of immaterial “things”.
MATERIALISTIC AND RATIONALISTIC
