I have already written several articles about the differences between Western and Eastern types of thinking. This is also closely related to WHAT AND HOW people of a particular nationality see. More precisely, what they pay attention to first of all.

I have a lot of new interesting information on this matter. There will be a series of articles.

Now I want to offer you a couple of tests, which were carried out by Western scientists to record the difference in the interpretation of a given situation by Western and Eastern people.

And what’s interesting is that they recorded it. But scientists do not yet have a consensus on the interpretation of the results of these tests.

So - a simple example ( test): Imagine a picture of a tall person telling off someone shorter.

Just a picture. There is no additional explanatory information for it.

What conclusion would you draw from looking at this picture?

Below are the results of tests conducted by (Western) scientists.

But both Western and Eastern people were tested.

So, without any further information western man is likely to think that this situation reflects a permanent characteristic of a tall person: he is probably unpleasant personality.

Oriental man: “A person with a holistic mindset is more likely to believe that the situation is temporary, and other relationships are possible between the characters: maybe the tall man is the boss or the father of the shorter man.”

Note: Holism is a philosophical position whose basic principle states that the whole is always more than the simple sum of its parts.

So here are the representatives individualistic societies (Western) are more focused on individual details and view situations as constant and unchanging.

Representatives collectivist societies (eastern), tend to be more holistic thinkers: they think about problems with a focus on relationships and the context of the situation.

What would you conclude?

It's even more interesting there.

Differences in thinking styles also extend to how we categorize inanimate objects.

Suppose they tell you words "train, bus, rails" and asked to choose what two words are related to each other.

What would you answer?

It is called "triad test".

In the West, people more often choose " bus" And " train».

Because both words denote vehicles.

In Asia, people more often note “ train" And " rails».

Since both words functionally interconnected- one element is necessary for the operation of another.

The key point is that our “social orientation” seems to influence more fundamental aspects of our beliefs.

As I wrote above, Western people are more focused on individual details. And they view situations as permanent and unchanging.

Asians (representatives of collectivist societies) pay special attention to relationships and the context of the situation when thinking about a problem.

Although, of course, there are exceptions everywhere.

Exceptions to the rules that only confirm the rules.

Cicero also wrote: It is not the exceptions that confirm the rule, but the existence of exceptions that confirms the existence of the rule!

I’m not saying goodbye, but telling you GOODBYE. Until next articles.

The picture of the world of people of traditional cultures was determined precisely by mythology and religion.

The mythological picture of the universe does not distinguish man from the surrounding world, but, on the contrary, animates the latter, humanizing him. Mythological culture is interested not in law, but in individual events, not in cause-and-effect relationships, but in material changes. Although the permission

the resolution of conflicts in myth is illusory; it harmonizes personal existence

person.

A society of a traditional type also corresponds to a special way of thinking, which has received

Name eastern When comparing it with Western (European) way of thinking

Essentially, there is a difference in public and individual consciousness

traditional and non-traditional societies.

To characterize the Western (European) and Eastern (traditional) style of thinking

we can propose the following scheme:

Active (cognitive and contemplative attitude of a person towards

transformative) attitude of a person to the world

The dominant meaning of the logical The dominant meaning of the figurative
thinking (concept) thinking (image, myth, parable)

The trend of rationality in art Imagery and symbolism

art Features of Western and Eastern thinking are reflected in their characteristic types of philosophizing.

European tradition connects the true birth of philosophy with the period of high classics in Ancient Greece. Nevertheless, the forms of “love of wisdom” that preceded it are considered as not yet separated from mythological consciousness. Among the thinkers of Ancient Greece we find almost all the main themes of philosophizing. The philosophers of Ancient Greece were interested in the range of issues that in developed European philosophy would be called ontology - the doctrine of being. Socrates and Plato own the classic formulation of “epistemological” questions about the very possibility of knowledge

Textbook = HISTORY OF WORLD culture - (world civilizations) = Executive editor I. Zhilyakov

Yanko Slava(Library Fort/Da) || [email protected] || http://yanko.lib.ru

man of the world. The leading theme in epistemology is categories - the most general concepts of our thinking. Thinking in the form of concepts, logical laws and systems

thus it turns out to be the only possible one for a European scientist. In ancient Greek philosophy the problem of man was posed: both the moral foundations of his behavior and the structure of society that promoted moral behavior.In Eastern culture Man’s contemplative attitude towards the world was also reflected in the type of philosophizing. The ideal of a thinker was not a researcher who comprehensively understands the world around him and transforms it on the basis of knowledge, but a sage who listens to himself and tries to understand the world through himself. The absence of opposition between subject and object, the perception of them in unity, inseparability, excluded the appearance in the East of ontological and epistemological problematics in the form in which they existed in European philosophy. But ethical issues become the main ones in Eastern philosophy and religion. Brahmanism, Hinduism, Chan and Zen Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism - at the center of all these directions of Eastern thought are the moral principles of man, the rules and norms of the organization of social life, and methods of mental self-regulation. Eastern philosophy remained inseparable from mythological and religious forms, which did not at all prevent the deepest and most interesting formulation of truly philosophical questions. Eastern civilizations in their knowledge of man have reached such depths, such intuitive insights, which are still of great interest to European culture today (it is no coincidence that, for example, neo-Freudianism pays attention to the methods of psychoregulation of the subconscious developed by Buddhism). Having highlighted the common features of traditional cultures of the East, it is necessary to note significant differences both in the paths of development and in the way of life. If Egypt, India and China developed exclusively in their own way, Japan, on the contrary, borrowed a lot, and very successfully.

By the time of the meeting with European civilization, India, China and Japan were prosperous and stable.

ny societies. The East surpassed Europe not only in population, but also

wealth. Modern methods for calculating per capita income show that

to this indicator the East at the end of the 18th century. overtook Europe, which had not yet reached

a level of wealth that would dwarf other countries in the world.

The Industrial Revolution and the modernization of society allowed the West to implement

expansion, turning the states of the East into colonies and semi-colonies. So-called

“cultural dialogue” throughout the 19th century. was an aggressive monologue of the West and

patient silence of the East.

The main thing, as the history of transformations of Eastern cultures shows, is the possibility itself

successful metamorphoses, the desired combination of the achievements of Western civilization with

preservation of traditional values ​​of the East.

Reflections on the book by Alexander Bogadelin “Kikimora and others...”

SECOND REVISION. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN THINKING. JUNG'S VERSION

Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychoanalyst, cultural philosopher and founder of analytical psychology, conceptualized the difference between Eastern and Western thinking in his Psychological Commentary on The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation.
In terms of modern psychology, the Eastern type of thinking is called introverted (i.e., directed inward). It is characterized by a metaphysical understanding of the individual soul, spirit, which are part of the World Mind.
In contrast to the Eastern, the “style” of Western thinking can be called extroverted (outward-directed). For him, "mind" (mind, spirit or soul) has lost its metaphysical essence since the Middle Ages. It refers to the rational functioning of the soul, the mindset, and the mentality of the individual.
If the result of the eightfold path is the “self-liberation” of man, then the Christian West considers man entirely dependent on the mercy of God, or at least the church, as the only earthly instrument of salvation sanctioned by God.

Next, Jung makes a very subtle observation about the reflection of the type of thinking in religious attitudes.
“The religious point of view always expresses and formulates an essential psychological attitude and its specific prejudices, even when dealing with people who have forgotten or have never heard of their religion. Despite everything, the West remains entirely Christian as far as its psychology is concerned. Charity originates elsewhere; in any case, forgiveness comes from outside. Any other point of view is a complete heresy. ... With fear, repentance, promises, obedience, self-abasement, good deeds and praise, he (Western man - A.B.) tries to appease the great power, which turns out to be not himself, but a totaliter aliter, Completely Other, completely flawless and “external.”
The East, on the contrary, shows sympathetic tolerance towards those “lower” spiritual stages when man, in his complete ignorance of karma, is still worried about sin and the torments of his own imagination, believing in absolute gods who turn out to be just a veil of illusion woven by his own unenlightened mind. Thus, the soul acquires absolute importance: it is the all-pervading Breath, the essence of the Buddha; she is the Buddha Spirit, the One. Everything that exists comes from it and all individual forms dissolve back into it. This is the basic psychological prejudice that permeates the entire being of an Eastern person, seeps into all his thoughts, feelings and actions, regardless of what faith he professes.”
And further.
“The Eastern attitude nullifies the Western one, and vice versa. It is impossible to be a good Christian and free yourself from your own sins, just as it is impossible to be a Buddha and worship God.”

If we return to psychology again, we can say that consciousness in its Western understanding is unimaginable without the “ego,” i.e. "I" - aware. In the Eastern interpretation, consciousness is capable of transgressing the limits of its ego state, merging with the World Mind. Ego consciousness for the Eastern world is considered the lowest state, avidya. While samadhi (liberation) is associated with mental states where the ego practically dissolves.
And in this plane there may be a compromise that allows “to connect the incompatible.” Western psychology recognizes an area of ​​consciousness that is not controlled by the mind - the unconscious. “It is safe to assume that what the East calls “mind” must correspond more to our “unconscious” than to “mind” as we understand it,” writes Jung.
In modern dictionaries, the unconscious is defined as: 1) a set of mental processes, acts and states caused by phenomena of reality, the influence of which the subject is not aware of; 2) a form of mental reflection in which the image of reality and the subject’s attitude towards it do not act as an object of special reflection, constituting an undifferentiated whole.
But we will be more interested in the content of the unconscious. There is a point of view that it consists only of instincts or of repressed or forgotten contents that were once part of the conscious mind. But for Jung, the unconscious is the image-creating mind, which contains an unlimited number of motifs of an archaic nature, reflected in dreams and mythology. This is precisely why he explains the unity of mythological motifs among peoples separated by continents, when migration as a means of communication was practically excluded.
“The unconscious,” he writes, “is the birthplace of forms of thought, the same as what our tradition considers the World Mind to be.”
We will return to the unconscious, but not individually, but collectively, and try to identify the archetypes that inhabit it. And I would like to end this digression with the prospect that Jung predicts:
“The assertion of spirit over matter, opus contra naturam (conquest of nature (lat.)) is a symptom of the youth of the human race, still enjoying the use of the most powerful weapon ever invented by nature: the conscious mind. The maturity of humanity, which lies in the distant future, can develop completely a different ideal. Over time, even victories and conquests cease to be a dream.”

A few preliminary words -
The birth of paganism -
Reflection on the Path
1. Topic for thought -
2. Clap one hand -
3. Combination of incompatible things -
4. Difference between Eastern and Western thinking -
5. Western interpretation of the Path -
6. The Lonely Road of Friedrich Nietzsche -
7. Technical and humanitarian balance -
8. Humanitarian component of the balance -
9. Excessive variety. Big and Small Paths -
10. Meditation on “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” -
11. Personal balance -
12. Awareness of the Path –
13. Loneliness of the One Walking the Path -
14. Moving on is so scary -

Absolutely all peoples contributed to the emergence of philosophy: from the tundra to the tropics. The origins of philosophy are:

1. Social. When a philosophical worldview arises through the decomposition of the tribal system.

2. Intellectual (spiritual). When philosophy arises as a necessity for the transition from a value-based form of consciousness to a form based on knowledge. A philosophical worldview is a form of individual human consciousness, each of which expresses in its own way the contradictions of the individual and the world around him. The process of the emergence of philosophy: (see lectures)

Mythology itself is a complex educational system. A knowledge system emerges. In addition, in mythology there is an irrational moment - magic. The religious worldview arose on the basis of the unity of the new system of value and the irrational moment. Philosophical and religious worldview emerges from the mythological and coexists together (replicas of Filatov)

The emergence of philosophy:

1. It is argued that philosophy arises from religion on the basis of doubt about the truth of biblical dogmas. Reasons: it was based on the process of the emergence of philosophy in Western Europe during the Middle Ages, where philosophy played a supporting role - the interpretation of biblical dogmas. Consequently, philosophy comes out of religion, reflecting the same mode of production, and Mars has proven that this is impossible.

2. Philosophy arises from the corrupting primitive communal mythology - myth. This concept dominates. Reasons: the origin and development of philosophy in Ancient Greece, India, China is taken as a basis. And the main authority here is considered to be Aristotle, who writes why Thales is the first philosopher, because he was the first to begin to explain the world based on the natural causes of its existence. Aristotle notes that philosophers are those who can compose new myths, which are based on new reasons and foundations.

In general, philosophy arose when the need arose to rename things; when mythological imagery began to be replaced by scientific abstraction. And this moment is determined by the emergence and development of the first stage of the scientific revolution in the style of thinking. This stage is called the substrate stage. The essence is an abstraction of a concept with which things begin to be renamed, containing a real basis. Thales "The world is made of water." This stage laid the beginnings of knowledge.

Philosophy arises from the need to move from a system of values ​​to a system of knowledge. M.I. Shakhnovich:

1. For the emergence of scientific consciousness, a radical revolution in the way of life of the respective peoples was necessary. Engels writes about the Greeks that in the 6th-5th centuries BC. The Greeks turned from a people of farmers and cattle breeders into merchants and sailors. In India at this time, the Aryan civilization emerged, which gave rise to the development of Buddhism (Lokayata).

2. In order for philosophy to arise, state interest in it was necessary. In Greece, political struggle required the development of rhetoric and logic. H. In order for philosophy to arise as a form of free thought, relative independence of secular life in relation to spiritual and religious life was necessary. In the literature on understanding religion in the ancient world (Greece, Rome, Persia), there were two opinions:

1) In scientific circles: ancient polytheism (the religion of Rome, Greece, Persia) is a mythology that is ideologically processed.

2) Ancient religion is indeed a religion in the truest sense of the word.

In order for philosophy to arise, there was a practical need for a worldview and consciousness that would provide orientation not only in the outside world, but also in the world of politics and economics. The self-development of the market economy raised the theoretical question of the emergence and development of an abstraction system with the help of which it was possible to describe the development of the production process cycle. Heraclitus: “all things turn into fire, and fire turns into things, just as gold is exchanged for goods, and goods for gold.”

In order to develop a philosophical worldview, it was necessary to develop a new system of morality and attitudes toward man, which would emphasize two points:

1) The absolute value of man (man is a microcosm, the measure of all things)

2) The system had to emphasize the relative value of a person, his changing consciousness within one measure,

In order for philosophy to arise, some initial knowledge base was necessary, which would serve as the basis for further cultural development: the beginnings of the first philosophical and scientific schools. The emergence of traditions of scientific research, continuity of generations. All the first philosophers of Greece received their status when they traveled to study in Egypt and Babylon. The Greeks did not respect people who squandered their inheritance.

The development of ancient scientific knowledge was especially necessary not only as the formation and development of natural scientific knowledge. At this time, the formation of humanitarian knowledge took place, that is, the same system, abstraction, the content of which could not be reduced to any specific substance of nature. These abstractions reflected the properties of objects (system properties). This knowledge was started by Socrates. And this was a contribution to the development of the entire culture. This unity of all the listed foundations was the beginning (reason) that is involved in the emergence of a philosophical worldview. The emergence of philosophy as the first form of scientific knowledge was a true necessity, and it laid the foundation for the development of the entire culture of mankind as a whole. In each human era, a person answers 99% of all the problems posed by the Greeks to him, 1% again creates 100% of the problems of a person in another historical era. On the other hand, the emergence of a philosophical worldview was a historical accident that might not have come to fruition.

Features of Western and Eastern styles of thinking. (Jung K.)

Western psychology understands “mind” as the mental function of the psyche. Intelligence is the inherent “reasonableness” of an individual. In the East, mind is a cosmic principle, the essence of being in general, while in the West we have come to the idea that mind forms an indispensable condition for knowledge, and therefore for the world as a representation. In the East there is no conflict between religion and science, because science there is not based on an addiction to facts, and religion is not based on faith alone: ​​the East is characterized by religious knowledge and a cognitive religion. With us, man is disproportionately small, and the whole matter is decided by the mercy of God; and in the East, man is God, who saves Himself. The deities of Tibetan Buddhism belong to the realm of illusory appearances and projections generated by the mind - nevertheless, they exist; but with us an illusion remains an illusion, and therefore, in fact, nothing. Even a superficial acquaintance with Eastern thought is enough to notice the fundamental differences between the West and the East. The East relies on psychic reality, that is, on the psyche as the main and only condition of existence. It seems that this Eastern intuition is a phenomenon of a psychological order rather than the result of philosophical reflection. We are talking about a typically introverted attitude, as opposed to the equally typically extroverted point of view of the West. As is known, introversion and extraversion are character traits inherent in the temperament or even constitution of an individual; It is impossible to artificially form them under normal circumstances. In exceptional cases, they can be produced through an effort of will, but only under special circumstances. Introversion, so to speak, is the “style” of the East, its constant collective attitude; extroversion is the “style” of the West. In the West, introversion is perceived as an abnormal, painful and generally unacceptable phenomenon. Freud identifies it with the autoerotic mentality.

The Christian West considers man entirely dependent on the mercy of God, or at least the church as the only earthly instrument of man's salvation, sanctioned by God. The East, however, insists that man is the only reason for his highest development, for the East is focused on “self-liberation.”

That the East can so easily get rid of the Self seems to indicate a “mind” that cannot be identified with our “mind”. It is quite obvious that in the East the I does not play the same role as it does here. The Eastern mind seems to be less egocentric, its contents are probably not so strictly related to the subject, and those states in which the ego is weakened are perhaps considered more important.

Philosophy is multifaceted. The field is vast, the problem layers and areas of philosophical research are diverse. Meanwhile, various teachings often one-sidedly emphasize only certain aspects of this complex phenomenon. Let’s say, attention is focused on the connection “philosophy - science” or “philosophy - religion” in abstraction from the rest of the complex of issues. In other cases, the inner world of a person or language, etc., are turned into the only and universal subject of philosophical interest. An artificial narrowing of problems gives rise to impoverished images of philosophy. Real philosophical interests, in principle, are directed to the entire diversity of socio-historical experience. Thus, Hegel’s system included the philosophy of nature, the philosophy of history, politics, law, art, religion, morality, that is, it covered the world of human life and culture in its diversity. The structure of Hegelian philosophy largely reflects the problems of philosophical understanding of the world in general. The richer the philosophical concept, the wider the field of culture becomes the subject of ideological understanding in it.

The historical-materialistic approach made it possible to understand philosophy as a complex, multidimensional phenomenon, taking into account the entire system of connections in which it manifests itself in the spiritual life of society. This approach corresponds to the real essence of philosophy and at the same time meets the urgent modern need for a broad, complete understanding of the world, which cannot be achieved through narrow specializations of philosophical thought.

Consideration of philosophy as a cultural-historical phenomenon allows us to embrace the entire dynamic complex of its problems, interrelations, and functions. The social life of people, when viewed culturally, appears as a single, holistic process associated with the formation, functioning, storage, and transmission of cultural-historical values.

Being an effective method of historical research, the cultural approach can play a significant role in developing the theory of certain social phenomena, since it acts as a summary, a generalization of their real history. Concluding that philosophy is based on the understanding of human history, Marx did not mean a factual description of the historical process, but the identification of patterns and trends in history. Accordingly, the philosopher, in contrast to the historian, seemed to him to be a theorist who generalizes historical material in a special way and forms a philosophical and theoretical understanding of the world on this basis.

From a historical point of view, philosophy is not the primary, simplest form of consciousness. By the time philosophy emerged, humanity had come a long way, accumulating various skills of action, accompanying knowledge and other experience. The emergence of philosophy is the birth of a special, secondary type of social consciousness, aimed at understanding the already established forms of cultural practice. It is no coincidence that the way of thinking embodied in philosophy, addressed to the entire field of culture, is called critical-reflective.

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Scientists believe that the type of our thinking largely depends on belonging to one of two cultures: Eastern or Western. By recognizing your type of thinking, you can not only better understand the world around you, but also work on yourself more effectively.

The geographical division of the world into East and West is very vague, so not every one of us can clearly answer whether he is an Eastern or a Western person.

website will tell you about a simple test that will help determine your type of thinking. And to make it easier to understand, first we will talk about the difference between these worlds.

Difference between Western and Eastern thinking

Many great minds, including Carl Gustav Jung, were interested in the difference between Eastern and Western thinking. In his works, the famous psychiatrist defined the basic principle: the East is introverts, the West is extroverts.

For the Western type of thinking, the person himself has the greatest value, his opinion, dignity. Material well-being, respect for youth, the desire to be first everywhere - all this is also characteristic of representatives of this culture.

For an Eastern person, the world is initially harmonious, and if the West seeks to remake it for itself (hence technical progress and innovation), then in the East they change themselves to suit the world around them, striving for unity with nature.

The main guidelines of Eastern civilization are modesty, the desire for harmony, and respect for elders. Due to the recognition of its small role before nature and the world itself in the East, as opposed to the West, collectivism, rather than individualism, is of paramount importance.

Richard Nisbett paid great attention to the difference between Western and Eastern thinking. In one experiment, he showed American and Japanese students the same picture and used instruments to observe their eye movements. It turned out that the Americans concentrate on the closest point, missing out on the details. Asians perceive things in context, placing considerable importance on the background.

Other studies allowed the scientist to establish that People with an Eastern type of thinking are more prone to creativity, while people with a Western type are more inclined to analysis. And to find out what type of thinking you have, proceed to the question below.

Question: which object is the odd one out here - a panda or a carrot?

Answer

• Carrot. If you answered this way, most likely you have a dominant Western type of thinking. In this culture, nouns play a major role, so you came to the conclusion that the rabbit and panda have in common the fact that they are animals.
• Panda. In the East, verbs are of paramount importance. Therefore, a person with such a mindset will find a direct interaction between a rabbit and a carrot (the animal eats), and the panda, as you know, eats bamboo, so it is superfluous in this company.

This is an example of a classical triad test, which is used to determine the type of thinking.

What to do about it?

According to Richard Nisbett, the greatest successes in the 21st century will be achieved by those who take the best from both cultures. When the Eastern type of thinking dominates, it is useful to develop analytical skills. Playing chess, solving puzzles, and putting together puzzles can help with this. Trains the ability to analyze and compile lists of to-dos, expenses and income, and goals.

People who have a more developed Western mindset would benefit from developing their creative abilities. Reading fiction, mastering new skills, and playing association games will help with this. Surprisingly, scientists also note that creativity helps develop the predominance of green and blue colors in the room, as well as silence.

Do you agree with the test result?