The Common Grounds Final(1)

7/25/2019 The Common Grounds Final(1)

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Common Groundsbetween Indian

and Westernperspective


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Lawfulness of nature

Nature of reality

Assumption about human nature

Assumption of egoism and value ofindividualism

Assumption regarding rationality or

irrationality of man

Assumption about the human condition


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LAWFULNESS OF NATUREThe general assumption of uniformity and lawfulness of natureserves as ommon point for onvergene in the psyhologialtheories of the West and !ndia"#owever there has $een a sharp separation of the mentalsphere from the moral sphere in the Western way of thin%ing

whih may the result of a on&it $etween siene and religionin the west" Sienes should restrit themselves to whateverthere is and leave the issue of what ought to $e the nonsientist"!n the !ndian perspetive there is an impliit ontinuity in the

!ndian theories" The onept of %arma ta%es into aountations $oth in the moral as well as mehanial sense" 'arma isontrolled $oth $y the laws of physial nature as eah ation issystematially related to an individuals past life and also $y themorals as no one an esape (oy and su)ering whih are theonse*uenes of own past ations"Thus+ god in the !ndian perspetive is pereived as the


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Nature of realityAll psyhologial theories are $ased on presuppositions a$out thenature of reality $orrowed from philosophy ,-esartes theory. whihproposes that there are two %inds if %inds of su$stanes matter or theorporeal su$stane and soul "!n the west philosophers o)ered various solutions ranging frommaterialisti monism to spiritual monism to dualism" /ost modern

psyhologists have adopted some position on the mind $ody pro$lem"0syhologial thought in !ndia also developed in the onte1t ofmonisti and dualisti theories" The 2sankhya philosophy is dualistiwhile the Advaitya $ranh of the 3edanta shool is non4dualisti"Aording to the san%hya philosophy the 2prakriti is the materialworld while 2purusa is the soul" Further is 0ra%riti is further

su$divided into three gunas namely 2sattva5,6ne+light.+rajas5,movement.+tamas5,heavy+dar%." Thus+ a person e1perieneshappiness when sattva dominates+ restlessness when ra(asdominateswhile tamas predominates when things are rest" The san%hya gunas di)er from the 7artesian orthogonal dimensionsof length $readth and depth" 0syhi ativities have $een asri$ed tonon material domain while sa%hya asri$es these to the material

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/ans relation to nature'lu%hohn suggested three ma(or variations in the man nature

relationship"9" MAN O!" NA#$"!%This is typial of the Anglo4Amerian ulturewhih implies an attitude that man an and should gather materialand energy resoures from all over the world" Thus+ it indiates manin on&it with his environment" This relationship has $eensupported $y psychoanalyticview where Freud viewed man as

ontinuously in on&it with environment and &ehaviorismwherethere was a $arrier separating man and environment"

'( MAN )$&*!C#!+ #O NA#$"!%This is the view whih aeptsdroughts illness &oods et as god will" This is the ommon Spanish4Amerian attitude"

,( MAN IN NA#$"!%The man in nature attitude is typial to the!ndian perspetive whih re&ets di)erent aspets of the !ndianulture" !ndians have lived losely with the &ora and fauna+ alsothere are many instanes where man has $een seen as on*ueringthe nature suh as Lord Rama $uilding a $ridge to Srilan%a"

This di)erene has had far reahing onse*uenes onpsyhologial theories" The man over nature attitude has lead to a


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#U/AN NATURE

The entral and most ommon assumption is that man see%spleasure and avoids pain" The formulation of a more systemativersion of this priniple was done $y :entham and this priniplewas alled 2-sychological .edonism/This priniple has $een widely reogni;ed $oth in the western aswell as the !ndian perspetives"The dotrine of the 2economic man/ one whih is driven $y hispro6t motives was $ased on the hedonisti prinipleFreud onsidered pleasure see%ing as the ma(or harateristi ofmen"This onept has $een reogni;ed in !ndian psyhology and

traditions+ in the Bhagwad Gita an analysis of the *ualities ofpain and pleasure has $een done" Whih is similar to the oneptsof pure and impure pleasures given $y :entham" #owever theanalysis is on the $asis of the three gunas whih is di)erent fromthe western analysis

The di)erene however is that in the !ndian psyhology the manis pereived as the 2bhoktr or e1periener of $oth pain and


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Assumptions of egoism andthe value of individualism

A person who see%s pleasure and avoids pain is inevita$ly servinghis own a)etive interest" Further it was suggested that thepursuit of power would lead to a perpetual state of warfare+ witheah man pitted against eah other man"

The assumption of egoisti nature of human $eings is ongenialwith an individualisti soial philosophy and would thus $e moree1pliit in the individualisti western ultures" /ill aepted theassumption that humans see% pleasure and further $uilt a theoryof morality"

We distinguish $etween < types of individualism+ 6rst is thetheoreticalsuggesting that humans are sel6sh $y nature andseond+ prescriptiveindividualism refers to an ideology whihsantions egoisti striving" A third one romantic0mysticalalsosuggests that the individual $e left alone $y soiety and todevelop and $ehave the way he pleases"


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Thus it ma%es sense to onlude that psyhology $ased on the

assumption of a $asi human drive for power would emphasi;e self4esteem,Rogers." Self atuali;ation as oneptuali;ed $y psyhologistsdoes not imply the ruthless pursuit of sel6sh goals at the ost of

others,#o$$es.+ $ut one=s potential a$ilities whih are initially latent andlater manifest in another type of worldly pursuit,/aslow." /aslow=s view

of self atuali;ation is more humanisti and e1istential rather thanpragmati and it is learly in&uened $y the western model ofindividualism"

An important impliation of the egoism and individualisti western

soiety is that onformity+ o$ediene,/ilgram. are in the negative light"0eople who onform are pereived as low on leadership and intelligeneand assoiated with other undesira$le *ualities" ,7ruth6eld+9>??.

!ndian psyhology,0atan(ali @oga. assumes a $asi sense ofegoism,asmita. among men and a universal urge for self4preservation,a$hinivesa." 2a$hinivesa5 is similar to the -arwinian

onept of instint for survival whih is a result of the fear of death"Suh struggle for individual survival would ultimately $e harmful for the

survival of the speies as a whole"

The !ndian view reogni;es the self see%ing nature of men $ut does not

emphasi;e egoism as many western psyhologies do" There is greateremphasis on self sari6e rather than self see%ing"


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#owever the individual may relin*uish all soial o$ligations for the sa%eof his spiritual development and the !ndian soiety is thus individualistiin this sense"


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Assumptions regarding the rationalityand irrationality of man

There are two distint trends in western theories of psyhologyone assumes that man is $asially rational and the other assumesthat man is irrational" The theories of ognitivedissonane,Festinger. and ongruity in soial psyhology aree1amples of theories that impliitly assume rationality of man who

e1perienes disomfort as a result of 2logial inonsisteny5 inontrast to psyhoanalytial theory whih spea%s of the pleasuresee%ing man driven $y id impulses,irrationality of man." Theseideas were against the western perspetive of rationalist view "

Bame theory is a systemati attempt at theory $uilding $ased onthe assumptions of rationality and self4see%ing in human nature"There was no satisfatory treatment of the *uestion of rational$ehavior and their ne1t main assumption is that utility is anumerially measura$le *uantity" One num$ers are assigned tothe $asi onept of utility or 2satisfation5 the way to applysophistiated mathematial methods $eomes wide open"


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The inspiration of game theory omes diretly from :entham=shedonisti alulus" The model of man as a pleasure see%ing+sel6sh and rational $eing is preserved and systematiallyela$orated" !n understanding the impliations andonse*uenes of the assumptions on whih suh theories are$ased is re*uired" First+ in real life+ fewer strategies areavaila$le to hoose from as ompared to alternatives availa$lein parlor gamesC and the estimation of pro$a$ilities of outome

Seond+ pro$a$ilities of outomes are relatively easily

estimated when similar past events have $een well reorded"!n ontrast with the western psyhologies+ whih are divided intheir emphasis on either rationality or irrationality+ the !ndiansystems do not appear to emphasi;e either aspet in man" Noassumption of $asi irrationality of human nature is onluded

from suh o$servations" The emotions li%e lust or anger areonsidered manifestation of ra(as+ one of the three gunas or*ualities of 0ra%riti" Thus+ a person may $e misled while underthe in&uene of the emotive harateristis of the ra(as guna+$ut right %nowledge or wisdom will dawn as soon as the sattvaguna $eomes dominantes"


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The !ndian position wrt to rationality vs

irrationality assumes that man is apa$le of$eing wise+ although he is often irrational due

to emotions li%e lust,%ama. anger,%rodha. asmanifestations of ra(as $ut wisdom prevailsafter Sattva dominates" This is a more

$alaned view in omparison with those views

that stress either on rationality or irrationality"0syhologists in&uened $y the divergentphilosophial views have developed models ofman that onsider man as either rational or

irrational" The history of !ndia+ has notinvolved ma(or ontroversies on the plae of

reason in life" Li%ewise+ there are no models of!ndian origin that assume human nature to $e

either wholly rational or wholly irrational"


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Assumption a$out the human

ondition"":oth !ndian and Western perspetive e1pliitly or impliitly aept the

imperfetions and miseries in human ondition"

:uddha=s pessimisti view of misery of 2samsara5 $eing the most realthe ultimate goal of the man $eing to esape from it well %nown"

The san%hya system e1pliitly holds that human e1periene is sorrowful"9" The tripertite indian lassi6ation of su)ering divides su)ering into

three ma(or types"

D" A-#!:#O'TA4 Su)ering arising from 2material5 auses outside theindividual+ suh as &ood+ 6re+ drought+ $itting insets+ atta%ingenemies et"


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Aording to the !ndian perspetive4 -u%h or pain givesmore of !nternal orientation that arises from the innersoure of su)ering"

!n Western perspetive seems that to give e1ternal andouter soure of su)ering li%e alamities"

#owever+it is not that the West totally negleted innersoures of su)ering and !ndians were totally unonernedwith the ontrol of natural auses of su)ering"

!ndian 0syhology is guided $y the desire to 6nd releasefrom persuasive su)ering in life

!n West however there appears no suh single dominanttheme as in !ndia"

There are three distint trends representing three di)erentimpliit views a$out human ondition"4

0syhoanalysis

:ehaviorism

E1istentialism


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Three types of su)ering49" A-#!:#O'TA4 Su)ering arising from

2material5 auses outside the individual+ suhas &ood+ 6re+ drought+ $itting insets+

atta%ing enemies et"

D" A-#!-A!3!'A4 Su)ering with a mysteriousorigin+ suh as deities+ demons+ or ghosts"

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The Common Grounds Final(1)