Sinogba, Vincent Ivan Kyle P.

ECE 11

The eastern philosophical view of the self is, ironically enough, focused less on the self
and more on various things. In fact, in Hinduism and Buddhism the focus is on the person
realizing that there is no self, rather there is only a being interconnected to a greater whole. In
Hinduism this is the Brahman-Atman which is becoming one with the Great Self; through first
realizing that one is merely a partaker of the great self then attaining a detachment from one’s
desires. This is like Buddhism’s beliefs, but there is no mention of any gods, rather there is focus
on principles that is based on Siddhartha Gautama’s teachings to reach what they call as
enlightenment. Taoism, on the other hand, focuses on harmonizing with the Tao, which is
patterns in nature, by imitating certain qualities of nature, like harmony and fluidity.
Confucianism is the most different from the three because it focuses less on greater wholes, or
nature, rather it focuses on human society and community. It is focused on relationships and
interactions between elements of a community. The Confucian self is an ever-changing process
transforming the world from within the self.

There are certain differences between the eastern and western philosophical views on the
self. First off, the eastern philosophies focus on the self as a part of a greater thing, unlike western
philosophies that sees the self objectively and tries to define what the self is, often with rational
thought and science. Lastly, eastern philosophies focus more on religious aspects, this means that
they have rituals, meditations, and such for the improvement of the self. Western philosophies, on
the other hand, relies a lot on science and rational thought, this means that improvement of the
self relies on realizing what the self is or what it is made up of.

Learning and understanding these certain philosophies on either ends of the world, gives
me a unique understanding of what the self is, a sort of own philosophical view of the self. What I
formed is similar to Buddhism, that we are a part of the world, and that we must simply go with
the flow. Unlike Buddhism though, we could have desires, but we also have to be content with
what we can have.