Danica Marge B.

Verino August 3, 2020

BTTE-CP-1A Prof. Zenaida Piano

Western and Eastern Philosophy

What are the difference and similarities of Eastern and Western world? Are they really different
from each other? Eastern and Western Philosophy has compassion and difference in their culture and
society. It’s said that East and West can never meet up. As they differ in history, religion, political system
and so on, differences are clearly seen in Eastern and Western to deal with education. The major
difference about these two worlds, the Eastern is more conservative and traditional than the Western
people.

“EAST is East and WEST is west” according to Richard E. Nisbett he would like to convince us
that Kipling’s line is true in some profound sense, Nisbett has surveyed a large number of psychology
experiments, including many of his own, to conclude that there are major differences, enduring for
centuries, between the modes of thought of “Asian” and “Western” people. Specifically, the Western
style of thought is characterized as embodying the value of individual distinctiveness or independence,
while the Eastern style of thought embodies the value of harmonious social relations or
interdependence. In Eastern Philosophy they believe in this main principles; Man is apart of the Cosmic
Unity, Life is a journey towards eternal realities beyond this world, Eternal: the universe will continue to
recur, Inner-world dependent and Self-liberation from false “Me” and finding the true “Me. While the
Western Philosophy believe in this main principles; Man is an element of Divine, Life is a service ( to the
God , people , business ,etc.), Time and life is viewed as being Cyclical but linear, Outer-world dependent
and Self-dedication to the goal (success, happiness, etc.).

Western Philosophy of education comprises two schools, which are traditional and modern. It
has it’s root in Athens, Rome and Judeo—Christianity. Eastern philosophy is derived from Islam,
Confucianism, Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism. This, fundamentally influence the system of life and
certainly creates their education system. The Way of teaching in Western philosophy are; roles of
students are recognized, by giving them the rights and respects within the teaching and learning process
itself. They have the freedom and rights to take charge of their own learning, as they are given the
opportunity and freedom to manage their own learning process. The teachers are responsible to help
and guide the students in their learning process rather than teaching them what to do. Teachers of the
Western education do play a role in guiding the students to develop their abilities and potentials. While
the Eastern Education Philosophy holds on the concept of teaching. Students receive fully knowledge
from the knowledge from the teachers in side the classroom. Students in a way receive knowledge in
rigid ways they only seem to learn and study straightly from the teachers.

Western Philosophy also believe that there is a Spiritual Reality and a Physical one and they are
separate. Next is Human life us often valued above other life. Then the Divine is apart from material and
exists separately from it. Next is the journey of Mankind is linear and lastly, Goal: To deal with the
problem of Sin/Immortality and be reunited with God. While Eastern Philosophy they believe that there
is one reality. All life may be viewed as sacred. The Divine is a part of creation, and found everywhere in
it. The journey of Mankind is cyclical. Goal: To deal with the problem of ignorance and achieve
enlightenment. Philosophy of the East and West are turned to the universal values.

The Eastern world is made up of the Nation of Asia and Middle East while Western world is
made up of the Nation North and South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In Western world
they are liberal and practical thinkers while in Eastern world they don’t openly talk. In Western they can
easily express their feelings, thoughts and emotion because they are open minded while in Eastern
world, they don’t talk about something that they think that’s to taboo for them or appropriate to show
some respect with the people around them. In terms of family relationship, Western people is more
independent, as we can see in some western movie, at the age of 18 those teens are allowed to moved
out and live their life on their own. While Eastern People, even though they are already having their own
family they still stay with their parents and if their parents get old, they are the one who’s taking care of
them unlike in Western when their parents get old, they put them on Home for the Aged shelter. East
and West have different interpretations of reality and therefore different conception of man. The East
always considers reality as whole even if they are different aspects of the same reality. The Eastern mind
is holistic and views everything as part of reality. The Eastern mind believe in harmony like in Yin Yang.
Yin Yang is the ancient symbol of harmony that reminds us that life is a balancing act and most fulfilling
when we learn to embrace its dualities. All light has darkness and all darkness has light. Without each
other, they cannot co-exist. This is why we’ll never have “world peace” or “world chaos”. Everything has
an opposite. Like matter has anti matter and male has female. It has an opposite for a reason, to fulfill a
purpose. Failure is not the opposite of success. It’s just a part of it like bad is a part of the good. The
Western mind views reality as composed of different parts which are usually opposed to each other.

The first similarities of Eastern and Western culture are the adherence to religious beliefs. Both
civilizations shape their lives according to their religious beliefs. As an example, Christians living the west
go to the church every Sunday to pray. Likewise, Muslims living in the east go to the mosque every
Friday in the direction of their beliefs. In addition, families living in the East and West nurture their
children according to their religious beliefs and enable to transfer these beliefs to the next generation.
Furthermore, both are also similar in terms of commercial applications. That is why such applications as
checks, credits, and guarantees give the commercial life a substantial direction in both cultures. Despite
these similarities, eastern and Western cultures bear a few crucial differences as well. The main
differences between the east and west is the geographical structure. Depending on the landforms of the
east and the west, their climates also vary from each other. Eastern countries generally have a milder
climate, whereas western countries have a colder climate.

We believed that Eastern and Western world that will never meet because of their different
perspective in life, like in their culture, Eastern are more respectful and think about other people
feelings and they believe that you cannot live without other people, that is why most of the eastern
people believe in saying that “No man is an island” – John Donne. No man is an island means none of us
is alone; we live in society; we live in community and it is our social responsibility and that our actions
have an affect on those things around us. And ivy also means that no one can survive without the help of
other people. A human being alone is like a person living in an isolated island. On order to be an island, a
man would have to be cut off and isolated from the rest of mankind. Man is born to live hi life with
others, he cannot grow in isolation. While in Western they are self centered and narcissist. Even though
they have a lot of differences we still need to respect each other for the sake of peace and sake of our
world.
 We may vary from each other in many different ways but I know that we still need to accept the
fact that we cannot just hate someone that don’t have same perspective of beliefs from us. Being
different from each other is part of our life and make us unique as an individual. If someone has
different religion, we must respect them on their beliefs as long as they are not harming us. Respect
must be gain not just because of its color, race or religion but all of us deserve is to be respect. As long
as we respect each other from our differences we can build a better world. We must not be blind in our
own beliefs, we need to think broadly and always put our feet on someone shoes because sometimes
the only thing we need to do is to understand each other.
 REFERENCES
1. Similarities Between Eastern &Western Philosophy
https://www.ancient.eu
2. Differences Between Eastern and Western Philosophy
www.differencebetween.net
3. What are the major differences between Eastern and Western Philosophy?
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-major-differences-between-eastern-and-western-
philosophies&sa=U&ved=2ahhUKEwjC_Zapl4PrAhhUCL6wKHSI_DgoQFjAcegQlBxAB&usg=AOvV
aw0h1380bHU2HcdroQNfR3Jo&iorg_domain_internal=google.com.ph%3BAfqovYGIFnVtlreZ
4. No Man Is An Island: What Does this Useful Idiom Mean?
https://www.medium.com
5. The hidden meanings of yin and yang – John Bellaimey – YouTube
https://m.youtube.com/watch
6. Yin and yang – Ancient History Encyclopedia
https://www.ancient.eu/Yin_and_Yang