Philosophies of Self: East-West Distinctions | Gish Jen | Big Think

Philosophies of Self: East-West Distinctions |

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
People in the East and West really do think differently, especially when it comes to self-identity. Depending where you live, it's either associative or distinctive thinking that shapes your sense of self.You can learn a lot about yourself by looking through the lens of a different worldview. Gish Jen presents that awareness here by comparing notions of self-identity in the Eastern world and in the West. Having grown up with a foot in each culture, she’s in the ideal position to show the differences in how the self operates in America and Asia—without prescribing the idea that one system is better than the other. In her analysis, Westerners have a "pit-self", like an avocado, where our center is this unique individual self that must be expressed in every choice we make. We are always trying to differentiate ourselves from others, it’s central to every choice we make. Easterners are undoubtedly all individuals, but they ascribe to a "flexi-self" which is more interdependent, and focused on their place within a community or family. It’s more about duty, than rights. The differences are fascinating and, if you’re a westerner, it might drag into the spotlight the interesting ways in which you assert your individuality. Gish Jen's most recent book is The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap.

Gish Jen's most recent book is The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GISH JEN:

Gish Jen is the author of six previous books; she has published short work in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and dozens of other periodicals and anthologies. Her work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories four times, including The Best American Short Stories of the Century, edited by John Updike. Nominated for a National Book Critics' Circle Award, her work was featured in a PBS American Masters' special on the American novel, and is widely taught.

Jen is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has been awarded a Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, a Guggenheim fellowship, a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study fellowship, and numerous other awards. An American Academy of Arts and Letters jury comprised of John Updike, Cynthia Ozick, Don DeLillo, and Joyce Carol Oates granted her a five-year Mildred and Harold Strauss Living award; Jen delivered the William E. Massey, Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization at Harvard University in 2012. Her most recent book is The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT:

Gish Jen:

In the United States generally we have a model of self where the self is kind of like an avocado, right. We have a "pit" inside of us. The pit is ourself, our essence, our identity. It is the thing to which we must above all be true. And, of course, very importantly we see that pit as unique. So that everything we do we want to show, to reflect that pit. We like that self and we want it to be unique. In Asia people frequently have a “flexi-self”. So it’s a different kind of self. It is a self that’s oriented more to duty than to rights for instance. And very importantly, it does not have a cultural mandate to be different and to be unique.

People in the East are not all alike. So if you looked at my family, believe me, every single person is very, very different. That is true, of course, throughout Asia. The difference is not, "How different are we from each other?" The difference is, "How much significance do we attach to that difference?" In other words, do we think it’s very important to differentiate ourselves from others?

So if you’re asking, "Are they individuals?" Of course they’re individuals. You know, are they different? Of course they’re different. But of course for them it’s like, "Well of course I’m different. Why would I make a big deal about that?" And they think it is very peculiar that in the West that we feel that we must differentiate ourselves from others endlessly. So one of the ways that we do that of course is through choice, you know. Choice in the West is very, very important. Everyone is always making choices.

And honestly a lot of those choices make us a little anxious. If you do a study where you are just sitting in an empty room and you’re making a choice and you come from a more individualistic culture,

[hkflo]

The Western tendency to focus on one's individuality is an attempt to lend meaning to one's life. We live and we die and we don't know what for. It's causing a lot of people a lot of trouble and everyone's doing their best to create a narrative of meaning. Being unique (and, for instance, making a difference, having an impact) is such an approach. I don't know what Asian approaches there are to this problem besides that. Or is the individual's existence in that cultural space just not considered to be particularly meaningful in the first place (e.g. compared to the family at large, the culture etc)?

[prole]

At the core, many Eastern philosophies see reality as a unified whole rather than separated pieces of existence. As our understanding of physics, biology, and chemistry advances, I believe the Eastern viewpoint will be validated

[nakada]

I don't know why people in the west don't like to take care of their it's weird just throw them in elderly Care or whatever and let them slowly rot away. While in the East we treasure every moment we have with the elderly. They have feelings too.

[soonny]

Duty, on its own, means nothing. It's about duty to 'whom'. You can't be dutiful to everybody the same way you can't be at two places at one time. If you are more dutiful to others, then you are less likely to be dutiful to yourself. That is the major difference between an individualistic and collectivistic society.


Personally, I prefer the individualistic lifestyle, where my duties are more focussed on myself. This is probably related to our primate ancestors and how we evolved. There were always two groups of primates, a group which yearns to explore and a group which longs for a sense of belonging. The group that explores tends to be more individualistic as they separate from the herd and the group that tends to settle down tends to be more collective as they learn to get along with each other. You need both types of people in order to migrate and to colonise new lands, otherwise, the species wouldn't have survived. However, these are just my guesses.

People in individualistic societies tend to be more neurotic compared to people in collectivistic societies. This has been proven time and time again by WHO studies on mental health. For example, people with schizophrenia recover better in developing countries (which are largely collectivistic) compare to developed nations, despite having access to the latest treatment.

I think I'm pretty neurotic myself, lol. But that's my choice. As an Asian, my parents had my whole future laid out for me. I found that too boring and decided for forge my own future. I'm doing fine, so far. :)

My parents are freaking out on the other hand, lol. Because my plans did not include 'looking after them'. Yikes!

[gemusefreund]

Is this the explanation to why we have 63 genders now

[hawaiidispenser]

Sounds like it relates to that dynamic about how kids love freedom... yet crave discipline, structure. One is pleasurable while the other is comforting. Both sides have their advantages.

[jjmcowboy]

This is my new favorite video from Big Think. As someone who has been focusing so intently on being in the right major and searching for my unique passion that I will love until death, I can really appreciate this alternative philosophy. Thank you.

This is a good one, good points about the real world.

[ProfessorPolitics]

It's really interesting to see how different actions can either express our "core" selves or just reinforce a more general, non-identifying duty depending on our cultural lens. Going to have to chew this one over for a bit!

[marie.theartist]

I am from the US, but I have values: I have empathy, mindfulness and respect towards others because where my rights end is where others peoples rights start. I can't picture myself not taking care of my mother or father who has giving me life. Nor leaving my children in daycare the whole day. I am a teacher, and I see how people just leave their children more than 8 hours at school and run off to do their own thing, even on their day off. It’s sad, and I honestly don't get it. But that type of individualism I don't share with western culture. I believe that autonomy comes with great responsibility and ethics, too.

[maxgorden]

This sense of individualism is what led to the innovations in technology, the arts, and new ways of thought. Conformity doesn't progress, it conforms.

[ONETEE.HENDRIX]

Biased af but ok just go and do what’s expected of you and never question anything 🙌 live w virtually no anxiety!

[MusoukaMX]

As someone who is very alured to asian cultures (just look at my user name, right?), this is something I've had tried to put into words for myself for a long time and couldn't. That sense of duty in asian cultures and from which kinf of thought it emanates from.

This is, for once, something I was really interested to hear about and had found no way to form a question for it. Thank you for this video!

[sebastiang.s.]

Life is boring. Too much work, not enough time for reflextion and conection.

[TimothyRudy]

I think she meant to make the east sound simpler and wiser than the west, but to me it just came off as the west having more sophisticated philosophies than the east.

[MyNameIsMaxYo]

the M40A3 is the best and also i use smoke instead of flash and stun grenades

[robertosandoval]

what about no self where were all made up of experiences

[BartJBols]

I dont know... Sounds like the west is objectively better in this dychotomy. The easts mentality has a tendancy for nationalism, racism and 'us/them' think that individualism fights.

[windwhistle]

We have a pit. An endless, indeterminable pit of sorrow.

[FromPlanetZX]

Can 'do what you love/do whatever u want/ you can do anything' really be applied/taught globally or should 'duty is nobler than emotion' be taught globally, that is the question?
And you will have your answer.