WESTERN AND EASTERN PERSPECTIVE

OF UNDERSTANDING SELF
 WHAT IS SELF?
The term ‘self’ refers to an individual
human being, along with their body,
mind, and in some cases, the concept of
a ‘soul’.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

In West, it’s a conception of the self where

there is a clear distinction between creator
and created, and Man and the self is
viewed as an artifact of creation.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
• Religious tradition isnot dominant.
• The only difference about human is their cognition and
awareness.
• Looking to the ancient Greek and it's political system
based on a kind of democracy (although slaves,
woman, and majority of low level citizens are not
allowed to vote) shows the concept of individuality.
• The well being and joyful life of the individuals are
that main priority of western societies.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
According to western belief, a soul is “immaterial
or spiritual”, it is not subject to change like
material objects.

PHILOSOPHERS

• Platowas one of the first philosophers to state

that the soul is eternal, so it is the soul of a
man that makes him an enduring self.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
• Lockehad a similar view, though his idea was
the ‘enduring self’ is a person’s memory.
• Descartes basically believed that, if he could not
think, then he could not exist, and thus
‘thinking’ in and of itself was what constituted
an enduring self.
EASTERN PERSPECTIVE
• Accepting the concept of superior being
(Allah,Nibbana, Ha Shem, Lord and etc.) is a
necessity for being religious.
• Everysingle aspect of follower's life will be
defined by the concept of obedience,
submission, and dedication.
• Denial
of personal SELF and becoming a GOD
ORIENTED SELF.
EASTERN PERSPECTIVE

In Eastern philosophy, the self is often treated

as an illusion. That is, the idea that people are
separate entities from each other and the world
is not considered a reality in Eastern thought.
EASTERN PERSPECTIVE
• Philosopher David Hume and the founder of
Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, both rejected
the idea of an ‘enduring self’
• Buddhist philosophy believes that everything
in life is ephemeral, or that nothing lasts
forever.
• David Hume had a somewhat similar idea, in
the sense that he too believed there is ‘no self’,
and that what we think of as a ‘self’ is just an
illusion.
EASTERN PERSPECTIVE
• Gautama Theory in the concept of self is
contained on his discourse self.
• Fourth noble truth it comprise the essence of
Buddha's teachings, though they leave much left
unexplained. They are the truth of suffering,
the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of
the end of suffering, and the truth of the path
that leads to the end of suffering.
EASTERN PERSPECTIVE
GAUTAMA 5 AGGREGATES TO CONSIDER THE
CONCEPT OF SELF:
1. FORM
2. FEELING
3. PERCEPTION
4. MENTAL FORMATIONS
5. CONSCIOUSNESS