Trisha Mae K.

Deiparine
March
3,
2016
POSCI 112: Third World Political Thought
Title: THE POLEMICS OF WESTERN AND EASTERN VALUES: THE COMMONALITIES AND
DIFFERENCES

I. Eastern Values (Brief Introduction)

Eastern thought is ontological. it does not really make a distinction between metaphysics, epistemology. In
other words: The Religion and Philosophy are one entity. Eastern philosophy usually refers to the

philosophical traditions of ancient China and India, but can also include Islamic, Jewish, Persian, and other
philosophical traditions of that region. However, these latter traditions often lie somewhere in the middle of an
imaginary philosophical continuum, and they share many things in common with western philosophy (the Arabs
extensively translated Ancient Greek texts). For this reason, we will focus on the Chinese and Indian traditions.
Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism are one the major religion or philosophy in Asia. The interesting thing about
eastern philosophy is that it does not really make a distinction between metaphysics, epistemology, etc. It also
does not make a distinction between philosophy and religion. *Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism
are the major religions or philosophy in Asia.
In the eastern philosophical traditions, the emphasis is placed on harmony. The Taoist idea of yin yang is a good
example of this. Yin is feminine, dark, cold, and yielding. Yang is masculine, bright, hot, and advancing.
II. Western Values
Greek (Rationalism)

JewishMonotheism

Christian
(Christian Love)

Authoritarianism & Liberalism

Planned Economy & Free Enterprise
Censorship & Freedom

God = moral code

foundation of Western Law and
Ethics

Slavery & Human Freedom

Obedience to the Government &
Revolution
Democracy & Monarchy
Capitalism & Socialism

On this bedrock of Christian value orientation, thus, a set of secular ideas and values developed: the
combination of individualism, rationalism, scientism and ideology of progress, called the Western synthesis Karl-Heinz Pohl
Western philosophy tends to focus on the parts. Breaking down ideas and concepts into categories. It focuses on
the differences. Western philosophy is linear and highly dissecting.
A. Greco-Judeo-Christian thought (Roots of Western Values)
III. Differences In terms of:
DIFFERENCES
Order, Justice and Truth

Cultural Determinism

Individual Rights

Economics

EAST
"Commonwealth
under
Heaven"
High respect to authorities and
elderly
status quo should not be questioned
Collectivism
is
stronger.
inner
conquest/ "The most excellent Jihad
is that for the conquest of self."
Mohammad

The social obligation to serve or help

others,
the
idea
of
moral
righteousness, and the idea that the
individual is but a small part.
individual rights is set aside.
"sense of social concern" (youhuan
yishi) Tang poet Du Fu, to "worry
about country and people".

WEST
Culture
of
considering
and
introducing radical changes. Western
society strives to find and prove
truth.
Main values are success and
achievementrarely
through
developing inner
strength.
exo"Happiness
lies
in
virtuous
activity, and perfect happiness lies in
the
best
activity,
which
is
contemplative." ~ Aristotle
Society
as
an
association
of
individuals, as founded logically or
historically on a contract between
them, and it elevates the individual
human person and his freedom and
happiness to be the goal and end of
all human association.
Willing to sacrifice economic and
social, rights in favor of civil and
political rights (Bell 2006).

IV. Commonalities
There is no division between eastern or western philosophy when it comes to the most basic
questions of what it means to be a human being.
A.The Purpose of Human Existence- Confucius & Aristotle
Both men believed that virtue was the highest goal one could strive for and that lasting rewards

came to a person who put virtue above worldly possessions.

B. Innate Morality - Plato & Wang Yangming
Both of these philosophers have exerted an enormous influence through their works, and both
argue for the existence of innate knowledge; that human beings are born knowing right from
wrong, and good from bad, and need only be encouraged to pursue goodness in order to live a
fulfilling life. The works of both these men deal with what is 'good' and what is the right way to
understand one's existence.
V. Conclusion
A. Individualism is to West; Collectivism is to East
B. The eastern philosophy is concerned with general knowledge while western philosophy aims
at specific knowledge.
This refers to the popular understanding that eastern philosophy - specifically Chinese philosophy
- addresses the whole of human existence while western philosophy - beginning with the Greeks only focuses on certain aspects of the human condition.
C. The Arguments of Western Universalism
Its birthplace is the Mediterranean - Greece, Palestine, Italy. Spread throughout Europe and
Middle East and penetrated to Asia and Africa (thanks to imperialism). It was in Europe where
"Greco-Judeo-Christian" philosophy thrived and it was europe that transplanted this philosophies
to the world. United States is now the center of gravity of western civilization in terms of
economics, politics, culture and military power - someday the center will be elsewhere.
Ancient Times: Athens, Jerusalem and rome.
Dark Ages: Byzantium - the most important site of cultural, literary and administrative
leadership.
17th & 18th centuries: Paris- cultural capital of the world.
19th century: London.
20th century: New York - the leading artistic, scientific and intellectual clearing house in the
world.
2000s: Los Angeles.
Its important to assert differences. Because differences are principles of the cosmos and the
only way to avoid differences to make people homogeneous. And to make cultures
homogeneous, it requires genocide, or to enslave somebody or you can woe everybody with your
point of view or those with inferiority complex will start mimicking someone else/pretending to
be someone else. Being different is important
- Rajiv Malhotra
D. The Arguments of Asian Democracy
Asianisation of Asia witnessed countries such as Singapore and Malaysia assert the validity of
Asian values as a counter to Western or universal values. These values which include an
emphasis on family, hard work and education are seen as both specifically Asian and more
communitarian and collectivist in their application than the individualism of the Western model.
Asian style democracies exhibit both authoritarian and democratic elements.
Characteristics of these Democracies :
One dominant party
Centralized bureaucracy and strong state,
Respect for authority as representative of regimes that place social order and political
stability ahead of individual rights and democracy.
Tun Abdul Razak, second Prime Minister of Malaysia, noted: The view we take is that democratic
government is the best and most acceptable form of government. So long as the form is
preserved, the substance can be changed to suit conditions of a particular country.
All truth and goodness is relative to particular culture and and mostly such view stands against
universal human rights - David Forsythe.
E. The Third World Predicament
Under the banner of modernization, they've abandoned customary truths, values, way of life
and accepted their degree of westernization as their measure of progress and regress. - Yersu
Kim
We must stop doing this hybrid democracy and its time to adopt democracy of what it is. Kim
Dae Jung
"Senselessly arrogant would be the presumption that inhabitants of all parts of the world need to
be Europeans in order to live a happy life."
- Johann Gottfried Herder
Sources:
Barr, M.D. (2002). Cultural Politics and Asian Values. Routledge: London and New York.
Dalton, R.J. & Ong, N.T. (2005). A Test of the Asian Values Hypothesis. Cambridge University
Press.
Dryzek, J. & et.al. (2006). The Oxford Handbook: Political Theory. Oxford University Press.

Kozhuharov, V. (2012). Eastern and Western European RE: similarities, differences and learning
from each other. Klingenthal Colloquy. PDF
Liu, Q. (2003). Understanding Different Cultural Patterns or Orientations Between East and West.
Shijiazhuang Mechanical Engineering College Hebei, CHINA. PDF

Malhotra, R. (2011). Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism. HarperCollins Publishers
India. PDF
Pohl, K. H. (n.d.). Chinese and Western Values: Reflections on a Cross-Cultural Dialogue on a
Universal Ethics.Trier University, German. PDF
Sen, A. (1997). Human Rights and Asian Values. Carnegie Council on Ethics and International
Affairs.
Young, J.C. (2010). Collectivism and Individualism as Bicultural Values. The Hong Kong
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