- Author:
Marta Baranowska
- Author:
Paweł Fiktus
- Year of publication:
2017
- Source:
Show
- Pages:
29-42
- DOI Address:
https://doi.org/10.15804/kie.2017.03.02
- PDF:
kie/117/kie11702.pdf
The purpose of the article was the analysis of two topics: the freedom and new society in Steiner’s philosophy. Steiner in The Philosophy of Freedom postulates that the world is essentially an indivisible unity. He suggests, that freedom can only be approached gradually with the aid of the creative activity of thinking. The ability to think and act independently is a possibility for modern consciousness. The process of free action also includes the liberation from given (unreflected) natural driver, instincts and the commands of reason or authorities. The free action, are those for which we are fully conscious of the motive. He concludes, that freedom is the spiritual activity of penetrating with consciousness our own nature. The most striking feature of Anthroposophy will be deemed, at first sight, to be the cultivation of the soul’s inward life and the opening of the eyes to a spiritual world. But these doctrines are the foes of real life. The best situation would result if one would give people free way. He has the trust that they would find their direction themselves.
- Author:
Krzysztof Gawlikowski
- Institution:
SWPS University
- Year of publication:
2020
- Source:
Show
- Pages:
36-76
- DOI Address:
https://doi.org/10.15804/ap202002
- PDF:
ap/23/ap2302.pdf
Western individualism versus Confucian apotheosis of community and group identity
The study presents one of the fundamental differences between Western and Confucian civilisations: individualistic western interpretation of self versus Confucian group-self (we-self) and group identity. The study starts with Hong Kong scholars’ opinions: which western concepts are entirely alien to Chinese tradition. According to them, an individual is not treated there as the highest value nor has attributed ‘innate dignity’, as in the West. Equality is rejected, because all social relations are based there on a hierarchical order. The concepts and ideals of individual autonomy, of self-direction, freedoms and rights had also been unknown there, like many other western concepts, since they have Christian and Greek-Roman roots. The author subscribes to F.W. Mote’s conclusion that there is a ‘cosmological gulf’ between Chinese and western civilisations. The author considers right Qian Mu’s opinion that the creation of social, human nature of each individual is a fundamental concept of Chinese civilisation, hence the state is treated as a kind of one gigantic school, in which all citizens are considered ‘pupils’, and all ‘chiefs’, from father to emperor, as respected ‘tutors’. The principle of maintaining harmony and unity excludes various partial visions and different personal political options since consensus is required and individual criticism, in particular towards all ‘authorities’ is condemned. The study presents various explanations and concepts of ‘Confucian self’ (Chinese, Japanese and Korean), among them ‘group self’, ‘contextual self’, ‘enlarged’ and primitive ‘small self’, ‘multiple self’, self as a ‘centre of relationships’, ‘dependent personality’, ‘sacredness of group life’, the idea of group unity ‘being one in soul and body’, etc. The author presents in detail Roger T. Ames’ concept of Confucian self as ‘focus-in-the-field’ indicating that it explains well the different social position of individuals, which could vary from ‘small’ and insignificant to ‘gigantic’. The study outlines as well the religious Chinese context of such concepts. Owing to such an emphasis on group and not personal self, it is difficult to understand properly and adapt the fundamental western political concepts such as human rights and liberal democracy since they serve autonomous individuals lacking in East Asia. The study outlines the education process and the essential concepts of how children have to be educated in the Confucian tradition. These realities change, of course, but slowly and merely partially, since the traditional concepts still serve well social needs and efficient modernization. In the end, the author indicates a broader cultural context in which such concepts of self could operate. For instance, Confucian tradition glorifies harmony, accord and maintaining consensus, whereas it condemns struggle, quarrels and open criticism of others, in particular of authorities. Western individual protests and criticism challenge this approach. When the Christian concepts of brotherhood, love of one’s neighbour and equality were lacking, and all other communities in the same country are treated as ‘alien’ and ‘potentially harmful’, it was difficult to form national identity and solidarity. Moreover, under such circumstances, wide interests and engagement in politics of the state could not appear. Hence ‘culturalism’, based on group cultural identity, instead of nationalism evolved. The western individualistic spirit of adventure, traveling, seeking something new was also lacking, on the contrary, the Confucian ideal was to live together with one’s family in a native village/community. This cultural and social context is an obstacle to this day to the adaptation of western institutions and values related to individual.
- Author:
Mirosława Nowak-Dziemianowicz
- Institution:
Akademia WSB
- ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1148-1340
- Year of publication:
2024
- Source:
Show
- Pages:
29-39
- DOI Address:
https://doi.org/10.15804/em.2024.03.02
- PDF:
em/26/em2602.pdf
Community and individualism in constructing one’s own identity
The presented text falls within the perspective of narrative research, the development of which is a consequence of the linguistic breakthrough in social sciences. For this reason, the presented article begins with a brief description of the essence of this breakthrough. I consider narrativity and narration as a linguistic (and thus characteristic of a linguistic breakthrough) way of being in the world, a way of constructing the social world and a type of identity of a contemporary human. The subject of critical reflection in the presented text will be the story of the heroine of the Oscar-winning film by Paweł Pawlikowski, titled “Ida”. Considering this story as a case study, I will show the importance of community and individualism and the tensions between these categories of memory and oblivion in working on my own identity (i.e. the way to myself).