SELFHOOD AND IDENTITY IN CONFUCIANISM, TAOISM, BUDDHISM, AND HINDUISM - CONTRASTS WITH THE WEST

This article explores conceptions of selfhood and identity originating from four intellectual traditions: the relational self in Confucianism, selflessness in Taoism, self-renunciation in Buddhism, and Atman-Brahman identity in Hinduism. It compares these conceptions with one another and with the core of Western conceptions pertaining to: (a) subject-object distinction, (b) self-other demarcation and individual identity, and (c) the centrality and sovereignty of the self. Psychological decentering is identified as a unifying theme underlying Eastern conceptions of selfhood. A beginning step toward the reconstruction of the self informed by the four traditions promises to enlarge our horizons about the self and its place in society, nature, and the cosmos.