1:52 This always puzzled me about us Westerners. I am a Christian and because of this I have focused more on what God can do when I am in a group of like-minded believers. The church is a group that represents God's hands and feet in the world. This does not correlate with general Western day-to-day actions as you've highlighted in this video. Also, the further West you go, the more pronounced this push for self glorification and success is. I used to be pulled down by this form of thought because it was not only default for me, it was encouraged. No matter how hard I tried, I thought I was not good enough. I would compete with others to prove my self-worth. Now as a Christ follower, my way of viewing how to see myself in relationship with others has changed dramatically. I see my neighbor, regardless of who they are, as a gift from God and are worth sharing life with and dying for. This Middle-Eastern faith has changed me into someone that holds more to a group-centered self rather than a me-centered self. My worth doesn't come from my abilities or genetics, it comes from God's love for us, in us, and most importantly *_through_* us. Scripture mentions that we humans are imperfect images of God (Gen 1:27)(Psalm 8:5)(Romans 12:2), so most of our positive attributes, especially empathy and compassion, are imperfect reflections of God's own attributes. These are not attributes that are found only in Christians, rather these positive attributes are in our nature since birth. Unfortunately, we also have sin nature in us. God does not share our sin nature. I believe that our sin nature can be made less controlling of our lives while our positive attributes, especially empathy, can be nurtured and fully-realized through a relationship with God through "death of self" in Christ (Galatians 2:20). In short, I wasn't meaning to "preach" or anything, but it's just puzzling to me that for a historically "Christian" people, the West are rather individualistic - which doesn't correlate with Christ's message as I've shared above. The East's way of thinking seems to share more with that of Christianity than the West way of doing things do.
It's a product of Protestantism. The historical Church has always promoted living for one's community as can be seen in the emphasis on family life and communal monasticism. The life of a solitary hermit is seen as hard and only for those called to it.
It would be interesting to know how Easterners view these differences. This video, as well Nisbett's book are analytical, Western style. Hope politicians and decision makers in high places acquaint themselves with these concepts. The world needs it now more than ever!
I'd like to see you dig into the disparity in comprehension of math as well. I've read that it's linked to linguistic functions, for instance, in Japanese, 57 translates to five tens, seven ones. That would yield a much more detailed understanding of what 57 actually is mathematically compared to the relative lack of clarity in the English "fifty-seven."
57 in japanese translates to literally "five-ten-seven". Fifty-seven also means that, but through the history of english it got contracted beyond recognition. And the number systems of other languages like french or danish have been a victim of multiple competing standards. Japanese has also has trouble though, where due to chinese influence there are, for numbers up to 10 at least two completely unrelated words for each (in Korea up to 100). This seems to add to the video, saying that easterners are more fond to keeping and reconciling multiple standards at once.
Great video! Russia is something intermediate (I am russian). The mentality of russians would be completely Asian, if not for the neighborhood with Western Europe.
i find this also applies to photography, esp. composition and point of interest. western photography tend to show subjects (which extend to sceneries) as the point of interest, which explains why photos of individual people, other living beings, and objects are prominent. think it as ‘this is a photo of [name of object]’. eastern photography tend to show the overall scene in which there’s no true subject but the entire scenery _is_ the subject. also they capture context of the photo. think of it as ‘i took this photo to represent [mood, celebration, or important event] and i feel [emotion] about it’. though this may be inaccurate since i see lots of example of western photography (seemingly) applied eastern zeitgeist to their photos and eastern photography doing the opposite. but most of the time, it really shows, and this is why i often being problematic when i have to analyze and criticize photos taken by people from the east, because we _don’t_ share the same zeitgeist
My personal observation is that in Asians (Easterners) behavior is ruled by Confucian thought; the State rather than the individual, conformity within the group rather than individual "freedom" This seems to apply no matter which religion...Buddhist, Shintoan, Christian..and to "Asians" who were born in, grew up and live among "Westerners" (probably Asian conditioning in the family). it is as if there is a Confucian worldview in the collective mind like for westerners Abrahamic worldview and the pervasiveness of the Greco-Roman hero myth. These unconscious influences are, of course, cultural but studies have shown that during the formation and development of the brain during the 1st 3 years of childhood (brain is not completely formed in the womb due to the narrowness of the birth canal) indicate that the brain physically changes in response the stress of the parents. These changes can be adaptations to the exigencies of survival in the small child.
To use studies of Japan and America as summaries of Western and Eastern is very limited. Vietnamese are very different to the Japanese. . To think all Asians think like Japanese is simply flawed. Also values var greatly across Europe, English think differently than the Spanish, German's etc.
Amazingly informative video!These kind of analyzes are great for the people who are unconscious of their unique point of view, as in they are not aware people think completely differently. You seem to say that Easterners (Japan, China, Korea..) have in their culture the fact that there are people very different to you, and you must accept that, right? so would it mean Easterners have a more open-minded culture than westerners, such as US or UK? Even though I believe the search of harmony is very nice, but if the Chinese culture and Japanese define the self by the context, is finding peace within yourself, so knowing yourself and being happy with it, plausible in these Eastern Cultures? (Buddhism is an example, I'm just questioning :) )
Wow, what an accomplishment, thank you manifoldly, in part and whole! I brought Nesbitt's book The Geography of Thought in 2003 just before departing to mainland China in that year to stay until 2015, and it was a "bible" for me to help me understand and incorporate the Asia Way of Thinking. Your analysis and holistic understanding are, for me, superb and gave me new insights. However, one correction I suggests needs to be made: 9:40> “In the sciences the Greeks were amongst the first to look for the underlying logical principle and pattern if human senses disproved the scientific method they should be ignored” Error? Empirical data are NOT ignored in the (modern, actual) "Scientific Method"--I do not think you mean this? This is relative to the Ancient Greek philosophers as early proto-scientists, yes? Only thing I disagreed with. Thanks, looking forward to using your work in my Responsibly Free School. Get free, stay safe.
An interesting summary of the core of "the Geography of Thought". Too bad there are no subtitles in Asian languages or script in English. The speech is much too fast for most Asian students to follow, therefore I assume this will mostly fall on "Western" ears.
The differences are also rooted in Christianity vs. Eastern Philosophy. For instance, you talk about the Yin Yang symbol showing there is a little of the opposite in each side. In Christianity, God is only good and Satan is only evil. This isn't opinion. It is truth for God is Truth and God is the Word. This is why the Western culture will separate things and think logically instead of meshing everything together and basing truth on context. Context has no truth. God never changes and we are made in his image.
Bit weird how every training video on this matters can't help itself of putting the Western thinking way as inferior. Also here when explaining the Eastern thought criticism is given on the Western school of thought but not vice versa...christian guilt playing a role here as well ?
The Nazis never valued harmony or high context despite being absolute collectivists . The Chinese government should stop that excuse say anti-individualism is the only way to be Chinese. Many cultures are collectivists and think loyalty is above all like the middle east and Africa. Confucianist Harmony and generation consciousness, rooted in ancient China, is a unique eastern concept, that is able go hand in hand with individualism as a form of social tolerance . Harmony is not assimilation. Japanese cultures strongly value self discipline, more than us.
Its scientificaly proven Culture where you grow up, influences how you think the moust. I as a German reading many English stuff on the internet agree with him. I am intermediate an so is the society I grew up in. Also everywhere are exeptions in population. But Culture the society you grow up, is the main source of influence if the way you think
But the east have good sides too. Like less excuses for selfish and egoistic behavior. I think bouth groups have pros and cons. Perhaps I as an intermediate German think like that. But I disagree with some eastern as well as western ideas. At the sane time i value individuality and teamwork. At the same time
Love the content man. The theory of philosophical influence on each society is very sound, but I’m curious if it goes deeper than that. In a 2018 study, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6625506/ , a team of researchers found that brain structure differences exists between eastern and western societies..I’m curious if the eastern/western philosophical ideology was attributed to difference in the frontal, parietal, and temporal brain regions..or perhaps the influence and outlook on life altered the evolution of our western/eastern friends.
Your Channel is CRIMINALLY Underrated, keep-it-up man! Someday your channel will make it big considering the Quality of your videos and content
Ima use dat thxsZ :)( UwU tWtT
This video is extremely underrated. Thank you for explaining the differences in cultures in layman's term for people to understand.
Very crisp and compelling analysis of Nisbett's arguments. Thank you!
1:52 This always puzzled me about us Westerners. I am a Christian and because of this I have focused more on what God can do when I am in a group of like-minded believers. The church is a group that represents God's hands and feet in the world. This does not correlate with general Western day-to-day actions as you've highlighted in this video. Also, the further West you go, the more pronounced this push for self glorification and success is. I used to be pulled down by this form of thought because it was not only default for me, it was encouraged. No matter how hard I tried, I thought I was not good enough. I would compete with others to prove my self-worth.
Now as a Christ follower, my way of viewing how to see myself in relationship with others has changed dramatically. I see my neighbor, regardless of who they are, as a gift from God and are worth sharing life with and dying for. This Middle-Eastern faith has changed me into someone that holds more to a group-centered self rather than a me-centered self. My worth doesn't come from my abilities or genetics, it comes from God's love for us, in us, and most importantly *_through_* us.
Scripture mentions that we humans are imperfect images of God (Gen 1:27)(Psalm 8:5)(Romans 12:2), so most of our positive attributes, especially empathy and compassion, are imperfect reflections of God's own attributes. These are not attributes that are found only in Christians, rather these positive attributes are in our nature since birth. Unfortunately, we also have sin nature in us. God does not share our sin nature. I believe that our sin nature can be made less controlling of our lives while our positive attributes, especially empathy, can be nurtured and fully-realized through a relationship with God through "death of self" in Christ (Galatians 2:20).
In short, I wasn't meaning to "preach" or anything, but it's just puzzling to me that for a historically "Christian" people, the West are rather individualistic - which doesn't correlate with Christ's message as I've shared above. The East's way of thinking seems to share more with that of Christianity than the West way of doing things do.
It's a product of Protestantism. The historical Church has always promoted living for one's community as can be seen in the emphasis on family life and communal monasticism. The life of a solitary hermit is seen as hard and only for those called to it.
It would be interesting to know how Easterners view these differences. This video, as well Nisbett's book are analytical, Western style.
Hope politicians and decision makers in high places acquaint themselves with these concepts. The world needs it now more than ever!
I'd like to see you dig into the disparity in comprehension of math as well. I've read that it's linked to linguistic functions, for instance, in Japanese, 57 translates to five tens, seven ones. That would yield a much more detailed understanding of what 57 actually is mathematically compared to the relative lack of clarity in the English "fifty-seven."
57 in japanese translates to literally "five-ten-seven". Fifty-seven also means that, but through the history of english it got contracted beyond recognition. And the number systems of other languages like french or danish have been a victim of multiple competing standards.
Japanese has also has trouble though, where due to chinese influence there are, for numbers up to 10 at least two completely unrelated words for each (in Korea up to 100).
This seems to add to the video, saying that easterners are more fond to keeping and reconciling multiple standards at once.
Keep doing these sort of videos, and your channel will be huge within a year or two.
Good! I am a brazilian Lean consultant and this video helps me to understand many things. Thank you very much!
Great video! Russia is something intermediate (I am russian). The mentality of russians would be completely Asian, if not for the neighborhood with Western Europe.
Not surprised!
i find this also applies to photography, esp. composition and point of interest.
western photography tend to show subjects (which extend to sceneries) as the point of interest, which explains why photos of individual people, other living beings, and objects are prominent. think it as ‘this is a photo of [name of object]’.
eastern photography tend to show the overall scene in which there’s no true subject but the entire scenery _is_ the subject. also they capture context of the photo. think of it as ‘i took this photo to represent [mood, celebration, or important event] and i feel [emotion] about it’.
though this may be inaccurate since i see lots of example of western photography (seemingly) applied eastern zeitgeist to their photos and eastern photography doing the opposite. but most of the time, it really shows, and this is why i often being problematic when i have to analyze and criticize photos taken by people from the east, because we _don’t_ share the same zeitgeist
For me, in 5:40, both are called “car” 😂
I can’t think of two different names for them 😂
Nice video anyway, keep it up 👍🏻👍🏻
That's exactly the point. If a 'car' is immobile and dysfunctional in a museum is it still a car? Only in name, not in function.
@@ikmarchini As long as you can still drive it, then it’s still a car. Otherwise it’s a replica of a car.
One is an automobile, and the other is an exhibit. The former is to ride, the latter is not to be touched.
My personal observation is that in Asians (Easterners) behavior is ruled by Confucian thought; the State rather than the individual, conformity within the group rather than individual "freedom" This seems to apply no matter which religion...Buddhist, Shintoan, Christian..and to "Asians" who were born in, grew up and live among "Westerners" (probably Asian conditioning in the family). it is as if there is a Confucian worldview in the collective mind like for westerners Abrahamic worldview and the pervasiveness of the Greco-Roman hero myth. These unconscious influences are, of course, cultural but studies have shown that during the formation and development of the brain during the 1st 3 years of childhood (brain is not completely formed in the womb due to the narrowness of the birth canal) indicate that the brain physically changes in response the stress of the parents. These changes can be adaptations to the exigencies of survival in the small child.
Well-worded, and very informative!
Very cool video. I learned something new.
To use studies of Japan and America as summaries of Western and Eastern is very limited. Vietnamese are very different to the Japanese. . To think all Asians think like Japanese is simply flawed. Also values var greatly across Europe, English think differently than the Spanish, German's etc.
He awknowledges that in the description, he cant dive in too much in a 12 minute vid but he neatly summarizes general differences
Amazingly informative video!These kind of analyzes are great for the people who are unconscious of their unique point of view, as in they are not aware people think completely differently. You seem to say that Easterners (Japan, China, Korea..) have in their culture the fact that there are people very different to you, and you must accept that, right? so would it mean Easterners have a more open-minded culture than westerners, such as US or UK?
Even though I believe the search of harmony is very nice, but if the Chinese culture and Japanese define the self by the context, is finding peace within yourself, so knowing yourself and being happy with it, plausible in these Eastern Cultures? (Buddhism is an example, I'm just questioning :) )
Western philosophy is better.
@@hectorcardenas2171 no!
Manukapp
Yes!
@@hectorcardenas2171 not convincing!
Manukapp
Not convincing for you, but for the world, Western culture is better.
Once again, extremely cool and informative video!
Hi again lol
Wow, what an accomplishment, thank you manifoldly, in part and whole!
I brought Nesbitt's book The Geography of Thought in 2003 just before departing to mainland China in that year to stay until 2015, and it was a "bible" for me to help me understand and incorporate the Asia Way of Thinking.
Your analysis and holistic understanding are, for me, superb and gave me new insights.
However, one correction I suggests needs to be made:
9:40> “In the sciences the Greeks were amongst the first to look for the underlying logical principle and pattern if human senses disproved the scientific method they should be ignored”
Error? Empirical data are NOT ignored in the (modern, actual) "Scientific Method"--I do not think you mean this? This is relative to the Ancient Greek philosophers as early proto-scientists, yes?
Only thing I disagreed with. Thanks, looking forward to using your work in my Responsibly Free School.
Get free, stay safe.
Great video’s, keep it up man!
At 0:56 *chooses and 0:58 *prefers; Otherwise, amazing video, thank you so much for creating it. :)
Just discovered your channel! Love it!
Thank you! :)
Very interesting topic, great vid!
1:32 "Justice should be blind..." Ha!
Amazing content, keep it coming!
Be yin/yang. Best of both worlds
Great content!
Fascinating! More pls! How about a similar study on South Asian "easterners?"
Sea are not east Asian gtfoh
Not even the Chinese population in countries like Singapore?
An interesting summary of the core of "the Geography of Thought". Too bad there are no subtitles in Asian languages or script in English. The speech is much too fast for most Asian students to follow, therefore I assume this will mostly fall on "Western" ears.
great video
The differences are also rooted in Christianity vs. Eastern Philosophy. For instance, you talk about the Yin Yang symbol showing there is a little of the opposite in each side. In Christianity, God is only good and Satan is only evil. This isn't opinion. It is truth for God is Truth and God is the Word. This is why the Western culture will separate things and think logically instead of meshing everything together and basing truth on context. Context has no truth. God never changes and we are made in his image.
You forgot the rest eastern country
Very interesting..
Now do one for black people...then one for Hispanic 🙏🤓
Brilliant! 谢谢你
Bit weird how every training video on this matters can't help itself of putting the Western thinking way as inferior. Also here when explaining the Eastern thought criticism is given on the Western school of thought but not vice versa...christian guilt playing a role here as well ?
You are a genius
You really piqued my interest here, now I got to read that book!
Subbing
Cancel culture?
Eem where u from???
The Nazis never valued harmony or high context despite being absolute collectivists . The Chinese government should stop that excuse say anti-individualism is the only way to be Chinese. Many cultures are collectivists and think loyalty is above all like the middle east and Africa. Confucianist Harmony and generation consciousness, rooted in ancient China, is a unique eastern concept, that is able go hand in hand with individualism as a form of social tolerance . Harmony is not assimilation. Japanese cultures strongly value self discipline, more than us.
I am not agree with you
Its scientificaly proven Culture where you grow up, influences how you think the moust. I as a German reading many English stuff on the internet agree with him. I am intermediate an so is the society I grew up in. Also everywhere are exeptions in population. But Culture the society you grow up, is the main source of influence if the way you think
Vostok, delo tonkoe ;-j
In other words, west is the best.
But the east have good sides too. Like less excuses for selfish and egoistic behavior. I think bouth groups have pros and cons. Perhaps I as an intermediate German think like that. But I disagree with some eastern as well as western ideas. At the sane time i value individuality and teamwork. At the same time
Western philosophy is better, for the human spirit.
Fascinating video ! You won a subscriber
Love the content man.
The theory of philosophical influence on each society is very sound, but I’m curious if it goes deeper than that.
In a 2018 study, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6625506/ , a team of researchers found that brain structure differences exists between eastern and western societies..I’m curious if the eastern/western philosophical ideology was attributed to difference in the frontal, parietal, and temporal brain regions..or perhaps the influence and outlook on life altered the evolution of our western/eastern friends.