Communication and Culture Essay -- Philosophy, Taoism

Scholars from the indigenous psychology and philosophy field noted that explanations of the differences among the eastern United States and West, such as individualism/collectivism, have relied most exclusively on theoretical constructs generated in western cultural contexts (Cheng, 1987 Cushman & Kincaid, 1987 Peng, Spencer-Rodgers, & Nian, 2006). Peng and his colleagues argued that indigenous concepts need to be introduced into the mainstream study, and the cultural differences between Western and easterly people in the domains of thought process and reasoning terminate be attributed to differences between Western and Eastern kinship convention epistemologies (Peng et al., 2006). Moreover, conversation theory can be explored from both Western and Eastern perspectives by bringing in philosophical thoughts (Cushman & Kincaid, 1987). With its rich background and insights into world nature and human understanding, philosophy can make contributions to contemporary c olloquy theory by recognizing the crucial necessity of the human context for parley (Cushman & Kincaid, 1987). Cheng (1987) noted that by bringing in philosophical perspective, the way of communication can be understood in a much broader sense. For instance, when comparison the differences between the West and China, scholars pointed out that while Chinese thinking and reasoning are mainly guided by folk version of Taoism and Chan Buddhism, Western thinking and reasoning are mostly Aristotelian in constitution (Cheng, 1987 Peng et al., 2006). The theoretical foundation of Taoism belief is the idea that two opposites are in return dependent on each other (Peng et al., 2006). This mutual dependence can be found between form and substance, between knowledge and satisfy, and between symbol and e... ...ive emphasizes selflessness and submission to central authority as the institutional means for achieving unity and harmony between man, and nature and this is the principle dete rmination for communication. In contrast, the Western perspective emphasizes self-cultivation and the subjugation of human and graphic resources to individual control as the central means for achieving individual and group goal attainment. According to the Eastern perspective, an individuals fight in a bodied institutional structure motivates human action and human communication, therefore, serves for the need of participation (Cushman & Kincaid, 2006). According the Western perspective, an individuals desire for political, social, and economic self-realization actuates human action and human communication, therefore, serves for the need of self-realization (Cushman & Kincaid, 2006).