CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER VIII

CONTRARIES AND COMPATIBILITIES

IN A TIME OF CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION

TOMONOBU IMAMICHI

Language is one of the most basic characteristics of culture. The diversity of languages shows that culture is basically manifold and depends upon the locality.

Culture is semantically manifold, affecting such various facets of daily life as table manners within the family and modes of self-expression on social occasions. Whether in matters of personal taste or social celebrations, art in general (painting, sculpture, music, drama, literature, etc.) is the most important phenomenon of culture. Both social custom and the legal system are marked by traditional habits, which are called moral culture. Even in the intellectual fields of science cultural differences are due to language which, in turn, influences logic.

Someone may note the relation of the above to religion as a cultural phenomenon, but I will not treat it as culture because I do not consider religion to be culture. It is not that religion and culture are not related, but culture is an entirely human activity, whereas religion presupposes divine activity.

In view of the above, cultures East and West must differ basically in at least "four dimensions," namely:

(a) daily life,

(b) art,

(d) logic

Daily Life

In daily family life, let us consider the dialogue between children and parents. Normally in the Western world family members use a horizontal mode in addressing each other, meaning that they regard each other as equals. No special polite form is grammatically established for the parents, individualism obtains in the form of equality and self-affirmation. In East Asia, however, there is a special polite form for children to address their parents. This has a hierarchial attitude as for people in a higher position or seniority. Concerning human rights, the father or person in a higher position within the group is more empowered. All members are protected in a collective sense, and one's identity is in terms of the group.

In both East and West this influences the way one presents oneself in social life. At the opening of a meeting of an international committee, I would introduce myself as follows: I am Tomonobu Imamichi, Professor of Philosophy at the International Center of Philosophy in Tokyo, Japan.

Note, the order here is:

(1) first personal name

(2) family name

(3) profession

(4) name of institution

(5) town

(6) country

But the same introduction in an East Asian language would be: "I, Japan, Tokyo, International Center of Philosophy, Professor, Imamichi Tomonobu, am." Here, the word order is in complete contrast to the Western self-presentation:

(1) country name

(2) town

(3) institution

(4) profession

(5) family name

(6) personal name

Moreover, usually such a formal self-presentation is finished within 10 seconds and in one breath, starting with a loud voice, which gradually diminishes to almost a whisper. In the Western manner this means that one can hear the personal and family name very clearly, while the country name is often absorbed and scarcely understood. In the Eastern manner, however, one can easily understand from what country the person comes and to which institution or company he/she belongs; but the name is sometimes scarcely understood.

The above indicates that in the West one regards the personal name of the individual as more important than one's belonging to a certain group, whereas in the East one regards one's group higher than the individual name. Here we find the opposite scheme of individualism contra the group or in the degenerated forms of egoism contra nosism (derived from the Latin first person plural, nos.)

Art

Generally speaking representative masterpieces of Western paintings, from the works of Renaissance masters till such modern painters as Cezanne or Renoir, are mimetic representations of the objective external world. This reflects the Western traditional idea of art, proposed by Greek artists and theorized by Plato and Aristotle.

But since the invention of photography, the precise description of the external world is no longer the task of painting. Art must seek a new task for humanity. As the technology of the machine cannot depict the internal, dynamic, psychological situation of a person, what one has in mind or heart must be expressed in visual art, linguistic form or musical sonority. This modern idea of art is expressionism.

The word expression is found in classical Latin where it means the `expression' of the juice of fruit of the vine, namely, it was a term of agriculture and zymurgy. So far as I know, even Goethe did not know the word ausdruck, and when Diderot used the word it was for an objective description of the internal landscape. The revolutionary new idea of art was established between the fin-de-siecle of the 19th century and the expressionism at the beginning of the 20th century. Hence, the nature of art in the Western world has developed from the classical mimesis, or objective representation, to the modern expressionism as an explosion of subjective passion.

Let us now look to the East. Confucius, the first philosopher in China, living in the 6th century B.C., said, "In painting the background must be left white." This means that the painter should concentrate his efforts only on the theme, and the external details of the background should not be represented in order to avoid the distraction of spiritual attention from the theme.

The oldest Chinese picture, excavated in Changsha in 1947, was painted in the 4th century B.C. according to scientific proof (cf. Haijek, Sekino). It was on silk, showing a lady necromancer, rising dragon (symbol of prayer) and phoenix (symbol of heavenly messenger) and there was no background. This traditional method of eliminating the peripheral phenomena in order to accentuate the thematic has been accepted in various ways throughout history. In the 7th century, e.g., colors are neglected, because they are superficial, incidental and changeable.

Thus, black ink paintings became the main trend in China and throughout East Asia.¹ Wang Wei, poet, painter and aesthetician said, "It is not necessary that the painted mountain be identified as a real mountain, but it is absolutely necessary to show the spirit of the mountain," apparently refusing mimetic representation. In order to paint the spirit of the mountain, the painter must unify himself with the vivid spirit of nature, and then must express his purified mind unified with the mystic spirit of nature.

So, in the 8th century Shie Hwa proposed six value levels of painting according to what is depicted: first or highest is the vivid dynamics of cosmic spirit; second, the essence of a thing with the strength of the brush; third, the phenomenal shape of a thing; fourth, colors according to the species; fifth, good composition; sixth or last, mimetic representation. In medieval times, the idea of pressing out the internal consciousness was crystallized in one term shai, which corresponds to expression. Many outstanding painters could do masterpieces of expression in ink. At the same time there arose many unskillful painters who could not achieve mimetic representation.

It is notable that in the 19th century Kazan Watanabe criticized them as unskillful, insisting that art is a matter not of expression, but of the vivid representation of the real nature. Thus, in the East classical idea of art was expression, while the modern idea of art is mimetic representation. One can say without danger, that over the same period the East and the West developed their ideas of art in opposite directions. There are contemporaneous developments but as opposite phenomena.

Moral Values

This is true also in moral philosophy. From classical antiquity till today, this has been symbolized by theater. On the stage the actor must play a responsible relationship with his/her partner according to the text. Here there are two important theatrical concepts, namely, person and responsibility. These must be recognized as fundamental moral concepts also in real life, namely, in the moral perspective of human life.

Through the Socratic philosophical preparation according to the motto: "know yourself" and through the definitive influence of the Christian tradition of persona according to Boethius's definition of persona, the concept of person has been set in Western moral philosophy. However, although there have been practical examples of responsible deeds, the other concept, namely, responsibility was not established till the end of the 18th century in Western moral history. The English word "responsibility" and the French word responsabilité were first coined at almost the same time in the 18th century, and the German word "Verantwortlichkeit" was coined at the end of the 19th century.

The content of responsibility, as defined by John Stuard Mill, was accountability, and the first edition of Eisler's "Worterbuch der Fhilosophie" indicates "Verantwortlichkeit" as "Zurechnung". Such chaos of moral consciousness concerning responsibility has been gradually corrected, so that the book of Heinemann finally showed the moral importance of the virtue of "Verantwortlichkeit," namely, responsibility.

Hence, we conclude that the key classical notion of moral philosophy in the Western world was person, while responsibility as a moral idea is of new origin. Western ethics only later integrated responsibility with its original form of individuality.

Let us compare this to the oriental world concerning the same issue. As everyone knows, the five cardinal virtues of Confucian ethics are as follows:

(1) Benevolence or charity.

(2) Responsibility (Yi). This was always translated as justice. But according to the structure of its Chinese character it must be translated as responsibility, for justice in Chinese is fair responsibility.

(3) Liturgy toward Heaven and sublimity of behavior toward others.

(4) Intellect.

(5) Sincerity, as unity of verbal and physical service to one another.

At a glance we can at once assert that of the five cardinal virtues, four are virtues in human relations, with only one exception, namely, intellect. Thus, the human condition is not one of isolated individuality, but is organized according to a common sociability: relationship is the absolute presupposition of human existence. The highest virtue of benevolence or charity is beyond normal humanity; the idealistic longing of normal citizens is for benevolence.

The second virtue, responsibility, is required as one's first task. In Asia the classical idea of morality was responsibility. But there is no clear idea of person through oriental history up to the present day, although the Asiatic world learned the essentials of this from the Christian religion. In the 17th century Wang Yangming and Li Shi came close to the individual center, but not so deeply as the notion of person. Many linguistic forms of the first person singular testify to a vague consciousness of the unchangeable, hidden, fundamental base of individuality. Finally, at the end of the 19th century, the Asiatic world learned the importance of individual existence when confronted by excessive totalitarian tendencies in the political field and reinterpretated Chuang Chou as unobjectified "Ursubjekt". Thus, the focus of classical morality in the East was responsibility in social relationships, whereas the modern idea of morality is centered on the person. Hence we find a contemporaneous development of opposite phenomena in the moral sphere.

Logic

In logic most see no difference, not to mention no contrasts or oppositions, but is this true?

Naturally, in the mathematical field there are no local differences in logical calculation. But human thinking is not limited to mathematics: there is also metaphysical contemplation of the essence of truth.

In Western philosophy, undoubtedly the main current of metaphysics is that formed by Socrates-Plato-Aristotle. In the Socratic dialogue "Politics" by Plato we read that "the most important instruments of a philosopher are noi logoi". A philosopher must seek the truth through the most important instruments, namely, noi logoi, which is the plural of logos. Socrates uses the plural because logos has many moments:

(1) word

(2) concept

(3) inference

(4) judgement

(5) thinking or calculation

(6) essence

A philosopher must think in linguistic form through concepts and inference in order to make essential judgements as to the truth. Therefore, the truth is the result of an objectively constructed digital operation. There is only one truth; the ideally correct answer is one, others are incorrect.

But in the course of the years there arose the problem of existential decision, which opened the way for veracity or existential truth, which is different from correctness. This is evolved by Heidegger, Jaspers, Marcel and Levinas. Here, instead of calculation the access to philosophical truth is by an entirely new method.

The digital system has lost its absolute dominance, at least in philosophical meditation. Recently, not only in the realm of metaphysics, but also in the logical dimension there arose the so-called fuzzy logic proposed by Zedah, which contained the logical validity of the intermediate digital space between correctness and incorrectness. Where in Western philosophy the classical idea of logic has been that of truth as one of absolute correctness, the modern idea concerns human decision in which the truth is abduced by interpretation from the richness of the given reality.

How does the oriental world stand in this regard? Confucius was a logician and refused to think of heaven, soul, human existence and death. But this does not mean that he abandoned thinking on these important subjects. He did not excuse himself from the effort to treat these problems in a way essentially different from the digital paradigm. Confucius suggests spiritual access to these transcendent objects through poetic interpretation, liturgical practice and musical ecstasy, namely, through pure aesthetic experience.

The task of Lao Tse and Tschuang Tschou was to develop the logical validity and epistemological method of pure aesthetic experiences. Instead of conceptual definition, the Taoists invented an imaginative logic with symbolic images. There must be a delicate sense of anabatic escalation of analogical difference. The significance of intermediate space of value between the conceptually acquired and spiritually postulated in this way of thinking is vitally important and was introduced into the Zen Buddhistic way for enlightenment.

But over the course of the years, the Confucianic rationalism of Shu Chi proposed a realistic way of thinking for describing the natural world and human behavior. Philosophers of this main current after the 14th century attempted a logical description of human history and natural phenomena. In relation to traditional Western rationalism and its effect on 19th century science the objective, descriptive scientific way of thinking was separated from the characteristic soil of Oriental inheritance. With this the classical idea of truth in the Oriental world has been existential "truth as sincerity is in contrast to the modern idea of truth as objectively calculated correct knowledge."

In the Japanese language tradition the word group similar to Greek logos is the Koto, meaning the state of affairs or situation. Koto-wari means analysis of the situation; koto-ba means originally a small part of the situation. Makoto originally means perfect situation, and is applied to the concept of truth and veracity or sincerity.

If one sees a child being drowned in a river, for the truth or alethea as discovery from the view point of logos one must describe the time and space, the supposed age of the child, the speed of the river, etc. In the midst of this objective description, the child must be completely drowned. In contrast, from the standpoint of makoto the movement of logic is as follows: the given situation or data is always incomplete: it is a wounded situation. We must integrate the broken, incomplete and wounded situation into the complete, perfect situation as far as possible through our human acts, either intellectual, practical or creative. In this case, we must make efforts to save the child in order to bring this broken situation to the perfect situation; this is the true act as truth. Truth and veracity are always unified in the word makoto.

In conclusion, both the East and the West, whether in the creative activity of art, in the moral act or in logical thinking, namely, in cultural activity in general, clearly manifest till this century a concurrent process of opposite phenomena.

This means that we can now understand each other very easily. The world is now unifying itself from the local contraries to the one globalized culture in order to create a new philosophy of humanity. We are no longer semi-human but human, and are initiating a creative philosophy for all of humanity in its present technologically cohesive situation.