The document discusses differences between Western and Eastern perspectives on concepts like the "good life" and happiness. Western views tend to emphasize individualism, autonomy, achievement, and future-oriented thinking, while Eastern views focus more on collectivism, cooperation, balance, harmony with nature, and respect for tradition and elders. The good life from a Western lens involves success, wealth and pursuing goals, whereas Eastern philosophies see an optimal life as a spiritual journey of transcendence involving compassion for others.

2. • bothWestern and Eastern history and
philosophies have the concept of the "good
life"
• Westerners : emphasize optimal functioning
,and hopeful pursuits for better life
• Easterners: optimal life a spiritual journey
involving others and result- experiencing
transcendence and enlightenment.

3. • Happiness inWestem society is defined as gaining
self-esteem, self-confidence, being materially and
financially comfortable, being successful, being
attractive, being equal, being treated with respect,
being able to assert one’s rights and enjoy
pleasures and comforts of life (Laungani, 2007).
• Two constructs- hope and uniqueness

4. • goal-focused thinking
• transition from various
ages
• Guiding ,influential
and survival force

5. • strong appeal to many and
maintaining a degree of difference
• also called a motive for
distinctiveness
• depends on the
 how the information is being
encoded,
 what are the various emotional
responses and behavioural actions
toward that information
 display rules and uniqueness
attribute

6. Athenian Christianity
Judaism Islamic

7. • Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle
• 11 moral virtues:
1. courage,
2. moderation,
3. generosity,
4. munificence,
5. magnificence,
6. even temper,
7. friendliness,
8. truthfulness,
9. wit
10. justice and
11. friendship.

8. • government should take the responsibility of
the development of virtue in the society
through early education.
• polis is essential for helping the average
individual to self-actualize with regard to
virtue;
• Life of order ensures that one could rise above
hedonistic desire and become truly virtuous .
• good human virtue create a community and
provide a good model for others

9. • the virtues of faith, hope, and charity are
• “Seven HeavenlyVirtues” byThomas
Aquinas.
1. fortitude,
2. justice,
3. temperance
4. wisdom
5. faith,
6. hope, and
7. charity
• Ten Commandments given by Moses in
the OldTestament
• special importance : to the virtue of
wisdom.

10. • TheTalmud and pentarch.
• the Pirke Avot, or Fathers,
directives are given on how to
live life as an ethical follower of
Judaism.
• lessons include being a
hospitable host particularlry to
the poor, being fair in decision-
making and judgments, and
seeking peace.

11. • incorporates virtues as moral
obligations.
• gratitude (e.g., to Allah for His
benevolence),
• love (of Allah because of His
forgiveness),
• kindness (especially toward parents),
• justice (emphasizing fraternity and
equality of all),
• courage (acts of bravery) are valued .
• Emphasis on altruism
• zakat (alms),

12. • Happiness - internal state of mind;
o being in peace;
o doing one’s duties;
o keeping others happy;
o being responsible and respectful to oneself, family and
society;
o and enjoying life as it goes with oneself, family and others
(Laungani, 2007, p. 199).
• View of life involves a desire for balance for optimal
functioning.
• moving with the cycle of life and moving towards
enlightenment.
• seek to transcend the human and material plane to rise to
the spiritual plane.

13. Compassion Harmony

14. • In Confucian teachings - the
concept of jen (humanity)
• Taoist belief system, humanity
also reflects behaviors that must
occur naturally
• Buddism - karuna
• Eric Cassell (2009) proposes
requirements for compassion:
1. the difficulties of the recipient
must be serious,
2. the recipient's difficulties cannot
be self-inflicted, and
3. we, as observers, must be able to
identify with the recipient's
suffering.

15. • The ability to possess feelings for something
completely separate from our own suffering
allows us to transcend he self and , in this
way, to be closer to the achievement of the "
good life."
• Compassion asks people to think outside
themselves and to connect with others and as
the person comes to understand others, she
or he comes closer to self-understanding.
ythis lead sto concept of har,momny

16. • human value of achieving a
compatibility, and accord infeelings
,actions,opinions ,interst
realtionships
• Greeks - a life with no ties to duty
and the freedom to pursue
individual goals.
• Buddhist - when people reach a
state of nirvana, they have reached
a peacefulness entailing "complete
harmony, balance, and equilibrium"
• Confucian - harmony is viewed as
crucial for happiness,respected
those who could harmonize

17. Confucianism Taoism
Buddhism Hindhuism

18. • leadership and education are central to
morality.
• the responsibility of the leaders and bieng
collectivist
• Attaining virtue lies at the core of Confucian
teachings.
• The five virtues deemed center to a moral
existence are:
 jen (humanity),
 yi (duty to treat others Well),
 li (etiquette and sensitivity for others’
feelings),
 zhi (Wisdom) and
 xin (truthfulness).
• strive to make wise decisions based on these
five virtues
• this continual survival leads to enligtment, or
the good life.

19. • Lao-Tzu, the creator of theTaoist tradition
• Tao is the energy that surrounds everyone
and is a power that “envelops surrounds
and flows through all things” .
• experiencing both good and bad events
can lead to a greater understanding of the
way.
• most important goal is spontaneity and
naturalness.
• the difficulty in understanding the Way -
one cannot teach another about it.
• virtues of humanity, justice , temperance,
and propriety must be
• One who has achieved transcendence
within this philosophy does not have to
think about optimal functioning but
behaves virtuously naturally.

20. • suffering is a part of being and that this
suffering is brought on by desire.
• Nirvana is considered the state in which the
self is freed from any kind of desire.
• BrahmaViharas (virtues above all others in
importance, called as universal virtues).
 maitri (love)
 karuna (compassion)
 Mudita(joy )
 Upeksha(equanimity).
 The paths to achieving these virtues within
Buddhism require humans to divorce
themselves from the human emotion of
desire to put an end to suffering.

21. • does not have a specific founder and its
not clear when this tradition began.
• main teachings - emphasize on the
interconnectedness of all things
• goal is to live one’s life correctly so that
one can go to afterlife without
repeating life’s lessons in a
reincarnated form.
• quest of one’s life is to attain ultimate
self-knowledge and to strive for
ultimate self-improvement.This is
known as Karma.
• Hence, the good life in this tradition
encompasses continually doing good
actions.

23. WESTERN
• Individualistic ie. the
individual is the main
focus
• competition and
achievement are valued.
• value autonomy and
personal freedom.
• Many stories also involve
seeking personal gain
rather than the gain of
the community.
EASTERN
• collectivistic ie. the group
is valued above the
individual
• cooperation is valued.
• sharing and duty towards
the group is highly
prized.
• Emphasis is also given
on “going with the flow”
and avoiding conflict

24. WESTERN
• oriented to the
future,
emphasis on
future oriented
thinking
EASTERN
• greater focus
on and respect
for the past,
recognising
wisdom of their
elders etc

25. WESTERN
• In most westem
cultures priority
• is given to right to life,
liberty and the pursuit
of
happiness.percievting
the path to achieve
goasl as linear
EASTERN
• The eastemers have a
more circular thinking
style , and the goal is
to achieve balance by
mainiating masculinity
and feminity ,the
active and passive
phase of life

26. WESTERN
• focus more on
the individual
goal
• focus more on
hope
EASTERN
• focus more on
group or
community
goals.
• focus more on
compassion
and harmony