The Story of Two Philosophers

The world is divided into two camps, the followers of Confucius and the followers of Socrates.

My initial training upon my arrival in Nagoya was not limited to this contention, but I would say that it was the primary lesson I took away from it. My fellow trainees, including a few other Americans of various national locations, a few citizens of the UK, two from Jamaica, one from Australia and one from Ireland, we were all reduced to being members of one school of thought. And it was the wrong one for our location.

Some of you may have noted the sweeping generalization accompanied by reducing the world to two camps. I noted it myself when I first heard it during training. Having said that, the point of the argument is not to say there are only two main civilizations. No, what is infinitely more important here are the implications of creating societies that, as a result of two very different thinkers, formulate thoughts in very different ways.

America (and in some respects the West) is defined by individualism. We are encouraged from childhood to find what is special about ourselves and cultivate it. As a result, we process our thoughts via compartmentalization. We divide everything into categories, break objects down into small parts and attempt to see the 'tree for the forest'. It is even evident in children's literature, for example "See Dick Run, See Dick Play, See Dick Run and Play" places emphasis on breaking down the actions of Dick into smaller parts.

Needless to say, Japan (and in some respects the East) is defined by a different set of parameters. It regards the community as paramount and establishes the individual's importance only within the terms of the importance of the community. The emphasis of Japanese education is, therefore, not compartmentalization, but harmonious relationships.

This was the subject of my very first day of training and more than a few hours were spent on it. Of course, only so much can be done in three days of training, but I would say this was my most important lesson. I do identify as a pure product of American culture and value my individuality. As such, absorbing into a community may be one of my chief challenges.