East-West Studies on the Problem of the Self : Papers Presented at the Conference on Comparative Philosophy and Culture Held at the College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, April 22–24, 1965

The general characteristics of the decades after the last World War, so far as the human situation goes, include two phenomena: these decades are marked by man's dissatisfaction with himself, his confession of ignorance of himself, his anxiety about his future, and also his earnest search for the ground of his being, which can give him a feeling of security with reference to his life here and hereafter; they are also marked by man's pride about his achievements in science and tech­ nology, a hope of a better life on earth, and a faith in himself as capable of engineering the individual and society for realizing peace, harmony, and happiness for all men. The contemporary thinking man is conscious of the predicament these two kinds of characteristics have created for him, admits failures, hopes for improvements, and works for them. In carrying out this work, he has to and wants to know what human life is, what the meaning and purpose of life are, and why his struggles and achievements have not succeeded in giving every man a reasonable amount of comfort and happiness. He has come to realize also that the accumulation of material comforts does not necessarily lead to happi­ ness, although happiness for man - except for the monk, fakir, or sannyiisin - is not possible without material comforts. Here we have the problem. Front Matter....Pages I-XVI Towards a More Comprehensive Concept of the Person....Pages 1-12 Love, Self, and Contemporary Culture....Pages 13-33 The Problem of Immortality....Pages 34-43 Free Will, the Creativity of God, and Order....Pages 44-60 Other Persons, Other Things....Pages 61-70 The Concept of Rational Animal....Pages 71-86 The Self in Mu’tazilah Thought....Pages 87-107 Unity: Appearance and Reality....Pages 108-120 Variants in the Concepts of the Self in the Islamic Tradition....Pages 121-132 Is There a Soul or no Soul? The Buddha Refused to Answer. Why?....Pages 133-141 Śankara’s Interpretation of the Self and its Influence on Later Indian Thought....Pages 142-155 Person and Moral Life....Pages 156-162 The Self as Discovery and Creation in Western and Indian Philosophy....Pages 163-176 The Bhagavad Gītā and the Book of Job on the Problem of the Self....Pages 177-192 Pre-Existence....Pages 193-207 Approaches to the I-Consciousness: Its Depths, Normal and Abnormal....Pages 208-225 Concern for the Person....Pages 226-234