Books and
Cooks West
August 2003
The Geography of Thought by Richard Nisbett
The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why
by Richard Nisbett
Michele's place
August 2 at 5:30 PM
Chickpea stew, bran bread, salad, wine, apple pie, ice cream
Our rating: 3.7 cups of tea!
From
Scientific American
Nisbett, a psychologist and Distinguished University Professor at the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, used to believe that "all human
groups perceive and reason in the same way." A series of events and
studies led him gradually to quite another view, that Asians and
Westerners "have maintained very different systems of thought for
thousands of years." Different how? "The collective or interdependent
nature of Asian society is consistent with Asians' broad, contextual
view of the world and their belief that events are highly complex and
determined by many factors. The individualistic or independent nature
of Western society seems consistent with the Western focus on
particular objects in isolation from their context and with Westerners'
belief that they can know the rules governing objects and therefore can
control the objects' behavior." Nisbett explores areas that manifest
these different approaches--among them medicine, law, science, human
rights and international relations. Are the societal differences so
great that they will lead to conflict? Nisbett thinks not. "I believe
the twain shall meet by virtue of each moving in the direction of the
other."
