Self And Identity In Modern Psychology And Indian Thought (path In Psychology)

SELF AND IDENTITY IN MODERN PSYCHOLOGY AND INDIAN THOUGHT PATH IN PSYCHOLOGY Published in Cooperation with Publications for the Advancement of Theory and History in Psychology (PATH) Series Editors: David Bakan, York University John Broughton, Teachers College, Columbia University Robert W. Rieber, John Jay College, CUNY, and Columbia University Howard Gruber, University of Geneva COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND GENETIC EPISTEMOLOGY A Case Study of Understanding David Leiser and Christiane Gillièron A CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGY: Interpretation of the Personal World Edmund V. Sullivan CRITICAL THEORIES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT Edited by John M. Broughton CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY AND QUALITATIVE Theoretical and Empirical Considerations Carl Ratner METHODOLOGY: DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACHES TO THE SELF Edited by Benjamin Lee and Gil G. Noam FRANTZ FANON AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OPPRESSION Hussein Abdilahi Bulhan HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY: Concepts and Criticisms Edited by Joseph R. Royce and Leendert P. Mos MANUFACTURING SOCIAL DISTRESS: Psychopathy in Everyday Life Robert W. Rieber THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF ETHNONATIONALlSM Dusan Kecmanovic PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORIES OF THE SELF Edited by Benjamin Lee SELF AND IDENTITY IN MODERN PSYCHOLOGY AND INDIAN THOUGHT Anand C. Paranjpe THEORETICAL PSYCHOLOGY: The Meeting of East and West Anand C. Paranjpe WILHELM WUNDT AND THE MAKING OF A SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY Edited by R. W. Rieher SELF AND IDENTITY IN MODERN PSYCHOLOGY AND INDIAN THOUGHT ANAND C. PARANJPE Simon Fraser University Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS New York / Boston / Dordrecht / London / Moscow eBook ISBN: Print ISBN: 0-306-47151-5 0-306-45844-6 ©2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow Print ©2000 Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers New York All rights reserved No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written consent from the Publisher Created in the United States of America Visit Kluwer Online at: and Kluwer's eBookstore at: http://kluweronline.com http://ebooks.kluweronline.com To the memory of my revered guru, the late Shri B. R. Ambekar; and to my most respected teacher, the late Professor Erik H. Erikson; great healers who stimulated my thinking about self and identity in their own different ways. This page left intentionally blank. PREFACE Some of the common questions that confront all of us are: What does it mean to be a human being? What makes us good and happy persons? And how can we attain happiness, or the highest possible good in life? These are common and yet profound questions that have been answered differently in different societies at different times. In the process of growing up within a specific cultural milieu, we tend to seek answers to deeply personal questions such as “Who am I?” or “What is the best that can happen to me?” in the light of accumulated wisdom of our forebears. As the 20th century draws to a close, the world is rapidly getting smaller, and many of us get exposed to the legacies of several cultures from around the world. The increasing exposure to varied cultures is