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Human Identity:
Buddhist and Psychoanalytic PerspectivesJohn M. Koller
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Click images to enlarge.John M. Koller is Professor of Asian and Comparative Philosophy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research areas include Buddhism and Psychoanalysis, Philosophy of Religion, Mind and Self-identity, and Cognition and the Self. A frequently invited lecturer at universities throughout the world, Professor Koller is the author of more than fifty journal articles and chapters in edited books as well as five books. Books currently in print include: Asian Philosophies (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Fourth Edition, 2002); The Indian Way (New York: Macmillan & Co., 1982); and A Source Book in Asian Philosophy (New York: Macmillan & Co., 1991).
Recent articles and book chapters include: 1) “Syadavada as the Epistemological Key to the Jain Metaphysics of the Middle Way.” Philosophy East and West, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 400-407 (July, 2000); 2) “Avyakataand Vibhajya in Early Buddhism and Jainism,” in Papers on Early Buddhism and Jainism, Lund University press, Lund, Sweden, 2002 [In Press]; 3) “Jaina Ecological Perspectives,” in Chapple & Tucker, Eds. Jainism and Ecology, Harvard University Press, 2002 [In Press]; and 4) “Buddhist and Psychoanalytic Insights into the Self and Self-awareness” in F. Hoffman and G. Mishra, Eds., Essays in Indian Philosophy in Honor of Ramakrishna Puligandala. University of Madras Press, 2002 [In Press].
-- Abstract --
“The unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates. Central to the excitement that we all feel when we engage in the philosophical examination of life is our recognition that philosophy begins with and culminates in our quest to understand ourselves. Our fundamental question is, “Who am I?” To help us answer this question, I suggest we should examine the insights of Zen and psychoanalysis, two kinds of practice in finding and recovering our authentic self.
Widely separated by time and culture, Zen and psychoanalysis are frequently thought to be opposed to each other in fundamental ways. For example, it is widely held that one of the main aims of psychoanalysis is to help the person develop a strong sense of self that will provide stability and continuity through the vicissitudes of life. On the other hand, it is often said that Zen aims at helping the individual to come to see that there is no self. In examining both Zen and psychoanalytic understandings of what the self is and the relation between self and other, I attempt to show that there is no deep opposition, but differences that are interesting and useful in helping us answer our question, “Who am I.”
Website constructed and maintained by Douglas Shrader / Department Chair Philosc@Oneonta.edu December 14, 2001
