Ego, Egoism and the Impact of Religion on Ethical Experience: What a Paradoxical Consequence of Buddhist Culture Tells Us About Moral Psychology

Authors

Jay L. Garfield, Smith CollegeFollow
Shaun Nichols, University of Arizona
Arun K. Rai, Central University of Tibetan Studies
Nina Strohminger, Yale University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2015

Publication Title

The Journal of Ethics

Abstract

We discuss the structure of Buddhist theory, showing that it is a kind of moral phenomenology directed to the elimination of egoism through the elimination of a sense of self. We then ask whether being raised in a Buddhist culture in which the values of selflessness and the sense of non-self are so deeply embedded transforms one’s sense of who one is, one’s ethical attitudes and one’s attitude towards death, and in particular whether those transformations are consistent with the predictions that Buddhist texts themselves make. We discover that the effects are often significant, but not always expected.

Keywords

Cognitive science of religion, Cross-cultural psychology, Death anxiety, Personal identity, Self, Tibetan Buddhism

Volume

19

Issue

3-4

First Page

293

Last Page

304

DOI

doi.org/10.1007/s1089

ISSN

1382-4554

Comments

Archived as published.

Recommended Citation

Garfield, Jay L.; Nichols, Shaun; Rai, Arun K.; and Strohminger, Nina, "Ego, Egoism and the Impact of Religion on Ethical Experience: What a Paradoxical Consequence of Buddhist Culture Tells Us About Moral Psychology" (2015). Philosophy: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/phi_facpubs/7