Pradeep Chakkarath

At least since the European Enlightenment, Western sociological and psychological theories of development have been shaped by the view that the social transformation of ancient and other traditional societies is closely related to the increased importance given to the concept of the individual and individuality. This process of individualization is frequently described as a concomitant of the “disenchantment” of the world, often referred to as secularization. Consequently, most of these theories of the changing self have in common that they place the modern, i.e., secularized and individualized human being in the West and in sharp contrast not only to that of our ancestors but also to our contemporaries in non-Western societies. Given the discursive power of these perspectives, it is still surprising how seldom one finds explorations of the extent to which supposedly “new” and modern psychological phenomena are really new, or the extent to which modern subjects, with their desires, aspirations, weaknesses, insecurities, stresses, and coping strategies, are actually similar to their ancestors. While it is certainly important to call attention to change, it is also important to reflect on the extent to which dominant scientific discourses and perspectives blind us to enduring aspects of the human condition.

An almost mythological narrative of the Occident states that with the European Enlightenment, humans began to no longer leave their fate to higher authorities, but to take it into their own hands with courageous confidence in their own powers. Apart from the fact that this topos of the self-determined human being characterizes the mythologies and heroic epics of numerous cultures, including non-European ones, the modern European narrative at least seems to tie its ideal of self-development as well as social and individual perfection to the idea of constant progress. Using the example of some central Hindu ideas, I will attempt to outline from a cultural-psychological perspective that individual perfection can also be conceived as possible in cosmological ideas that emphasize constant dissolution and destruction as the principle of all being. I will conclude with some brief reflections on how such ideas can contribute to a more comprehensive analysis of certain aspects of contemporary society and politics.

Taking psychology and its attempt to deal scientifically with the meaning of culture as an example, this article outlines the meaning of various historiographic narratives of disciplinary self-perception with regard to tensions between the natural and cultural sciences. The thesis postulates that these self-images are of psychological, especially cultural-psychological, importance. Only a psychology that includes aspects of the cultural sciences is able to deal with this vital aspect of the broader field.