Open AccessAn historical examination of the concept of jiga (ego) in Japanese psychology, particularly as employed in a dissertation by Yujiro Motora and in Ladd's psychological theory
Author(s) -
SUZUKI YUKO
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
japanese psychological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5884
pISSN - 0021-5368
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5884.2005.00279.x
Subject(s) - id, ego and super ego , psychology , perspective (graphical) , consciousness , meaning (existential) , ego psychology , psychoanalysis , self psychology , period (music) , self , psychoanalytic theory , social psychology , philosophy , psychotherapist , aesthetics , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , computer science
The translation of the terms “ego” as jiga , “self” as jiko , and “self‐consciousness” as jiko ‐ ishiki , has become standard in Japan. However, other Japanese words have been used for these terms in the past. For example, in the first English‐Japanese Dictionary of Philosophy, Tetsugaku jii , (Inoue, 1881), “ego” is translated as ga or jiko , and the term jiga does not occur in the dictionary, despite its use as early as the 16th century. The main aim of the present paper is to analyze the conceptual variations that have been attached to the Japanese term jiga . Under the influence of psychoanalytical ego psychology, and Erikson in particular, jiga now has the specific meaning of “ego” in Japan. This ignores the cross‐cultural perspective, for it is well‐accepted that the psychology of Westerners and of Japanese is very different, and this implies that the concept of ego should not be uncritically adopted from the West. Analyses of Yujiro Motora's English dissertation, “Exchange,” of the late 19th century (Motora, 1888), and of G.T. Ladd's original and translated work reveal what Japanese psychologists meant when using the terms ego, jiga , and jiko .