Amae i zapomniane aspekty pytania o wspólnotę
Amae i zapomniane aspekty pytania o wspólnotę
Amae i zapomniane aspekty pytania o wspólnotę
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„O koniku polnym i mrówkach”<br />
Maria Korusiewicz<br />
„Grasshopper and the Ants.”<br />
<strong>Amae</strong> and the Forgotten Aspects of the Question of Community<br />
197<br />
The essay presents the notion and phenomenon of amae; one of the keyterms<br />
of Japanese culture introduced to international language of humanities by<br />
Doi Takeo. <strong>Amae</strong> is usually defined as the basic need to be responded to, taken<br />
care of and cherished in the mutually interactive relation which includes seeking<br />
and receiving the indulgence of the other party. The ideal model of amae is to be<br />
found in the mother/child relation. The term has no equivalents in Indo-European<br />
languages, however, the amae-type relations with their multidimensional<br />
(positive and negative) influence on social life do exist in every society including<br />
the Western ones; they help to maintain an individual’s sense of belonging to<br />
a given community, create proper environment for practical application of such<br />
‘unpopular’ notions as responsibility, trust, loyalty and the feeling of safety.<br />
However, the positive implications of amae-like social relations still await reconsidering<br />
in the Western, deeply individualistic, world.
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