If I could have dinner with any philosopher, I would choose Siddhartha Gautama. He was an ancient spiritual teacher in the global east. He was a philosopher whose insights into suffering, the temporal nature of all, and the nature of the self gave rise to Buddhism.
Gautama theorized human nature as being defined by a constant cycle of change. To Gautama, human nature is also the experience of suffering. All suffering, Gautama proposes, is rooted in craving, ignorance, and/or illusion. I find globally eastern philosophy especially intriguing because it emphasizes the good of the group over the good of the individual.
Personally, I have always prioritized the good of others, and I guess this would mean I prioritize collective good over the good of the individual. The global east has many values I agree with. For example, did you know that in Mandarin, which is the language widely spoken in China, the word for “he” and the word for “she” sounds exactly the same. To me, this indicates a society less focused on gender than Western culture.
To me, this indicates more equality between men and women than is prevalent in Western culture. Equality between the mental capacity of the sexes is not a value in America. In America, individual women are often perceived as less smart, less strong, and less capable than men. In Mandarin, the same sound for he and she indicates a greater equality between the sexes.
Things We Forget 
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