 Trying to understand something in terms of its relationships to a larger whole has been said to be a characteristic of Chinese (and more generally East Asian) thought (Nisbett, 2004) and this more holistic approach may be contrasted with an analytic approach that begins with the parts and tries to understand the whole in terms of their relationships. These two approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and both approaches may be employed at different stages of inquiry or to different aspects of the subject matter. If there is a difference between the very broad and internally diverse traditions of East Asia and the West, it is one of the degree and frequency of dominance of one approach versus the other. 