Eastern Philosophy
Eastern Philosophy is a diverse body of approaches to life and philosophizing, particularly centered on understanding the process of the Universe and the endless "becoming". In Western culture, the term Eastern Philosophy refers very broadly to the various philosophies of "the East," namely Asia, including China, India, Japan. Eastern thought developed independently of Western and Islamic thought, but has greatly influenced both in Modern times. Eastern Philosophy does not have the rigid academic traditions found in Western thinking.
Philosophical and Religious Traditions
The following is an overview of the major Eastern philosophic traditions. Each tradition has a separate article with more detail on sects, schools, etc. (c.f.)
Hinduism
Hinduism (San?tana Dharma, roughly Perennial Faith) is generally considered to be the oldest major world Religion still practised today and first among Dharma faiths. Hinduism is characterized by a diverse array of belief systems, practices and scriptures. It has its origin in ancient Vedic culture at least as far back as 2000 BC. It is the third largest Religion with most of them living in the Indian Subcontinent.
Hinduism rests on the spiritual bedrock of the Vedas, hence Veda Dharma, and their mystic issue, the Upanishads, as well as the teachings of many great Hindu gurus through the ages. Many streams of thought flow from the six Vedic/Hindu schools, Bhakti sects and Tantra Agamic schools into the one ocean of Hinduism, the first of the Dharma Religions.
What can be said to be common to all Hindus is belief in Dharma, Reincarnation, Karma, and Moksha (liberation) of every soul through a variety of moral, action-based, and meditative Yogas. Still more fundamental principles include Ahimsa (non-violence), the primacy of the Guru, the Divine Word of Aum and the power of mantras, love of Truth in many manifestations as gods and goddessess, and an understanding that the essential spark of the Divine (Atman/Brahman) is in every human and living being, thus allowing for many spiritual paths leading to the One Unitary Truth.
Hindu Philosophy -- Vedic Civilization -- Vedanta -- Bhakti -- Hindu Deities
Confucianism
Confucianism developed around the teachings of Confucius and is based on a set of Chinese classic texts. It was the mainstream ideology in China and the sinized world since the Han Dynasty and may still be a major founder element in Far-East culture. It could be understood as a social Ethic and Humanism focusing on human beings and our relationships. Confucianism emphasizes formal rituals in every aspect of life, from quasi-religious ceremonies to strict politeness and deference to one's elders, specifically to one's parents and to the state in the form of the Emperor.
Taoism
Taoism is the traditional foil of Confucianism. Taoism's central books are the Tao Te Ching, traditionally attributed to Lao Zi (Lao Tse) and the Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tse). The core concepts of Taoism are traced far in Chinese History, incorporating elements of Mysticism dating back to prehistoric times, linked also with the Book of Changes (I Ching), a divinatory set of 64 geometrical figures describing states and evolutions of the world. Taoism emphasizes Nature, individual freedom, refusal of social bounds, and was a doctrine professed by those who "retreated in mountains". At the end of their lives --or during the night, Confucian officers often behaved as Taoists, writing poetry or trying to "reach immortality". Yet Taoism is also a government doctrine where the ruler's might is ruling through "non-action" (Wuwei).
Legalism
Legalism advocated a strict interpretation of the Law in every respect. Morality was not important; adherence to the letter of the Law was paramount. Officials who exceeded expectations were as liable for punishment as were those who underperformed their duties, since both were not adhering exactly to their duties. Legalism was the principal philosophic basis of the Qin Dynasty in China. Confucian scholars were persecuted under Legalist rule.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a system of beliefs based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, a Lumbini (in modern day Nepal) Prince and philosopher, later known simply as the Buddha - one who is Awake, derived from the Sanskrit 'bud', 'to awaken'. Buddhism is a non-theistic Religion, one whose tenets are not especially concerned with the existence or nonexistence of a God or Gods. The Buddha himself expressly disavowed any special divine status or inspiration, and said that anyone, anywhere could achieve all the insight he found. The question of God is largely irrelevant in Buddhism, though some sects (notably Tibetan Buddhism) do venerate a number of Gods drawn in from local indigenous belief systems.
The Buddhist Soteriology is summed up in the Four Noble Truths:
1. Dukkha: All worldly life is unsatisfactory, disjointed, containing suffering.
2. Samudaya: There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (tanha) rooted in ignorance.
3. Nirodha: There is an end of suffering, which is Nirvana.
4. Marga: There is a path that leads out of suffering, known as the Noble Eightfold Path.
However, Buddhist Philosophy as such has its foundations more in the doctrines of Anatta, which specifies that all is without substantial metaphysical being, Pratitya-Samutpada, which delineates the Buddhist concept of Causality, and Buddhist phenomenological analysis of Dharmas, or phenomenological constituents.
Most Buddhist sects believe in Karma, a cause-and-effect relationship between all that has been done and all that will be done. Events that occur are held to be the direct result of previous events. One effect of Karma is rebirth. At death, the Karma from a given life determines the nature of the next life's existence. The ultimate goal of a Buddhist practitioner is to eliminate Karma (both good and bad), end the cycle of rebirth and suffering, and attain Nirvana, translated as nothingness or blissful oblivion and characterized as the state of being one with the entire Universe.
Zen Buddhism
Zen is a fusion of Mahayana Buddhism with Taoist principles. Bodhidharma was a semilegendary Indian Monk who traveled to China in the 5th century. There, at the Shaolin Temple, he began the Ch'an School of Buddhism, known in Japan and in the West as Zen Buddhism. Zen Philosophy places emphasis on existing in the moment, right now. Zen teaches that the entire Universe is one's mind, and if one cannot realize enlightenment in one's own mind now, one cannot ever achieve Enlightenment.
Zen practitioners engage in Zazen (just sitting) meditation. Several schools of Zen have developed various other techniques for provoking Satori, or Enlightenment, ranging from whacking acolytes with a stick to shock them into the present moment to Koans, Zen riddles designed to force the student to abandon futile attempts to understand the nature of the universe through Logic. Entheogens are also used in some Zen sects, especially in the West.
Maoism
Maoism is a Communist Philosophy based on the teachings of 20th century Communist Party of China revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. It is based partially on earlier theories by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, but rejects the urban Proletariat and Leninism, the emphasis on heavy industrialization, in favor of a Revolution supported by the Peasantry, and a decentralized agrarian economy based on many collectively worked farms.
Many people believe that though the implementation of Maoism in Mainland China led to the victory of Communist Revolution, it also contributed to the widespread famine, with millions of people starving to death. Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping reinterpreted Maoism to allow for the introduction of Market Economics, which eventually enabled the country to recover. As a philosophy, Deng's chief contribution was to reject the supremacy of theory in interpreting Marxism and to argue for a policy of seeking truth from facts. Despite this, Maoism has remained a popular ideology for various Communist revolutionary groups around the world, notably the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Sendero Luminoso in Peru, and an ongoing (as of early 2005) Maoist insurrection in Nepal.
Shinto
Shinto is the indigenous Religion of Japan, a sophisticated form of Animism that holds that spirits called Kami inhabit all things. Worship is at public shrines, or in small shrines constructed in one's home.
Differences from Eastern And Western Philosophy
Arguments against the "Eastern Philosophy" Designation
Some have argued that the distinction between Eastern and Western philosophies is arbitrary and purely geographic, that this artificial distinction does not take into account the tremendous amount of interaction between Eastern and Western thought, and that the distinction is more misleading than enlightening. Furthermore, it has been argued that the term "Eastern Philosophy" implies similarities between philosophical schools which may not exist and obscures the differences between Eastern philosophies.
One such argument is historical. Our first "historical glimpse" of Western Philosophy actually takes us to Asia Minor. Whether its roots lie in India (or the roots of Indian Philosophy stem from an Indo-Aryan invasion) we may never know. But it is surely plausible that the Middle East was a crossroads of ancient religious philosophical systems. A related argument is linguistic, based on the classification of Sanskrit as one of the earliest Indo-European languages. (Nietzsche famously argued that Christianity and Buddhism were "kindred" Religions.)
The central conceptual structure shared with Classical Western Philosophy (and lacking in East Asian thought prior to the Buddhist "invasion") includes counterparts of the dichotomies between reason v emotion, appearance v reality, one v many, and permanence v change. Indian and Western thought, with their robust mind-body conceptual Dualism, share consequent tendencies to subjective Idealism or Dualism. Formally, they share the rudiments of Western "Folk Psychology" --a sentential Psychology and Semantics e.g. belief and (propositional) knowledge, subject-predicate grammar (and subject-object metaphysics) truth and falsity, and inference. These concepts underwrote the emergence (or perhaps spread) of Logic in Greece and India (In contrast to pre-Buddhist China). Other noticeable similarities include structural features of related concepts of Time, Space, Objecthood and Causation -- all concepts hard to isolate within ancient Chinese concepts. One fundamental reason for the separation is that both traditions of Eastern Philosophy tend to be marginalized or ignored in Western studies of the "History of Philosophy." So both tend to be relegated to the World Religions departments of Western universities, or to New Age nonacademic works, though there are several notable exceptions.
The Perception of God, and Gods
Because of the influence of monotheism and especially the Abrahamic Religions, Western philosophies have been faced with the question of the nature of God and God's supposed relationship to the Universe. This has created a dichotomy among Western philosophies between secular philosophies and religious philosophies which develop within the context of a particular monotheistic religion's Dogma regarding the nature of God and the Universe.
Eastern philosophies have not been as concerned by questions relating to the nature of a single God as the Universe's sole creator and ruler. The distinction between the religious and the secular tends to be much less sharp in Eastern Philosophy, and the same philosophical school often contains both religious and philosophical elements. Thus, some people accept the metaphysical tenets of Buddhism without going to a temple and worshipping. Some have worshipped the Taoist deities religiously without bothering to delve into the philosophic underpinnings, while others embrace Taoist Philosophy while ignoring the religious aspects.
This arrangement stands in marked contrast to most Philosophy of the West, which has traditionally enforced either a completely unified philosophic/religious belief system (e.g. the various sects and associated philosophies of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), or a sharp and total repudiation of Religion by Philosophy (e.g. Nietzsche, Marx, Voltaire, etc.) The distinction between Religion and Philosophy is not so important in the East.
Gods' Relationship to the Universe
Another common thread that often differentiates Eastern Philosophy from Western is the belief regarding the relationship between God or the Gods and the Universe. Western philosophies typically either disavow the existence of God, or else hold that God or the Gods are something separate and distinct from the Universe (thus creating a problem with Infinite Regress). This comes from the influence of the Abrahamic Religion, which teach that this Universe was created by a single all-powerful God who existed before and separately from this Universe. The true nature of this God is incomprehensible to us, his creations.
Eastern philosophic traditions generally tend to be less concerned with the existence or non-existence of Gods. Although some Eastern traditions have supernatural spiritual Beings and even powerful Gods, these are generally not seen as separate from the Universe, but rather as a part of the Universe. Conversely, most Eastern Religions teach that ordinary actions can affect the supernatural realm.
The role and Nature of the Individual
It has been argued that in most Western philosophies, the same can be said of the individual: Western philosophies generally assume as a given that the individual is something different from the Universe, and Western philosophies attempt to describe and categorize the Universe from a detached, objective viewpoint. Eastern philosophies, on the other hand, typically hold that we are an intrinsic and inseparable part of the Universe, and that attempts to discuss the Universe from an "objective" viewpoint as though the individual speaking was something separate and detached from the whole are inherently absurd.
Syntheses of Eastern and Western Philosophy
At least since Kant in the 18th Century, who was influenced by many diverse sources of Philosophy, Science and the Arts, there have been many modern attempts to integrate Western and Eastern philosophical traditions. German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was very interested in Taoism. His system of dialectics is sometimes interpreted as a formalization of Taoist principles. Hegel's arch-enemy, Arthur Schopenhauer, developed a Philosophy that was essentially a synthesis of Hinduism and Buddhism with Western thought. He anticipated that the Upanishads (primary Hindu scriptures) would have a much greater influence in the West than they have had. However, Schopenhauer was working with heavily flawed early translations (and sometimes second-degree translations), and many feel that he may not necessarily have accurately grasped the Eastern philosophies which interested him.
Recent attempts to incorporate Western Philosophy into Eastern thought include the Kyoto School of philosophers, who combined the Phenomenology of Edmund Husserl with the insights of Zen Buddhism. Much of the work of Ken Wilber also focuses on bringing together Eastern and Western philosophies into a coherent and integrated framework or Integral Theory.
Western Philosophy
Western Philosophy is a line of related philosophical thinking, beginning in Ancient Greece, and including the predominant philosophical thinking of Europe and its former colonies up to the present day. The concept of philosophy itself originated in the West, derived from the ancient Greek word philosophia; literally, "the love of wisdom" (philein = "to love" + sophia = wisdom, in the sense of theoretical or cosmic insight). However, many non-Western Religions have adopted the term philosophy in reference to cosmic intellectual discourse analogous to Western Philosophy. See Eastern Philosophy.
Western Philosophy has had a tremendous influence on, and has been greatly influenced by, Western Religion, Science, and Politics. Indeed, the central concepts of these fields can be thought of as elements or branches of Western Philosophy. To the Ancient Greeks, these fields were often one and the same. Thus, in the West, Philosophy is an expansive and ambiguous concept. Today, however, what generally distinguishes Philosophy from other Western disciplines is the notion that Philosophy is a "deeper" and more rational, fundamental, and universal form of thought than other disciplines.
Origins
The introduction of the terms "philosopher" and "philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras (see Diogenes Laertius: "De vita et moribus philosophorum", I, 12; Cicero: "Tusculanae Disputationes", V, 8-9). The ascription is based on a passage in a lost work of Herakleides Pontikos, a disciple of Aristotle. It is considered to be part of the widespread legends of Pythagoras of this time.
"Philosopher" replaced the word "Sophist" (from sophoi), which was used to describe "wise men," teachers of Rhetoric, who were important in Athens' Democracy. Some of the most famous Sophists were what we would now call philosophers, but Plato's Dialogues often used the two terms to contrast those who are devoted to wisdom (philosophers) from those who arrogantly claim to have it (Sophists). Socrates (at least, as portrayed by Plato) frequently characterized the Sophists as incompetents or charlatans, who hid their ignorance behind word play and flattery, and so convinced others of what was baseless or untrue. Moreover, the Sophists were paid for their explorations. To this day, "sophist" is often used as a derogatory term for one who merely persuades rather than reasons.
The scope of Philosophy in the ancient understanding, and the writings of (at least some of) the ancient philosophers, was all intellectual endeavors. This included the problems of Philosophy as they are understood today; but it also included many other disciplines, such as Mathematics and Natural Sciences such as Physics, Astronomy, and Biology. (Aristotle, for example, wrote on all of these topics; and as late as the 17th century, these fields were still referred to as branches of "Natural Philosophy"). Over time, academic specialization and the rapid technical advance of the special Sciences led to the development of distinct disciplines for these Sciences, and their separation from Philosophy: Mathematics became specialized even in the ancient world, and "Natural Philosophy" developed into the disciplines of the Natural Sciences over the course of the Scientific Revolution. Today, philosophical questions are usually explicitly distinguished from the questions of the special Sciences, and characterized by the fact that (unlike those of Science) they are the sort of questions which are foundational and abstract in nature, and which are not amenable to being answered by experimental means alone.
Western Philosophy's Branches
As with any field of academic study, Philosophy has many subdisciplines, but few fields are as vast as Philosophy. Generally, the subdisciplines can be organized under the major branches below, much as Aristotle divided Philosophy originally. There is now a philosphical subdiscipline for nearly all other major fields of study, and most are concerned with the interpretations of those fields.
Aesthetics
The axiological study of basic philosophical questions about Art and Beauty, as well as Art History, sometimes called the Philosophy of Art, and closely associated with Value Theory; bridging with Epistemology are questions in the Philosophy of Perception and Philosophy of Language.
Epistemology
The theory and study of Knowledge, Consciousness, and Intelligence, including the Mind-Body Problem in the Philosophy of Mind, including the Philosophy of Perception and Philosophy of Language; bridging with Logic and Metaphysics is the Philosophy of Science, with questions about the Philosophy of Psychology and other Social Sciences, and Artificial Intelligence.
Ethics
The axiological study of moral problems, including right action, Metaethics, Value Theory, Theory of Conduct, Bioethics, Applied Ethics; Political Philosophy, which is concerned with Justice and Punishment, Human Rights, and the role of the State or Government; bridging with Metaphysics is the Philosophy of Religion, studying the rationality of Faith.
Logic
The study of Meaning and Truth through Argumentation (or Argument), Deduction, Induction and Reasoning, including Propositional Logic and Computation; the Philosophy of Language and the Philosophy of Mathematics; bridging with Epistemology and Metaphysics is the Philosophy of Science, concerned with problems of Induction, Scientific Method and progress.
Metaphysics
The study of the most basic categories of things in Ontology and Teleology, such as Existence, objects, properties and Causality, including Free Will and Determinism; bridging with Logic and Epistemology is the Philosophy of Science, including the Philosophy of Physics, concerned with Physical Laws, Space, Time, and Force, the Philosophy of Biology and other Sciences like Analytical Chemistry and Cosmology; the Philosophy of Religion, which studies the meaning of the concept of God and of the rationality of Faith.
The History of Philosophy
The study of what philosophers have written, their interpretations and influences; Meta-Philosophy: the study of Philosophical Method and the goals of Philosophy; Philosophy of History; Philosophy of Education, and other issues linking with History and Value.
Philosophy and Related Disciplines
Science: Many of the natural Sciences historically developed as branches of Philosophy, reflecting ancient attitudes that Philosophy covered the whole of intellectual endeavours. Aristotle practiced what would now be called Biology, Meterology, Physics, and Cosmology, alongside his Metaphysics and Ethics. As recent as the 18th century, Physics and Chemistry were still classified as Natural Philosophy, the philosophical study of Nature. Psychology, Economics, Sociology, and Linguistics all owe their very existence to Philosophy, and more recently, Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence have been forged out of the Philosophy of Mind.
Philosophy is done a priori, and in prose form does not rely on experiments. Philosophy supports the methods of Science without depending on them, and also depends upon non-scientific methods, such as Interpretation. Analytic Philosophy adherents often urged philosophers to emulate the methods of Natural Science, and W. V. Quine claimed Philosophy was a branch of Natural Science, the most abstract branch, and aproach now called "Philosophical Naturalism". Philosophers have always devoted study to the sciences and logic. Philosophy is concerned with explaining the foundations and character knowledge in general, in science or history, thus Philosophy of Science was branched as an active discipline from Logic and Metaphysics, pursued by trained philosophers and scientists. Some areas of the Philosophy of Science aim to fully understand experimental work in terms of the larger metaphysical questions, rather than show scientists how to conduct those experiments.
Mathematics:
Mathematics uses a very specific set of rigorous methods of proof based on the rules of Logic. Most Philosophy is written in ordinary, if sometimes obtuse, prose, and while it strives to be precise, it does not usually attain anything like logical or mathematical clarity. As a result, mathematicians rarely disagree about their results, while philosophers do indeed disagree about theirs, as well as the methods used to attain those results.
The Philosophy of Mathematics" is another branch of the Philosophy of Science, but in many ways, Mathematics has a special relationship with Philosophy. This is directly due to the position of Logic, of Reasoning, which has traditionally been considered a major branch of Philosophy. Mathematics is a most rigorous, rule-governed type of Logic, and has always been cited as the paradigmatic example of what Logic can do. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, Logic made great advances, and Mathematics was proven to be reducible to Logic, in terms of First-Order Predicate Calculus and Set Theory. The use of formal, Mathematical Logic in Philosophy now closely resembles the use of Math in Science, and attracts a very different philosopher than those in Ethics or Aesthetics.
Theology and Religious Studies: Like much of Philosophy, religious reasoning is not experimental. Parts of Theology, including questions about the existence and nature of God or Gods, clearly overlap with Philosophy of Religion. In fact, Aristotle considered Theology a branch of Metaphysics, the central field of Philosophy, and most philosophers prior to the twentieth century have devoted significant effort to theological questions. Yet, other part of Religious Studies, such as the comparison of different World Religions, can be easily distinguished from Philosophy in just the way that the Social Sciences can be distinguished from Philosophy. These are closer to History and Sociology, and involve specific observations of particular phenomena. In Theology, particular religious practices are the focus.
Religion now plays a more marginal role in Philosophy, and both Empiricists and Rationalists (in Modern Philosophy) often held that religious questions were beyond the scope of human Knowledge. Many have claimed religious language is itself literally meaningless, questions which cannot be answered. Some philosophers have argued these difficulties are evidence that religious beliefs are are closely related to moral and ethical questions, while others have argued the two were very separate.
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