A Comparison between Eastern and Western Philosophy Essay

Have you public opinion ab erupt the call into questionIs the ground nigh us knowable? For about westerlyers, the issue is positive. But if you ask a Chinese the akin question, you would get the reply comparable I dont know. or Does it matter? The apprehension foundation it is the rest amid eastern and westbound ism. A variety of philosophical system schools around the world have pondered these kinds of philosophic problems for thousands years and about of them ar spiritedly representative ( akin Confucianism for east and Platonism for Hesperian). though they argon confronted with the same questions, the focal saddles argon usu all(prenominal)y contrastive from separately(prenominal) other, which is caused by the disparity of their opinions toward the vastness of philosophical problems. Hesperian philosophy fecal matter be divided into Ancient Hellenic philosophy, medieval philosophy, modern philosophy and modern philosophy, while easterly philosophy includes Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, Japanese philosophy and so on in that respect is no doubt that the similarities among them are obvious, yet the focus of eastern philosophy is in golf-club whereas westwards is in public.Because the understanding from a single side is al ways partial, the designing of this paper is to illustrate the major contrasts between the focus and methodological analysis of Eastern and occidental philosophy traditions and explain the possible causes behind it. When it comes to philosophy, Eastern philosophers bring forth an individual inward world as outset direct and stick the principles of companionable heart at the first place while occidentalers impart speculate on it from a oecumenic perspective and try to figure out the principles behind the world. As Fung (1984) states that from a philosophical perspective, the highest achievement a man could take a shit is to be a sage and the quotidian task of dealing with social per talk aboutional business in homophile relations is a part of the process of being a sage. However, for westward philosophers, they are inclined to put the origin of all things in the universe at first place, and then crumble how the world works. As Windelband (1956) illustrates, the invoice of western philosophy is an insight into the origin of European science in superior familiar, which shows the reason behind western sandwich philosophers preference.This difference too appears in Eastern and Hesperian philosophys attitudes toward politics. In the ancient period, two Eastern and Western philosophers played the bureau of policy maker. Dong Zhongshu, who is one of the most successful Confucian in political area inChinese history (as his theories had been taken as the general soma of the policy of running the country), put ship the Three cardinal guides (ruler guides subject, father guides son and husband guides wife) and Five constant virtues (benevolence righteous ness, propriety, experience and fidelity) to help emperor Wu to strengthen his supremacy (Queen, 1996). All of these principles are highly cogitate to social life since Dong believes the center field of philosophy is humanity and the society postulate to be ordered by adjust citizenrys social life. Similarly, Plato, who is a representative figure of ancient Greek philosophy, also offered his political opinions, which is highly link up to his system of forms. As for Plato, the mental synthesis of a state is similar to a human body. The workers represent the abdomen the warriors represent the dresser and the philosopher kings represent the head, which are corresponding to productive, defensive and governing respectively (Gaarder, 1996).It is noticeable to point out that while the Confucians political conceive is based on human constitution since they take individual citizen as the fundamental unit of society, Platonism tries to analyze the structure of a state from a general perspective, which is focus on a general perspective. The difference between the methodology of Eastern and Western philosophy is also a big concern. As Spirkin concluded that methodological analysis is a system of principles and general ways of organizing and structuring theoretical and practical activity, and also the theory of this system. Nonetheless, there is no concept like methodology that appears in most Eastern philosophy classics. There are celebrated Chinese philosophical classics like the analects of Confucius and Tao Te Ching, which are not monolithic masterpieces but express their ideas through a philosophers sayings and behaviors. Does that mean there is no methodology in Eastern philosophy? The fact is the methodology of Eastern and Western philosophy is passing different from each other and we weednot use the definition of Western philosophy to judge Eastern philosophy.As Easterners do not have a system of principles and methods to solve problems, they t ake the principles of social life as methodology, which can be summarized as doctrine of the mean. In contras, Western philosophy has a set of theories of cogitate (like syllogism and deductive reasoning), which can form peoples decisive mind habit. As Hamilton and Webster (2009) states in their book about husbandry difference Difference in start out can also be seen in negotiations.Westerners expect to focus on bellicose issues and try to achieve the most ripe outcomes for themselves. In contrast, the Japanese prefer to discuss areas of agreement, with the expectation that harmony impart range to the resolution of details. In other words, as a result of putting high value on social relationship, the methodology of Eastern philosophy comes from predecessors experiences and people inveterate take others vox populi into consideration, whereas Westerners usually take themselves as starting points, advocate independent and rational thoughts as well. For another instance, both Eas tern and Western world had experienced a visual sense of neatens, but the leader of the square away would take totally different approaches.During the period of cytosine days reform, which happened in mainland China in 1898, Kang YouWei, who is the leader of this reform, spread his ideas of reform by annotating Confucius classics (Karl and Zarrow, 2002). Likewise, there is also a famous reform that happened in France in 1800sthe Age of enlightenment. The leaders of this reform set up their own theories of society and pointed their arrows toward feudal class directly (Dora, 1979), which is extremely different from Kangs approach. One of the sterling(prenominal) reasons for the difference between Eastern and Western philosophy is geography. As Windelband (1956) notes, the history of the philosophy of the Greeks, like the history of their political development, requires a larger conception of its political relations would imply. This shows that geography plays a significantly con sequential role in the development of philosophy. chiefly speaking, the two main sources of Eastern philosophyChina and Indiaare agriculture countries. There are two expressions in the Chinese language which can both be translated as the world. One is all infra the sky and the other is all indoors the four seas. (Fung, 1948).As agriculture activities are regular and predicable, Easterners prefer to believe preceding(a) experience sooner than abstract principles. Thats why the sayings and behaviors of a sage can be the best philosophy lesson for Easternersbecause they are specific and comprehendible. And yet, Western countries are very close to ocean. As Windelband (1956) cites homer The subjective link of the three wide continents was this sea, with its islands and coasts tenanted by the most gifted of people, which from the earlier historical times had settled all its coasts. As a result, most Western countries are highly commercialized and industrialized. groundwork andbre akthrough are always greatly required, which means only the theories based on logic and reasoning can be valued. As Confucius once said, The wise egg on the good stay still. The wise are happy the good endure (Confucius and James, 2010). Though it is not his original meaning, this saying shows the difference between the personality of the ancient Chinese and Greeks from a geographical perspective.Lets move back to the question at the beginningIs the world around us knowable? The different answers toward it imply the solid reasons behind the differences between Eastern and Western philosophy and that is the ways they look the world. piece of music Easterners payment attention to the balance of the home(a) world, Westerners are trying to conquer the foreign world. This is why Westerners will say Yes to this question because they have achieved a lot of accomplishments in discovering the secrets of the world already. But for most Easterners they pay more attention to their daily l ife and relationships with others, which make them cannot respond to this question with a certain answer. Both the differences of emphasis and methodology can be explained from this perspective. To a great extent, geographical factors contributed enormously to this process and sometimes make the gap grow. Eastern and Western philosophy need to learn from each other, as it is the only way to take the advantages and disadvantages of themselves. We all have a notion that he different philosophy will melt with each other rather than against in the future.