today i went for a seminar (My first day and first module in uni! im officially a philo student! YAY!) and listened to some professor talk about common imagery and analogy in greek and chinese philosophythe question and answer part turned into a huge fight about whether western and eastern philo can ever be merged. in my head i was thinking "is it different? ive never grouped them that way, splitting the world into two halves.
perhaps i am ignorant and unexposed thus i do not see it … (yet).
there was the common ‘chinese philo is communual while western emphasizes the individual’. and i do recall something about indian philo being more ‘spiritual’ as opposed to that of the secular west.
but then again, those are generalities and western philo is far from secular anyway.
and the term ‘western’ philosophy is so broad anyway and is further broken up into, i dunno, say continental philosophy and what have you.
why does geography matter? yet then again its the environment that shapes ones thoughts does it?
what am i blabbering about?
as you can see, i need some kicking my thoughts straight now. lets do some comparison.
Reply to jedi_pocky
I started to compose an answer, but got all confused. I suppose western philosophy would include the Greeks, Science, and Judeo/Christian religions. I can’t lump these together in any meaningful way. Likewise, the Eastern philosophies would include Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Hinduism. These don’t lump well either, and I don’t know where Islam fits in. About the only thing I see in common is that they all purport to deal with the real world.
Most of Eastern philosophy is non-analytical and is not influenced by science. Even Western Continental philosophy is very much influenced by science in that it makes all kinds of attempts to distinguish itself from science. Eastern Philosophy does not care, since science is not an integral part of Eastern culture as it is in the West. That is only natural, since science is an invention of the West.
Furthermore, Eastern philosophy, as contrasted with Western philosophy is, for the most part concentrated on “ways of life” rather than theoretical concerns. (This may also have to do with the influence of science in the West). Finally, most Eastern philosophy is intertwined with Eastern religion. Not true of Western philosophy.
The communal aspect of Eastern philosophy is the most dramatic difference from Western philosophy to me. In Japan, it is considered an honor to commit suicide for one’s lord, and suicide was often taken voluntarily in the service to society. An emphasis on family and other social groupings’ continuity was very high. On the other hand, both Western philosophy and religion seem to emphasize individual salvation and enlightenment. Did Socrates mention the social structure of his cave? 
— As Beet juice alluded to Eastern philosophy concentrates on the “We”, western philosophy on the “I”. Also eastern philosophy tends to see the individual and reality as one field, whereas Westerners usually separate them.
That is a good point Kennethamy about easterners being more likely to fuse Religion and Philosophy, i never noticed that before, but now that i think about it it makes sense.
I’m not sure about the religious side of it, there have been totally religious based philosophical views of the world from the West such as Berkley. I think it’s just that we came to a point of atheism quicker than the East as a rule and did so before we had a truely scientific/philosophic distinction that developed in the last couple of hundred years.
Also I have seen what appears to be Hume’s problem of induction in ancient Eastern philosophy, though without the force as induction wouldn’t have been adopted as a central tenet to Eastern Science at the time as it was when Hume came up with it. I think it’s more a general distinction in the same way that you can make generalisations about say a ethnic group, on average they may generally act in a certain way, but the specific examples do not match that discription.
Matt said:
There may be western religiously based philosophical views but they’re not main-stream like they are in the east and this may be due in part to the fact that in the west we have many different religious splinter groups.
One could say that strictly speaking, Buddhism is atheist, but that really does little to detract from your argument. I think the west did reach an atheistic standpoint earlier.
Explain the Hume idea a little more if you can. It sounds interesting.
In the east, WE don’t don’t consider God a problem (his existence)-god always does.
No debate whether the individual be given primacy over the social–the individual is always part of the social; no individual without the social.
WE don’t measure time as linear-it is cyclical.
No duality, but unity. WE have no problem with the body-mind question–they have always been a unity of of self.
Rationality? Not much. Intuition, interconnectedness with other beings, physical or non-physical, real or logical.
“I see the mountain, the mountain sees me”
Welcome to the forum Warai! The mind/body dilemma is definitely
western, Descartes did little to extricate us from that. You give very useful information about time being cyclical for Easterners, i had forgotten that, the wheel of rebirth and such. I like the idea of “interconnectedness”. I was thinking/meditating on Krishnamurti’s, “I am the World, the World is me.” the other day it put things in perspective for me.
I am afraid there is no We in Indian Philosophy - only Atman and Brahman which turn to be identical, Aham Brahma Asmi.
And there is much science in Indian philosophy. Democritus borrowed his atomism from some Indian Yogi, see Zeller, Die Philosophie der Griechen, Leipzig 1879, S. 282. Who invented the Zero (shunya), giving thus great impetus to the Mathematics and Astronomy? You have only to read the description of the advanced military technology in Mahabharata.
But Indian believe in kalachakra, that’s why they degrade, while Westerns do not believe in anything and hence progress.
— have you read the Mahabharata? (I’ll bet the complete text is available online somewhere, i know, for instance, the Rig Veda is). If so, is there anything like a complete English translation? I’ve perused the Bhagavad Gita, Some of the Puranas, about 10% of the Rig Veda, and a little buddhism. So many Gods in Indian religion! (Speaking Of Democritus’ influences, i just read [Walter Kaufmann Nietzsche’s Will to Power] that Zeno was Semitic!)
— And of course i like the Buddha, Ghandi, and Krishnamurti.
No, from Mahabharata I have read and translated only Bhagavadgita. This is the only philosophically relevant part of MB. Mahabharata is too big for one single life to be read. 
— The Rig Veda is not small. I could read all of it in my lifetime, though i’d understand little of it. I like to drink from very many cups, (i even enjoy Indian food when i can afford it). Philosophy, however, is my main concern. But one must have love in one’s life, in addition to reason, and the World’s religions remain some of the best teachers of love even though some of their adherents have room for improvement.
You translate! mahabharata is sanskrit, right? What are the ancient texts of Jainism, of the Mahavira (great hero)? Language fascinates me, and the Indian tradition has a rich literary heritage full of an entire pantheon of colorful Gods and Goddesses.
Yes, MB is composed in Sanskrit. The language of Gita is very simple and easy to understand. Such is the language of the much greated commentary of Sankara on Gita. Both text form a perfect unity I would never exchange for any modern “Gita as it is”.
I am also a great fan of Jaina Philosophy, which is a monumental achievement of Human Geist. There are many very interesting philosophical works of Jainism. First of all comes the Tattvarthadhigama-sutra of Umasvami (Umasvati).
Jaina modal logic is famous for its multiaspect treatment of truth.
Jaina theory of biological evolution is an amaze.
Jaina theory of the vacuum as a protocosmological matrix is uncomparable…
I have collected a big database of terms and conceptions related to Indian philosophy, science and religion (over 20000 entries) and put it online “for the benefit of all living beings”.
No registration is needed to use it. Moreover, if you want to contribute, there is an interactive submission form for any of the 12 Encyclopedia of Eastern Wisdom.
— Thanks Imago. I try to respect life myself, same as the Jains (though not to the same extent), i am a vegetarian for the most part.
Imago said:
One must have many eyes. This multiaspect of truth (perspectivism if you will), few in the west have realy seen this, Nietzsche, Gasset, a few others, but you were referring specifically to logic.
Thanks for the website.
Have you seen the Ramayana?
Yes, I definitely wll. ))
This is the other name of the Jaina logic - the logic of the eight perspectives (naya).
You mean in palm-folio? - Yes, I did. In the Library of the Bhandarkar Research Institute, Pune (India).
Cool! What kind of material is palm-folio? I understand the analects of Confucious were written on bamboo slats connected with string and the string of course decays making the ordering somewhat tenuous. India in general did not have the more lasting construction materials of the West, they used wood more. Therefore we know more about the West from an archeaeological/anthropological standpoint even though, as Nietzsche pointed out, a lot of history is posited in language.
