Eastern vs Western Philosophers: Views on Knowability - Essay Sample

Introduction

Philosophy and the philosophers in the Western are very different from that in Eastern. For example, if you asked the question, "Is the world around us knowable?" you would probably get different answers from them. The response would be positive for most Westerners, but for people from China, they would give answers like "Does it matter?" or "I do not know" for the same question. The main reason for this is that there exists a disparity between the Western and Eastern philosophy. Several philosophical schools around the universe have pondered such kinds of philosophical problems, and some of them are highly representative, like Platonism for Western and Confucianism for Eastern.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Though they are asked a similar question, they often have varying views from each other, and this is a result of the difference in their opinions on the significance of philosophical problems. There are four divisions of Western philosophy, including medieval philosophy, Ancient Greek philosophy, contemporary philosophy, and modern philosophy. On the other hand, Eastern philosophy includes Japanese philosophy, Indian philosophy, and Chinese philosophy. The similarities between these philosophies are apparent, but they have different foci, with Western philosophy focusing on the universe while the Eastern philosophy is focusing on society.

Since it may be difficult and incomplete to understand it from a single side, this paper aims at illustrating the key differences between the methodology and focus of Western and Eastern philosophy traditions and explaining what might inspire such differences. Looking at philosophy, philosophers from the East assumes an individual inner world as their center of focus and give priority to the social life principles. On the other hand, Western philosophers tend to be speculative on a philosophy from a global perspective, trying to figure out principles behind the world. According to Fung (1984), from a philosophical viewpoint, the greatest achievement that a man can have is to be a sage, and dealing with human relations in the day to day life is part of the process of achieving this. Western philosophers, however, incline to place the universe at the center of every set of their thinking, then analyzing how the world works. The Western philosophy history is an insight into the European science origin in general, and this is a clear revelation for the preference of the Western philosophers.

The attitudes of the philosophers towards politics also portray a high variance in their philosophical standpoints. Both Western and eastern philosophers in the ancient periods played the roles of policymaking. Eastern Philosopher Dong Zhongshu was one of the most successful political arena Confucian in the history of China. His theories had been assumed as the general picture of policies used in running a country, and he put forward the three cardinal guides and five constant virtues for helping emperor Wu in strengthening his domination. The cardinal guides included father guides son, ruler guides subject, and husband guides wife. The five constant virtues included righteousness, benevolence, wisdom, propriety, and fidelity. Looking at all of these principles, they have relations to social life because, according to Dong, he believes that humanity is the core of philosophy and that to order the society, you need to regulate the people's social life (A Comparison between Eastern and Western Philosophy, 2016).

Similarly, the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, also offered his political view, which is related to his forms theory. According to Plato, the structure of a country is like that of a human body, and the abdomen is represented by the workers, the chest by the worriers, and the head by the philosopher kings. These correspond to productive, protective, and governing in that order.

However, it is also important to note that the similarities between the Eastern and Western philosophies are more than the differences stated by some lecturers and writers of the modern-day. One example gives on the differences of the philosophies is on how Confucius philosophers deal with both the outer and inner life of a person while the works of Aristotle places significant emphasis on how an individual ought to conduct themselves to live well among others. Such claims of distinctions are arbitrary and entirely miss the essential and fundamental identical aims of the two philosophers. Besides, such arguments tend to distort history perceptions since once an individual is made to believe in the differences existing between the two, then they would view the histories of the cultures as being profoundly different from each other. In reality, humans are the same in the entire world, the only things that differ are the customs and details, and this is made quite clear by the philosophies of western and eastern thinkers.

An in-depth comparison of the philosophers from the two regions would establish significant similarities in their ideas. Both Confucius and Plato believed that the highest goal one could strive at was a virtue and that those who put virtue above worldly possessions else received the last rewards. Wonhyo, who was a Korean philosopher, wrote that thinking makes good or bad, to imply that if one thinks something is good, then it is good to them. The same ideology is passed by Epictetus, who was a Greek thinker when he wrote that "It is not circumstances themselves that trouble people, but their judgments about those circumstances." According to Epictetus, one should not fear even death since nobody knows whether it is a good or a bad thing to die (A Comparison between Eastern and Western Philosophy, 2016). Wonhyo would be in agreement with that due to his belief that everything was one, and that all of the experienced people go through while the living is just part of the experiences human beings go through.

The greatest similarities of the western and eastern philosophers are derived from the thinking of two great philosophers, Plato of the West and Wang Yangming of the east. Yangming is less known as compared to Plato in the west, but he is also famous in Japan, China, and Korea. But they have both created significant influence through their works, and they are both for the existence of innate knowledge (Mark, 2016). They both believe that human beings already know wrong and right, and good and bad from the time they are born. The only thing humans need is to be encouraged to go after goodness to live a fulfilling life. Both of these philosophers have their works revolving around what is good and the right way of understanding human existence. Nietzsche names in his work "Genealogy of Morals" Plato, Spinoza, and Kant as being different from one another, but united in one thing, which is the low value they set on pity (Nietzsche, 1989).

References

A Comparison between Eastern and Western Philosophy. (2016, May 20). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/a-comparison-between-eastern-and-western-philosophy-essay

Fung, Y (1984). Sansong tang wenji (collected scholarly essays from the hall of the three pines), Beijing University Press

Mark E. (2016). Similarities Between Eastern & Western Philosophy. Ancient History Encyclopedia. https://www.ancient.eu/article/855/similarities-between-eastern--western-philosophy/

Nietzsche, F. W., & Hollingdale, R. J. (1989). On the genealogy of morals. Vintage. Retrieved from https://windowtophilosophy.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-genealogy-of-morals-by-nietzsche.html