Reflection On Eastern and Western Philosophy

Western Philosophy generally is trying to find out and prove what the “truth” is. On the other hand Eastern philosophy accepts what the “truth” is and is more focussed on trying to find a balance in their lives.

The Main Principles of Eastern Philosophy are:
Cosmological Unity
Life is a journey towards eternal realities that are beyond the realities that surround us
Inner-world dependent
Self-Liberation
Behavioural Ethics

The Main Principles of Western Philosophy are:
Feeling oneself as an element of the Divine
Life is service (to God, money etc)
Linear view of the universe and life, everything has a beginning and an end
Self-dedication to the goal

Eastern Philosopher:
"The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell." Confucius

Western Philosopher:
"Happiness lies in virtuous activity, and perfect happiness lies in the best activity, which is contemplative" Aristotle

Eastern Philosopher

Confucious

Confucius was a Chinese philosopher who had big impact on Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese thought and life. Confucius lived from 551 BCE- 479 BCE. Confucius was a social philosopher and mostly emphasized his work on personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, and sincerity. Confucius’s ideas were so wide spread and widely accepted that his teachings and philosophies began to be known as Confucianism. A man named Jesuit Matteo Ricci Latinised the name “Confucius”. His teachings first took off because his ideas were very closely linked with Chinese traditions and beliefs. He praised strong family loyalties, ancestor worship, respect of elders by their children, and the family as a basis for an idea government.


Confucius’s teachings have been related to some Chinese religions but in reality he has little to do with religion. The contexts of his work lack any reference to an after-life, and it does not really concern itself with spiritual subjects such as the existence of souls.

Confucius’s most famous teaching is very similar to the golden rule and is seen in many religions: “Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself”.

Are Our Lives Predetermined?

I really liked what Paul-Henri Thiry was saying about how we have little control over our lives because of our basic instincts. It is true that while we have free will to decided over which decisions we are going to make, such as drinking or not drinking the contaminated water as it mentioned in his example but in the end our basic instinct and need for survival is the ultimate motive in our decision making process

I also agreed with what W.T. Stace was saying for the most part. I found it interesting as I have never thought of it this way that if there was no free will and all our decisions were predetermined for us than there would indeed be no need for morality because we would have no need to distinguish between right and wrong because we wouldn’t need to make those kind of decisions. I also thought that it was interesting how philosophers who don’t believe in free will present their argument in their “abstract” philosophical work but they don’t practice what they preach in their ever day lives.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan made a very interesting and my favourtie comment of all three. I think he tried to interpret the best of both worlds by saying that while there is some sort of predetermined path made out by our karma, there is still no definite direction our lives will take and we have different choices presented to us at different times.

My opion is that we have power over our will but not neccesarily over our actions and feelings. We establish how we are going to live our lives through our will and base our rules and beliefs around this will.

Since actions and performances are not wholly in our power and since nothing is really in our power but our will- it is on the will that all the rules and duties of Man are based and established.(Michel de Montaigne, 1572)