Western philosophy focuses on logic and truth while Chinese Philosophy focuses on more life and political issues. However, if we need to single out one key difference between the two, what should it be?
Definition of Love :
W = be with
E = go with
http://www.mesologiques.com/2012/01/la-chora-chez-platon-augustin-berque.html
It is depending whether you are left handed or right handed. One should be more prone to use either left hand or right hand. Similar to Western philosophy and Chinese philosophy. Depending on your culture, growing up environment and education, one's thinking could be influenced more by either Western philosophy or Chinese philosophy.
In one sentence, the difference can be characterized as the difference in viewing the "world," or the universe of study. In Western philosophy, we reduce everything to the smallest still discernible constituent parts and consider these constituent parts our primary objects of research. The union of the parts is supposed to represent the behavior of the whole. In Eastern philosophy, they take a view of the totality of the universe of study. Their assumption is that from learning enough about the whole, the behavior of the constituent parts can be understood better.
If there is an ultimate "truth", perhaps Western philosophy and Chinese philosophy is using different path to seek for the "truth"? One using the atomic view while the other using a more universal view?
Shouldnt we sum up all the things in which both philosophys are equal, so that we can understand that there is no key difference? Because arent there as many key differences as there are different point of views...?
The destination is the same. However, the transportation mode and path could be different. For example, travelling from UK to France, you could take either a plane, train or ferry but still reach the same place.
It might be hard to talk about things in which what two "philosophies" are "equal". A philosophy can be considered an approach to researching a problem field. One example is afforded by Anthony Yeong below yours. Another example might be a boat that is leaning to one side, because of being loaded carelessly. One approach is that you place a counterweight on the opposite side, thus balancing the boat. Another approach is that you start thinking ahead of time how to load the boat so that the mass be distributed evenly. The first case is Western approach, the second is Eastern. In the field of medicine this might be represented by an ailment tormenting a patient. A Western doctor gives the patient a medicine that is strong enough to knock out the virus of whatever, causing the ailment. A Chinese doctor would take a preventive approach by considering the ailment an imbalance in the (system called) body. He would then re-established the balance. Of course, the two approaches would differ in the time it takes to cure the organism. The Western approach might, at least the first time, be more efficient, while possibly causing side effects. The Eastern approach would be slow and requiring patience and proactive thinking. The ultimate goal (and perhaps the ultimate effect) of both approaches would be a healthy organism.
Paul Dorra · Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg ×
Shouldnt we sum up all the things in which both philosophys are equal, so that we can understand that there is no key difference? Because arent there as many key differences as there are different point of views...?
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