Part 10 - Eastern Philosophy versus Western Philosophy

a) Basics:

Eastern philosophy includes various philosophies of Asia, including Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Iranian philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, Arab philosophy and Jewish philosophy. The division is not purely geographic but also stems from general hermeneutic and conceptual differences that lay between Eastern and Western traditions. Almost each philosophy in eastern countries except Carvaka, glorifies importance of religion. Western philosophy keeps huge distance from religions. Western society strives to find and prove “the truth”, while Eastern society accepts the truth as given and is more interested in finding the balance. Westerners put more stock in individual rights; Easterners in social responsibility. Western philosophy refers to philosophical thinking in the Western or Occidental world, beginning with Ancient Greece and Rome, extending through central and Western Europe and the Americas.

b) Supreme God and the Demigods

Owing to its origin from within the Abrahamic religions, some Western philosophies have formulated questions on the nature of God and his relationship to the universe based on Monotheistic framework within which it emerged. This has created a dichotomy among some Western philosophies being secular and religious philosophies. This inturn created some religion's dogma regarding the nature of God and the universe.

Eastern religions have not been as concerned by questions relating to the nature of a single God as the universe's sole creator and ruler. The distinction between the religious and the secular tends to be much less sharp in Eastern Philosophy, and the same philosophical school often contains both religious and philosophical elements. Thus, some people accept the so-called Metaphysical tenets of Buddhism without going to a temple and worshipping. Some have worshipped the Taoist deities religiously without bothering to delve into the theological underpinnings, while others embrace the Taoist religion simply by ignoring the mythological aspects.

This arrangement stands in marked contrast to some recent philosophy in the West, which has traditionally enforced either a completely unified philosophic/religious belief system or a total repudiation of some forms of religion by philosophy.