Ancient Chinese Philosophy
2 min readChinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought.Chinesephilosophy has a history of several thousand years;its origins areoften traced back to the Yi Jing(The Book of Changes),an ancientcompendium of divination,which uses a system of 64 hexagrams toguide action.This system is attributed to King Wen of Zhou(1099-1050 BCE)and the work reflects the characteristic concepts andapproaches of Chinese philosophy.The Book of Changes evolved instages over the next eight centuries,but the first recorded referenceis in 672 BCE.
The Tao Te Ching(Dao de jing,in pinyin romanisation)of LaoTzu(Lao zi)and the Analects of Confucius(Kong fu zi;sometimes called Master Kong)bothappeared around the 6th century BCE,slightly ahead of early Buddhist philosophy in NorthernIndia and slightly after pre-Socratic philosophy in Ancient Greece.
Confucianism represents the collected teachings of the Chinese sage Confucius,who livedfrom 551 to 479 BCE.His philosophy concerns the fields of ethics and politics,emphasizingpersonal and governmental morality,correctness of social relationships,justice,traditionalism,and sincerity.The Analects stresses the importance of ritual,but also the importance of “ren'”,which is loosely translated as”human-heartedness”.Confucianism,along with Legalism,1Sresponsible for creating the world’s first meritocracy,which holds that one’s status should bedetermined by his ability instead of his ancestry,wealth,or friendship.Confucianism was andcontinues to be a major influence on Chinese culture,the state of China and the surroundingareas of Southeast Asia.
Throughout history,Chinese philosophy has been molded to fit the prevailing schools Ofthought and circumstances in China.The Chinese schools of philosophy,except during the QinDynasty,can be both critical and yet relatively tolerant of one another.Even when one particularschool of thought is officially adopted by the ruling bureaucracy,asn the Han Dynasty,theremay be no move to ban or censor other schools of thought Despite and because of me debatesand competition among different schools of thought,they generally have cooperated and sharedideas.which they would usually incorporate in their own.For example,Neo-Confucianismwas a revived version of old Confucian principles that appeared around the Song Dynasty,withBuddhist,Taoist,and Legalist features in the philosophy.
Chinese philosophy has spread around the world in forms such as the New Confucianismand New Age Ideas(see for example Traditional Medicine Chinese).Many in the academiccommunity of the West remain skeptical,and only a few assimilate Chinese philosophy intotheir own research,whether scientific or philosophical.However,it still carries profoundinfluence amongst the people of East Asia,and even Southeast Asia.
