Questions about Eastern philosophy
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is Eastern philosophy and where did the term come from?
Eastern philosophy, also called Asian or Oriental philosophy, covers the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Indian philosophy. According to the British philosopher Victoria S. Harrison, the category is a product of 19th-century Western scholarship and did not exist in East Asia or India, because Asia held various autonomous traditions rather than a single unified one.
What are the six orthodox schools of Indian Hindu philosophy?
The six major orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy are Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, and Vedanta. A school counts as orthodox, or astika, depending on whether it treats the Vedas as a valid source of knowledge, accepts Brahman and Atman, and believes in afterlife and Devas.
What are the heterodox schools of Indian philosophy?
The five major heterodox or nastika schools are Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajnana, and Carvaka, all associated with the non-Vedic Sramanic traditions. Carvaka was an atheistic philosophy of materialism that rejected the Vedas, while Ajivika, founded by Makkhali Gosala, taught the Niyati doctrine of absolute determinism.
Who founded Confucianism, Mohism, and Legalism in Chinese philosophy?
Confucianism developed around the teachings of Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BCE. Mohism was founded by Mozi around 470 to 391 BCE and is known for the idea of impartial care, while Legalism was shaped by figures such as Shen Buhai, Shang Yang, and Han Fei, who focused on laws and bureaucratic management.
How did Western and Eastern philosophy influence each other?
Arthur Schopenhauer built a philosophy that was essentially a synthesis of Hinduism with Western thought, and Martin Heidegger attempted to translate the Tao Te Ching into German with his Chinese student Paul Hsaio. The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung was deeply influenced by the I Ching, and the Kyoto School combined the phenomenology of Husserl with the insights of Zen Buddhism.
What is Juche in North Korean philosophy?
Juche, usually translated as self-reliance, is the official political ideology of North Korea, described by the regime as Kim Il-Sung's original, brilliant, and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought. It holds that an individual is the master of his destiny and that the North Korean masses are masters of the revolution and construction.
When was the word for philosophy coined in East Asia?
The word zhexue, originally tetsugaku, was coined in 1873 by Nishi Amane to describe Western philosophy as opposed to traditional Asian thought. Its origin fuels a debate in which thinkers like Carine Defoort, Rein Raud, and Ouyang Min disagree over whether Asian traditions count as philosophy proper.