Eastern philosophy

The philosophy of Asia , especially that of the Chinese , Indian and Japanese cultures, is commonly understood as Eastern philosophy . According to Karl Jaspers, the heyday of Eastern philosophy is what he called the " Axial Age " (800–200 BC). This is where the historically powerful thought traditions of Confucianism , Daoism and Buddhism developed .

With Hinduism , these traditions later had a tense relationship with Islam, especially in the north of the Indian subcontinent .

It is only ever rudimentary to present general currents that can be considered Eastern philosophy. The culture and philosophy of the East, which can be reconstructed over at least three millennia, is too diverse and rich. In dealing with it, so-called Western philosophy repeatedly determined its own self-image.

China

The beginnings of Chinese philosophy go back well into the second millennium BC. The order of the cosmos and the position of man in it have always been one of her central questions. The doctrine of the original Dao principle and the world-immanent contrast of yin and yang is very old . Numerous doctrines later developed on its basis, the best known of which are Confucianism , Daoism, and Legalism . Pronounced syncretistic tendencies were always to be observed, in the framework of which teachings imported from outside such as Buddhism were also partially incorporated and sinised . Due to partly completely different paradigms, questions and approaches, it is partly disputed whether the Chinese traditions of thought can even be viewed as philosophy in the sense of the Western tradition.

India

Since the time of the Upanishads (9th – 6th centuries BC) one can speak of a developed philosophy in India. However, the origins go back to the 2nd millennium BC. Central themes are samsara (rebirth), karma ("law of action") and dharma (cosmic order). Of the six orthodox Indian systems (that is, which recognize the authority of Veda ), Vedanta , Yoga and Samkhya are the most important. The so-called heterodox systems include Jainism and the various Buddhist schools.

Japan

Like the general cultural development of Japan , the philosophy developed there is also without the decisive adoption of ideas initially from East Asian countries until the 17th century, the subsequent and almost 200 years of isolation of Japan, as well as its pursuit of global politics that began in the 19th century Impact cannot be explained. In addition, the philosophy developed in Japan was always closely interrelated with the domestic political power struggles of the secular and religious authorities with and with one another.

Simultaneously with the introduction of the Chinese script , the Chinese scripts written in it were also received, which introduced Daoist, Confucian and above all Buddhist ideas in Japan (see Buddhism in Japan ) and from then on with the indigenous religious traditions (see Shinto ) in In a strongly syncretistic way, the philosophical thinking in Japan, each with a different focus, has been determined up to the present day.

literature

Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber, Stephan Schuhmacher: Lexicon of eastern wisdom teachings : Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Scherz, Bern 1986, ISBN 3-502-67403-5

Web links

Roger T. Ames: East Asian philosophy , in E. Craig (ed.): Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy , London 1998.
Link catalog on the topic of Eastern Philosophy at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )