Sensationalist
Kouhai
- 2 Jan 2008
- 47
- 2
- 18
Philosophy is the science of wisdom, if you can classify it as such. Actually, the literal meaning of philosophy is love of wisdom, love meaning "philo" wisdom "sophy." But why I chose philosophy as a precursor for this discussion is because modern day academia regards philosophy as a western convention only ! No eastern philosophy has ever been recognized as a true philosophy by western academics which could be taken to mean that people in Greater East Asia have either a different type of interpretation of wisdom and or a lack thereof …. It is because of this assumption by western academia that I believe the spread of western fundamental thought has done more harm than good in the evolution of thought through-out Europe and eventually asia minor. Had the West been more flexible in its interepretation of philosophical dogma and how it related to reality centuries ago, the way present day thinkers interepret thought today, the western world would be far more refined in terms of depth & scope and less imposing on others. For example: Chinese philosophers ( again,most western academics do not recognize eastern philosophy as real philosophy) tended towards humanism rather than spiritualism; rationalism rather than mysticism; and syncretism rather than sectarianism ! Western philosophy ,however, ultimately sought to define the ' absolute' and to make sense of our world and how it related to judeo christian values rather than practical and ethical ideals.
Around 1897, Western philosophy had appeared in China through translations, and in the next decade many Western philosophical ideals were brought to China by students returning from North America and Europe. The Western philosophies most influential in 20th-century China have been "pragmatism" and "materialism" which is the anti-thesis of idealism. One such Western Philosopher that appeared in Chinese print was John Dewey who was a thought reformist whose teachings emphasized the individual, not the government. Remember, the teachings of Confucius was based off of virtues: kindness, uprightness,decorum, wisdom, and faithfulness which constitute the whole of human duty. Reverence for parents, living and dead and a paternalistic government. He also admonished individuals to observe carefully their duties toward the state whereas western teachings corrupted the State and the family nucleus by putting the individual before government. These were the seeds of Western imperialism which ushered in an era of destruction for the Chinese.
The fact that western philosophy is so fundamentally ingrained in today's thinking make it a very rigid doctrine that has produced some of 20th centuries greatest Nazi thinkers who have shaped our world through their perceptions. One such man is Martin Heideggar, regarded as the most original and influential 20th century philosopher of our time, was a supporter of Hitler and the pro Nazi movement. Can you believe that ? He was the definitive genius of our time. Gees, how fundamentally western can you be ? And we esteem this man in the highest regard as an original thinker, a man who supported one of the most evil tyrants of our time, a man who murdered six million Jews and millions more Slavs ! Even Aristotle justified slavery was he even better ? Subsequently, western philisophical thoughts have been the defining element in how people have been defining the world we live in even today.
All of Man has been searching for the absolute for centuries, some may call that the absolute, others, some strange force working behind the scenes. What I hope to clear up in this essay is the enormous gap between those who speak for the world, in terms of what true thought is and how that thought is interpreted vs. those that seek the ultimate truth or the greater good for all man. The existentialist were the anti-philosophers and the philosophers were always anti-existentialist who were constantly arguing amongst themselves.. For example: Pascal was anti-Dakar; Kierkegaard was anti-Hegel; Nietzshe was anti-Socrates; Albert Camus was merely a Pagan and was perhaps the most enlightened of them all for he sought neither to unify god nor man, but rather to discard all forms of Judeo Christian thought completely. This is the crux of my argument and this is where I feel Camus was on to something – get rid of the middle man. Sure, the West Asians had Allah and Europe had Jesus Christ, but Christianity only gave man spiritual equality whereas Islam gave man universal brotherhood regardless of color or ethnicity. The West entertained this notion too, but never took it seriously. Today, Muslim nations are perhaps some of the most diverse nations on the planet.
Many great thinkers and philosphers have come out of west asia and one such great teacher was a man by the name of Mevlani, a muslim scholar who was a 13th century mystical philosopher, who proved that the earth rotated on its axis in the 14th century through the first construction of a globe. Unfortunately for Europe, though, during this time many of Europe's greatest thinkers were being persecuted for going against western philosophical thought and religion and for their beliefs in science which to me sounds a bit odd since Europe is/was regarded as the cradle of civilization by many present day academics when in fact they were more backward thinking than any other civilization in history, but yet they produced some of the finest thinkers in history ??? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever considering the disparity between the real scientist and the religious zealots who dictates how the world was supposed to be understood. China, before Mao, was a marvellous civilization with advanced technology even more so than the Roman Empire. Even Ghengis Khan, ruler of the Mongols, was advanced in so many ways and partly why is because he practices tolerance by allowing Chinese engineers ( who he conquered) serve in his armies. These men were responsible for building catapults and flame throwers and refining the Mongols attack capabilities. In addition to that, the Mongols had no written language, no libraries, no organized religions, no sciences, no philosophy, but yet they came to rule more land and territory than the Roman Empire ! Traditionally Ghengis Khan would've killed all of his enemies, but he became enlightened.
In the case of the United States, which has been a traditionally Christian nation, slave and master served the same god. When African Americans were getting beaten and lynched they were praying to their masters(slave owners) god for mercy. White slave owners worshipped and served the Judeo Christian god on Sunday and then Monday through Saturday they enslaved and sold human beings like chattel and live stock. No other idiocy existed to that degree in history ! How can a slave and a master serve the same god ? How can a slave love his master and his master's god even to his last breath ? (" Maybe god loves some and hates the other").
Western religion, philosophy, and history mixed together can be a volitile and reckless combination of scholarly aggrandizing that has arguably done more harm than good. Moreover, western countries have been the only civilizations on earth to ever merge all three of these concepts into one things: Western Fundamentalism. I think, though, that this is changing. The world has been waking up to more humanistic ideals , and a lot of what that really means is that nations are becoming more empathetic towards other nations and nationalities. It's the U.S. unilateral foreign policy that's exclusionary and terror oriented and illogical bringing instability to the world that we all live in and share with one another, thus a flagarant and ugly display of western fundamentalism through religious dogma, distortions of history and philosophy – from a western point of view from as far back as antiquity.
Around 1897, Western philosophy had appeared in China through translations, and in the next decade many Western philosophical ideals were brought to China by students returning from North America and Europe. The Western philosophies most influential in 20th-century China have been "pragmatism" and "materialism" which is the anti-thesis of idealism. One such Western Philosopher that appeared in Chinese print was John Dewey who was a thought reformist whose teachings emphasized the individual, not the government. Remember, the teachings of Confucius was based off of virtues: kindness, uprightness,decorum, wisdom, and faithfulness which constitute the whole of human duty. Reverence for parents, living and dead and a paternalistic government. He also admonished individuals to observe carefully their duties toward the state whereas western teachings corrupted the State and the family nucleus by putting the individual before government. These were the seeds of Western imperialism which ushered in an era of destruction for the Chinese.
The fact that western philosophy is so fundamentally ingrained in today's thinking make it a very rigid doctrine that has produced some of 20th centuries greatest Nazi thinkers who have shaped our world through their perceptions. One such man is Martin Heideggar, regarded as the most original and influential 20th century philosopher of our time, was a supporter of Hitler and the pro Nazi movement. Can you believe that ? He was the definitive genius of our time. Gees, how fundamentally western can you be ? And we esteem this man in the highest regard as an original thinker, a man who supported one of the most evil tyrants of our time, a man who murdered six million Jews and millions more Slavs ! Even Aristotle justified slavery was he even better ? Subsequently, western philisophical thoughts have been the defining element in how people have been defining the world we live in even today.
All of Man has been searching for the absolute for centuries, some may call that the absolute, others, some strange force working behind the scenes. What I hope to clear up in this essay is the enormous gap between those who speak for the world, in terms of what true thought is and how that thought is interpreted vs. those that seek the ultimate truth or the greater good for all man. The existentialist were the anti-philosophers and the philosophers were always anti-existentialist who were constantly arguing amongst themselves.. For example: Pascal was anti-Dakar; Kierkegaard was anti-Hegel; Nietzshe was anti-Socrates; Albert Camus was merely a Pagan and was perhaps the most enlightened of them all for he sought neither to unify god nor man, but rather to discard all forms of Judeo Christian thought completely. This is the crux of my argument and this is where I feel Camus was on to something – get rid of the middle man. Sure, the West Asians had Allah and Europe had Jesus Christ, but Christianity only gave man spiritual equality whereas Islam gave man universal brotherhood regardless of color or ethnicity. The West entertained this notion too, but never took it seriously. Today, Muslim nations are perhaps some of the most diverse nations on the planet.
Many great thinkers and philosphers have come out of west asia and one such great teacher was a man by the name of Mevlani, a muslim scholar who was a 13th century mystical philosopher, who proved that the earth rotated on its axis in the 14th century through the first construction of a globe. Unfortunately for Europe, though, during this time many of Europe's greatest thinkers were being persecuted for going against western philosophical thought and religion and for their beliefs in science which to me sounds a bit odd since Europe is/was regarded as the cradle of civilization by many present day academics when in fact they were more backward thinking than any other civilization in history, but yet they produced some of the finest thinkers in history ??? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever considering the disparity between the real scientist and the religious zealots who dictates how the world was supposed to be understood. China, before Mao, was a marvellous civilization with advanced technology even more so than the Roman Empire. Even Ghengis Khan, ruler of the Mongols, was advanced in so many ways and partly why is because he practices tolerance by allowing Chinese engineers ( who he conquered) serve in his armies. These men were responsible for building catapults and flame throwers and refining the Mongols attack capabilities. In addition to that, the Mongols had no written language, no libraries, no organized religions, no sciences, no philosophy, but yet they came to rule more land and territory than the Roman Empire ! Traditionally Ghengis Khan would've killed all of his enemies, but he became enlightened.
In the case of the United States, which has been a traditionally Christian nation, slave and master served the same god. When African Americans were getting beaten and lynched they were praying to their masters(slave owners) god for mercy. White slave owners worshipped and served the Judeo Christian god on Sunday and then Monday through Saturday they enslaved and sold human beings like chattel and live stock. No other idiocy existed to that degree in history ! How can a slave and a master serve the same god ? How can a slave love his master and his master's god even to his last breath ? (" Maybe god loves some and hates the other").
Western religion, philosophy, and history mixed together can be a volitile and reckless combination of scholarly aggrandizing that has arguably done more harm than good. Moreover, western countries have been the only civilizations on earth to ever merge all three of these concepts into one things: Western Fundamentalism. I think, though, that this is changing. The world has been waking up to more humanistic ideals , and a lot of what that really means is that nations are becoming more empathetic towards other nations and nationalities. It's the U.S. unilateral foreign policy that's exclusionary and terror oriented and illogical bringing instability to the world that we all live in and share with one another, thus a flagarant and ugly display of western fundamentalism through religious dogma, distortions of history and philosophy – from a western point of view from as far back as antiquity.
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