Eastern Philosophy

Paper Summary:

This paper describes and compares the differences between eastern and western philosophy. The author has included texts and examples from both cultures.The author explains that Eastern philosophy is felt and experienced rather than thought about and that it is intelligence versus emotion instead of a combination of the two when talking about philosophy.

From the Paper:

"Think. Don't Think. From the beginning this has been one of the primary differences between Eastern and Western Philosophy. Generally Western systems attempt to think and rationalize a system of philosophy based on experience and create a logic theory on the meaning of life. In Eastern philosophy, thinking is part of the discursive mind and clouds the actual perception of reality, so don't think, experience. In the West experience is explained in words, in the East, words are slowly pealed away so one can experience reality directly. Think. Don't Think. In fact the Taoist text, The Tao Te Ching, opens with the following, "The Way that can be told is not the Unvarying Way, the names that can be named are not the unvarying names." (Morre 149) So, in essence, words always fall short of the true meaning of experience. Eastern philosophy must be felt and experienced rather than thought about. In these philosophies there is not just the mind but the heart-mind from which understanding comes, something the west has separated into two distinct entities. It is intelligence versus emotion instead of a combination of the two when talking about philosophy."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Leaman, Oliver. Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings. London: Routledge, 2000.
• Merton, Thomas (Trans). (1965) The Way Of Chuang Tzu. New York: New Directions.
• Moore, R. F., ed. Oriental Philosophies. 3rd ed. New York: R. F. Moore Co., 1951.

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