Chinese Philosophy

From Philosopedia

PHILOSOPHY, CHINESE

CHINESE HUMANISTS

Although Finngeir Hiorth in “Whither Freethought?” (New Humanist, December 1998) asserts that “In ancient China atheism was no real option,” Antony Flew notes that the observation although true is likely to be misleading. For, he wrote (New Humanist, March 1999), “it may suggest that atheism in ancient China, like apostasy in fully Islamic states today, was a capital offence. The truth is that the language of Imperial China contained no word for a supposedly omnipotent personal Creator. Atheism was thus not ‘no real option’ because it was suicidal, but because the Chinese had yet to learn what it is that atheists have as such to disbelieve.”

Westerners know about two main streams of Chinese thought, the traditionalist and moralistic Confucianism (founded by Kongfu-zi, the Pinyin transliteration of Kung-fu Tzu); and the mystical and quietistic Daoism (Taoism), founded by Lao-zi (Lao Tzu) and Zhuang-zi (Chuang Tzu). According to Nicolas Walter (New Humanist, October 1998),

• Most thinkers belonged to one or other (or more) of these traditions, which differed between and among themselves but which generally shared assumptions about the twin essences (yang and yin), the divinity of heaven, the propitiation of fate and spirits, reverence for ancestors and the past, and the practical importance of magic and ritual.

Mo-zi (Mo Tzu) in the 5th Century B.C.E. advocated altruism and asceticism based on utilitarian and leading to pacifism. Yang Chu in the 4th Century B. C. E. advocated individualism and hedonism based on pessimism and leading to egoism. Also, there was Wang Chong, described by Joseph Needham as “one of the greatest men of his nation in any age.” {See Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China—The History of Scientific Thought, 1956). Walter, surveying the various masters of early Chinese thought, concluded:

• Just as we may wish that Europe had followed the philosophers of Ionia and Athens and Alexandria rather than the theologians of Constantinople and Rome and Geneva, we may wish that China had followed Wang Chong rather than all the other hundred schools, and we should pay tribute to a precious spirit of enlightenment and reason in a dark and irrational age.

China, since becoming a Marxist state, has made it difficult for freethinking philosophers to travel and exchange views with Westerners. One of the few known humanists is Xiao Xuehui, a philosopher in Sichuan province. However, by rejecting the official Marxist doctrine that morality is determined by economics, she was imprisoned, released after nineteen months, then not allowed to teach.

In 1995, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) started an international campaign to protest Dr. Xiao’s treatment and to press the Chinese authorities to honor her human rights. At the Shang Xin-Jian Institute of Philosophy, the group which studies humanism is called Study Group of the History of Western Humanism (IHEU), Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, 25 Xi-San-Huan Bei Lu. Youzheng Li, of the Institute of Philosophy, CASS, Beijing, signed Humanist Manifesto 2000.

February 14, 2010, was the first day of 4707 in the Chinese Calendar, the year of the Tiger.

CHINESE PHILOSOPHERS

See an extensive discussion of Chinese philosophy by Wing-tsit Chan in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol. 2. Most in the Western world admit and lament their ignorance concerning philosophy in the Eastern world.

CHINESE RELIGION

According to Anthony DeBiasi of the State University of New York Albany, the Han people emphasized the domination of utilitarianism over strict adherence to a belief or faith. Gods and spirits exist everywhere – in trees and walls, not far away in some other place – and in addition to their having power over human lives humans can become spirits and gods when they die. The creation moment is not a main focus. Religious duties are performed with practical consequences in mind, not for the expectation of being rewarded with health or avoidance of disasters. Eclecticism allows ancestor worship overlapping the different religious traditions. Taoism and Confucianism emerged in the 6th century B.C.E. Buddhism also originated at that time in India, arriving in China around the 1st century of the Common Era.