Eastern Philosophies

Taoism
The founder of Taoism outlined all the tenets of his globally beloved philosophy in
the Tao Te Ching sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries B.C. and some
even debate whether or not he was a real or apocryphal individual. In his most
influential (to put it mildly) work, he touts the concept of the Tao, an invisible
structure which drives all things, and believes enlightenment comes from attaining
oneness with the surrounding universe. Harmony with nature as opposed to working
against its will forms the crux of this religious and philosophical approach, making it
ideal for anyone hoping to reduce stresses in their lives.
Confuciunism
In his Analects and, some theorize, the Five Classics (Spring and Autumn
Annals, Classic of Poetry, Classic of Changes, Classic of Rites, and Classic of History)
this 6th and 5th century B.C. thinker promoted ancestor worship, strong filial
bonds, and considerate living. Many of the parables and maxims shared in
Confucius writings espouse humanistic ideologies, placing the well-being of all over
the needs of the few. Li, an ethical framework encouraging the populace to behave
appropriately, serves as the best introduction to his philosophies for beginners
hoping to learn more.
Ruminism

Rumis poetry and philosophy regarding Sufi mysticism directly led to the establishment of
the Mewlewi Sufi Order, known to most of the Western world as the Whirling Dervishes,
following his passing. During the 13th century, lush lyrical works such as the
collections Matnawiye Manawi and Diwan-e Kabir explored spirituality so intensely, so
provocatively, much of the Islamic intellectual and creative world at the time found him
absolutely inspiring. For him and his followers, faith stood as a deeply personal journey with
minimal adherence to a rigid doctrine.
Sun Tzu
he Art of War sits on the shelves of colonels and CEOs alike because its details of
successful psychological strategies hold applications far beyond the battlefield. Although, of
course, militaries across Asia especially those in China, Japan, and Vietnam used it to
dictate the direction of everything from small skirmishes to the revolution against French
colonials. Unlike most (but not all!) of the other major Eastern philosophers, Sun Tzus
advice and aphorisms never touched upon spiritual matters, but remained largely planted in
terra firma.
Mulla Sadra
He cant be credited for launching the 17th century Iranian Renaissance, but scholars
generally consider Sadr ad-Din Muhammad Shirazi its most significant contributor. A Shia,
he penned a librarys worth of literature pulling from previous Islamic philosophers and
scientists and melting them together into one overarching mindset many cite as the direct
ancestor of the later existentialist movement. The Transcendent Philosophy of the Four
Journeys of the Intellect took nearly a quarter-century to compile, and covers a good chunk
of history and Mulla Sadras influences, partnered with encyclopedic commentary.
Maoism (Mao Zedong)
Maoism synthesized Marxist and Leninist philosophies with the unique needs of China and
forever altered the course of world history and geopolitics after its namesake initiated the
Chinese Revolution of 1949. Through books such as On Guerilla Warfare and On New
Democracy (among others), he swayed the citizenry toward communist ideals and
instigated the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution which wiped out millennia of
academia and art in favor of something very new and very different. Religion and
philosophy particularly those promoted by some of the others listed here received
considerable suppression as the nations attentions zoomed in on industrialization and
modernization.
Sikhism (Guru Nanak Dev)
Sikhism dates back to roughly 1499, when its founder Guru Nanak Dev also known as
the faiths first great leader disappeared for several days and returned with the belief that
Hindus and Muslims have it all wrong. From there, he traversed across his native Pakistan
and beyond preaching the virtues of worshiping a single deity through honest, simple, and
devout actions revolving around humility and ensuring the safety and well-being of others.
Although Guru Arjan Dev (the fifth of the first ten gurus) is credited with compiling the Sikhs
sacred text Guru Granth Sahib, the book hews closely to the originating philosophies.

Western Philosophies

Part of what makes it difficult to find a consensus among philosophers about the
definition of their discipline is precisely that they have frequently come to it from
different fields, with different interests and concerns, and that they therefore have
different areas of experience upon which they find it especially necessary or
meaningful to reflect. St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 122475), a Dominican friar, George
Berkeley (16851753), a bishop of the Irish Church, and Sren Kierkegaard (1813
55), a Danish divinity student, all saw philosophy as a means to assert the truths of
religion and to dispel the materialistic or rationalistic errors that, in their opinion,
had led to its decline. Pythagoras (c. 580c. 500 bc) in southern Italy, Ren
Descartes (15961650) in France, and Bertrand Russell (18721970) in England
were primarily mathematicians whose views of the universe and of human
knowledge were vastly influenced by the concept of number and by the method of
deductive thinking. Some philosophers, such as Plato (c. 428c. 348 bc), Thomas
Hobbes (15881679) and John Stuart Mill (180673), were obsessed by problems of
political arrangement and social living, so that whatever they have done in
philosophy has been stimulated by a desire to understand and, ultimately, to
change the social and political behaviour of human beings. And still otherssuch as
the Milesians (the first philosophers of Greece, from the ancient Anatolian city of
Miletus), Francis Bacon (15611626), an Elizabethan philosopher, and Alfred North
Whitehead (18611947), an English metaphysicianbegan with an interest in the
physical composition of the natural world, so that their philosophies resemble more
closely the generalizations of physical science than those of religion or sociology.
The history of Western philosophy reveals in detail the concentrated activity of a
multitude of serious and able thinkers reflecting upon, reasoning about, and
considering deeply the nature of their experience. But throughout this diversity
certain characteristic oppositions continually recur, such as those between monism,
dualism, and pluralism in metaphysics (see pluralism and monism); between
materialism and idealism in cosmological theory; between nominalism and realism
in the theory of signification; between rationalism and empiricism in epistemology;
between utilitarianism and deontological ethics in moral theory; and between
partisans of logic and partisans of emotion in the search for a responsible guide to
the wisdom of life.
The analytic, or critical, impulse treats any subject matter or topic by concentrating
upon the part, by taking it apart in the service of clarity and precision. It was
essentially the method of Aristotle (384322 bc) and of Peter Abelard (10791142),
a French Scholastic; of David Hume (171176), a Scottish skeptic, and of Rudolf
Carnap (18911970), a German American logical positivist; and of Russell and
Moore. The synthetic, or speculative, impulse operates by seeking to comprehend
the whole, by putting it all together in the service of unity and completeness. It is
essentially the method of Parmenides, a Sophist, and of Plato; of Aquinas and
of Benedict de Spinoza (163277), a Dutch Jewish rationalist; and of Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel (17701831), a German idealist, and of Whitehead. Throughout
philosophys history, each of the two traditions has made its insistent claim.