China has been one of the ancient civilizations in the East. China for many reasons has received less attention from the East than Western civilizations, or rather less being involved in cultural negotiations with the Middle East. One of the reasons was the presence of other ancient civilizations in the region, including Babylon, Mesopotamia and Egypt, in ancient times, BC and later after the rise of Christianity, the history of religion, spirituality and thought in these regions measured their own. Although the Silk Road was a great gateway for commercial, cultural and intellectual communication even in ancient times, however the equations of the Far and Near East in one hand and its better linking to the West centered by ancient Greece and Rome, made it difficult to know Chinese, but they were not aware of it until later after the rise of Islam in the region.
However, after the rise of modernity and the further opening of societies to each other, these barriers disappeared and China fell into an ideological conflict and became the communist Eastern bloc against the liberal West. China is involved in an ideological, civilizational, progressive and technological conflict with the West.
“Philosophy and Ancient Traditions of Ancient China”
The main characteristic of Chinese philosophy focuses more on practical wisdom (this means politics and ethics). Philosophy differ than in other countries before it intended to focus on man’s relationship with nature and metaphysics and discussions related to science and metaphysics, It affects the relationship between the individual and society. Similar to India is the largest center of metaphysical and religious philosophy; China is the largest country of humanistic or non-metaphysical philosophy.
The rise of Chinese philosophy was during the Jewish Empire (1122-256 BC). Writers of Chinese cultural history call the Jewish period the classical period of Chinese culture. Because it was during this period that the main frameworks of culture and social structure, especially Chinese philosophy, emerged and all subsequent philosophical movements were based on the philosophers of this period. The whole period was full of political, social and intellectual events and activities, and the dominant organizations and structures were subjected to severe criticism. Chinese society at this time was constantly addicted to chaos, backwardness and successive wars between the upper classes and feudal lords. It was during this chaos and backwardness that the old class structure and organization collapsed and eventually the upper classes, which ruled on the basis of hereditary inheritance, fell and dissolved.
During this period, a group of upper classes separated from the feudal and royal structure and settled in the lower ranks of society. Traditionally, all the sons of the nobles had to keep part of their father’s estate or receive a position in the government. However, with the development of polygamy, there soon came a time when there was no place for a large group of royal descendants in government. They were considered royalty in terms of ancestry, blood, and education, but were closer to the common people in terms of wealth and social status. Some of this group of poor dynasties became salaried warriors and others became employees of the ruling dynasty, and their dissatisfaction with their broken situation deepened the dominant atmosphere. It was among these that great philosophers and thinkers appeared and criticized the prevailing situation.
The rise of philosophy in China and Greece coincided, and great Chinese philosophers such as Confucius and Mencius were contemporaries with great Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Plato. In fact, this was no coincidence, but similar political events and changes in both countries had paved the way for the development of philosophy. During this period, the feudal territories of China were undergoing a transformation similar to that of the Greek “country-cities”.
First, Western philosophy is more associated with science and religion, while Chinese philosophy is more associated with ethics, politics, literature, and art. Then we must note that these two philosophies are also different in terms of content. Western philosophy is largely divided into five themes: logic, aesthetics, ethics, politics, and metaphysics, while Chinese philosophy rarely deals with ethics. This does not mean that there is no discussion of such topics as logic, aesthetics, and metaphysics in Chinese philosophy. Chinese philosophy also differs from Western philosophy in terms of expression. Therefore, much of China’s philosophical works are expressed in the form of proverbs, riddles, and advice, mostly exchanged as dialogue between teacher and student.
The period between the sixth and third centuries BC is the period of the Chinese Renaissance, and in Chinese terms, the emergence of a hundred philosophical schools, four of which are the most important; Taoism, Confucianism, Mo Tzu, and Legalism. These four approaches had an important influence on the development of Chinese thought and together they reflect the characteristics and map of Chinese philosophy and define its boundaries.
