Philosophy: The Self-Destructive West and the Stillness of the East

The definition of philosophy, required for the context of this post: the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. It can both be argued that there is no division between Eastern and Western philosophy and also that there exists definite divisiveness. Studying both, I’ll certainly concede that there are fundamental similarities as there would undoubtedly be, but each side has its distinctly unique way of perceiving the world through looking at the self. Note that this will be an extremely subjective presentation of my thoughts, developed through my experiences studying Western Philosophy at a Canadian University and studying Eastern Philosophy on my own accord through various online courses and as more of a side hobby.

Philosophy has taken a rather divisive path at some point in the last few millenia. Perhaps it started with Aristotle’s Scientific Method. As it branched West, a reshuffling of priorities had taken shape. Logic and rationality took center stage and debates centered around, among many things, being an honorable citizen, rhetoric, scientific methods, etc. What’s more crucial to note here is not the actual ideologies that had been formed but, rather, the way in which the West practiced philosophy. There seemed to be a need to present novel concepts, to induce paradigm-shifts and to reinvent the wheel through novel modes of interpretation. Had this been tied to the way in which the church functioned? My knowledge regarding religious history is not rich…