A comparison of the conditions for the emergence of Chinese and western philosophy

Liu xiangxiong

Everything has a stage of production, and the process of production is not necessarily clear, on the contrary, it may be vague. This requires exploring the source of things, starting from scratch, sorting out the development of things, and trying to predict their future development, and philosophy is no exception. In the study of western philosophy, ancient Greece is an indispensable part and ancient Greek philosophy is the source of western philosophy. Western philosophy originated in ancient Greece, and has gone through the stages of ancient Greek philosophy, Christian philosophy, modern philosophy and modern philosophy. In its long-term development, the philosophical issues concerned by western philosophy are constantly changing, and there have been two turns of modern philosophy and modern philosophy. The problems discussed in modern western philosophy mainly focus on epistemology, while modern western philosophy has begun to change to humanism (the characteristics of contemporary philosophy are not obvious, and the generalized culture named after modernity is more distributed in literary criticism, anthropology and some marginal issues, but it is still in the development stage of modern western philosophy. Although the development of western philosophy after ancient Greece can not be mentioned in the same breath, it still inherits the philosophical spirit of ancient Greece, which is manifested in the concern for the reasons behind various phenomena and the pursuit of certainty. Unlike western philosophy, the emergence of China's philosophy did not find a clear starting point, nor did the early philosophers of ancient Greece try to completely break away from tradition or create new traditions. Most scholars believe that China's philosophy began in the Book of Changes, and can even be traced back to earlier concepts, such as Yin-Yang and Five Elements. Since then, the development and theoretical basis of China's philosophy and science often come from these traditional ideas. Throughout China's philosophy, the inheritance of various theories is obvious. Although the issues discussed by various schools are different, they mainly focus on political ethics, that is, they all show concern and norms for people.

The emergence of philosophy needs certain natural, social and economic conditions, such as ancient Greek philosophy, which is the initial stage of western philosophy, and China's philosophy is no exception. However, due to the lack of ancient Greek classics and incomplete information, it is often the fragmentary records of some biographers or philosophers, which greatly limits the comprehensive understanding of ancient Greek philosophers' thoughts and the comparison between Chinese and western philosophy. The following is a comparison of the initial conditions of ancient Greek philosophy and China philosophy, trying to reveal the differences between Chinese and western philosophy from the source, so as to better understand the trend and development of the two philosophies and finally realize mutual exchange and integration:

First, natural conditions: ancient Greece was mountainous and did not have farming conditions. It doesn't have fertile land like most ancient civilizations, but it is suitable for planting fruit trees, especially grapes and olives. Most of the wine and olive oil it produces are exported. Therefore, fundamentally speaking, ancient Greece was still an agricultural economy, not a commodity economy as some scholars thought. In the case of poor land transportation and lack of farming conditions like China, the economic development of ancient Greece must make use of its good coastline and vigorously develop maritime trade, and then it can communicate with other regions through the ocean and exchange needed goods. Therefore, ancient Greece formed a relatively developed commodity economy in the process of maritime trade. In the process of economic exchanges with other regions, we have the opportunity to contact different civilizations (such as Asian civilization and Egyptian civilization), learn their achievements and cultural essence, and criticize, transform and synthesize them, thus forming a philosophy-scientific culture with ancient Greek characteristics. In terms of natural factors, the geographical environment of China is very different from that of ancient Greece, because the natural conditions of China are different from those of ancient Greece. First of all, China is vast in territory and abundant in natural resources, with convenient land transportation and relatively developed agriculture. Economic exchange is mainly through the exchange of needed goods between inland countries (even concentrated in several vassal countries), but it is not necessary or difficult (because although China also has a long coastline, the Pacific Ocean was under the navigation conditions at that time). Secondly, in ancient times, due to the limitation of traffic conditions, the cultures in the same area were often similar. For example, there are no fundamental differences in the cultures of countries around China (such as Indian civilization), or China is a "cultural satellite country" of culture. Although they are different in specific performance, they are essentially facing their own "inner culture". Such external conditions limit the vision of China culture to a similar traditional environment and become an introverted culture. Thirdly, China's culture was the advanced culture at that time, and it was often difficult for advanced culture to accept and identify with cultural backwardness, while cultural backwardness could well accept and identify with advanced culture (such as ancient Greece and Japan). Therefore, under the influence of so many natural conditions, ancient China had little contact with other different civilizations, and then introduced less advanced cultures from other civilizations, forming a unique, stable and perfect cultural structure. These natural conditions make China's philosophy characterized by closed self-development and stability.

Second, social conditions: due to the barrier of natural factors, it was difficult for ancient Greece to form a unified centralized state under the historical conditions at that time, and the natural isolation of the city-states was conducive to the independent and free development of the city-states. Under the condition of relative independence, various forms of government have emerged according to the actual situation of the city-state, including tyranny, oligarchy, nobility, Republic, democracy, monarch and so on. This situation "really benefits from the relatively fragmented geographical environment of this region under a certain level of productivity and Greek political organization ability" (1). In a pluralistic environment, it can promote mutual comparison and thinking, and people's thoughts are also diversified, which stimulates people's critical spirit and creative ability, and is also conducive to forming a new and more correct understanding in mutual comparison. On the other hand, the famous democracy in ancient Greece was formed in some loose city-states, which generally provided social conditions for the emergence of philosophy, because under the democratic system, free thought and mutual debate could be allowed to exist legally, which allowed and even protected citizens' right to free thought, and was conducive to the emergence and development of some ideas that deviated from tradition or were fashionable at present. It has even become a social fashion-some powerful people often invite some "celebrities" to get together for discussion, which greatly promotes the diversification of ideas. Some people try to open up other roads or criticize tradition-instead of simply inheriting it and putting forward their own views. In this free environment, it is possible to transcend tradition (mainly witchcraft and mythology), thus forming a new tradition of ancient Greek philosophy: surpassing tradition. Therefore, ancient Greek philosophy has the characteristics of scientific spirit and continuous transcendence, so the city-state system and democratic system have created the necessary social environment for the emergence of ancient Greek philosophy. In China, although the early formation of a centralized country is conducive to the rapid economic development, the traditional thought of worshipping heaven and ancestors directly inherited from witchcraft and rituals has produced a value orientation of taking the family as the center and paying attention to the relationship between people in order to achieve physical and mental harmony, which has formed a unique Chinese culture in a unified country and vigorously promoted it through state power, making the ideological tradition form earlier and more consistent. On the other hand, the stricter ideological constraints limit the freedom of thought in a narrow range (although China's philosophy had a prosperous period in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was developed on the premise of traditional stereotypes), and there is little room for discussion, research and debate. Most thinkers regard traditional thoughts as the main source of political behavior, etiquette and moral norms, which further develops China's philosophy in the ethical (political) direction. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, hundred schools of thought's views were different, but they could not transcend the tradition, and they were all carried out within the limits of tradition. Their theories also try to seek proofs from ancient legends and ancient books to support their own theories, which also shows that China's philosophy does not take a positive criticism of tradition, but inherits and explains it, and this attitude has been strengthened to become the mainstream of China's philosophy: inheriting tradition.

3. Economic conditions: With the development of social economy, some people can directly get rid of material production and engage in mental work. Aristotle believes that philosophy comes from "the necessities of life and all kinds of things that make people happy and comfortable" (2) Therefore, in ancient Greece, the discussion of politics and philosophy obtained the material premise after the social and economic development, but most people mainly thought about political issues, while some people shifted their attention to political systems and political norms, as well as people and society, and turned to the reasons behind nature and phenomena. Using reason instead of experience to explore the causal relationship between phenomena, they marveled at the wonder of various natural phenomena. "First of all, they marveled at various puzzling phenomena and gradually accumulated bit by bit explanations. Explain some important issues, such as the movement of the sun, moon and stars and the creation of the universe "(3). And try to seek the non-divine and unchangeable reasons behind various natural phenomena, try to prove their rationality with theory, pay attention to the clarity of concepts and the rigor of logic, and then produce the unique philosophical-scientific thinking mode in ancient Greece. However, in ancient China, economic development should be more prosperous than in ancient Greece. Why didn't China, which had the premise of material satisfaction, "marvel" at nature like ancient Greece? The reasons are as follows: On the one hand, China traditional culture attaches importance to the role of experience. In China's various theories, both science and technology and ethics need to be practiced, even philosophy is no exception. Therefore, China ancient science has always been rich in practical technology and various inventions, but it lacks scientific theory resources; On the other hand, the intellectual class in China is also on the premise of material satisfaction, but they are not independent in social status, and must be attached to and nurtured by the powerful, so they need to serve the powerful for power and profit. Therefore, scholars pay attention to political struggle and power struggle, rather than the "useless thing" like ancient Greek philosophers. On the contrary, in ancient Greece, the relationship between philosophers and dignitaries was generally equal and their personalities were independent. Some philosophers are even aristocrats themselves, so they can think freely and independently. The relative exceptions in China are Lao Zi and Zhuangzi. They are not scholars who serve the nobility. Their philosophical thoughts are also most similar to those of ancient Greece. They all put forward their views on the origin (even further put forward the stipulation of the general origin of Tao) and rich dialectical views. However, the Taoist culture they formed has not become the mainstream of China's cultural development. It is determined by the general direction that China culture pays attention to personnel. In the end, Taoism became mainly concerned with human survival. Although they also discuss nature, their ultimate goal is to cultivate one's self-cultivation rather than to find the origin of the world, thus forming a development direction different from that of ancient Greek philosophy and eventually becoming a religion of self-cultivation. Thirdly, the ancient Greek philosophy regards nature as the object of understanding. China's ideological tradition of "harmony between man and nature" formed under the influence of primitive mythology and primitive religion, and his thought of respecting heaven and filial piety have great influence on the development of China's philosophy. Among them, the idea of "respecting heaven" is particularly important, and "respecting heaven" is based on faith and awe, so it regards heaven as something beyond doubt and has a sacred position. As for whether this "heaven" is God or something else, according to China's traditional thought, it goes without saying that there is no need to care. Therefore, "heaven" does not have the great power of the gods like western myths and religions, nor does it have the supremacy of the origin of all things. Although everything comes from "heaven", it needs the change of Yin and Yang and the metaplasia of the five elements to produce everything, so it does not form an absolute way of thinking like ancient Greek philosophy. In a word, when facing natural things, China culture always avoids paying attention to the reasons behind natural phenomena, and more often falls into reality. It solves practical problems and regulates people's behavior through experience. Ancient Greek philosophy paid attention to "what is it?" China's philosophy discusses "how to do it?" .

What has been discussed above is the mutual contrast between Chinese and western philosophy at the beginning, from which we can see the great differences in direction and method between Chinese and western philosophy, but it is not important to find out the differences between them from the comparison. What is more important is to find a new foothold and combination point for the integration of Chinese and western philosophy, so as to lay a solid foundation for the integration of Chinese and western cultures and the revival of Chinese culture. Of course, this is not an easy thing. Because many modern philosophers in China are constantly thinking about this problem, but they have never found a suitable way to integrate the two, so this work can only be discussed later through continuous study and thinking, and it is too rash to elaborate in this article, which makes everyone laugh.