Santiago Lasso

April 18, 2014

Block 2
The Connection between East and West
Are philosophies that developed in the Western part of the word the same as the ones
created on the Eastern side? Eastern philosophies give an important thought to the doubting of
everything and the dependence on nature. Western philosophies give an ideal of creating
questions for everything and the questions are more important than the answers. Both
philosophies cross paths when it comes to doubt and the way to find wisdom and knowledge.
Eastern and Western philosophies should be taught together because they complement each other
in their way of thinking.
Eastern philosophies give importance to the doubting of everything and the dependence
on nature. This is true because it is mainly the way of thinking of important religions such as
Buddhism, and it is the way the Buddha reached enlightenment. Siddhartha Gautama said this,
Believe nothing! Belief is a confession of ignorance! This is the way in which people in the
Eastern world thought and the way they acted upon those thoughts. Another example is Taoism,
which states that the human cannot reach wisdom through knowledge, and to reach wisdom there
should be a liberation from the strict rules of convention. (Kapra, 2003). The ways of thinking
of the East are about liberation and going back to nature, and maintain away from the rules of
society to achieve knowledge. This is how philosophies in the East base their thoughts and
philosophies, which also appear in their religions.
Western philosophies give an ideal of making questions for everything and the questions
are more important than the answers. The main ideals of Western philosophy are similar to those
of Eastern philosophy when it comes to doubting everything. This is evidenced by the words of
Descartes when he said, If you would be a real seeker after the truth, it is necessary that at least
once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. The reality of the world is not
accepting all that is said to be real, but also doubting everything that is said and done. There do
exist other differences in the way of thinking of the western world, such as the ones said by
Aristotle and his idea that the universe is infinite and that Change, to Aristotle, was cyclical:
water, for instance might evaporate but overall conditions would never change. The idea that
everything in the universe is cyclical and everything goes back to where it started has a large
influence in philosophies developed. This is how questioning has affected ideas in the Western
world, even in conditions of nature.
The ways of thinking of the West and of the East balance each other out with their
similarities and their differences, making them important to be taught together. This should be
highlighted for the daily knowledge of people. The common citizen should be aware of the
different ways of thinking because each person is different so knowledge can be reached by the
way of thinking of the combination of Western and Eastern ideals. As a result of both
philosophies being taught together, there would be a larger span of knowledge because different
points of view that share a midpoint provide a broader amount of guidelines for people to find
wisdom. For these reasons, the West and East should be taught together in their philosophies,
and the ways of processing information and questions.