Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures roughly contemporaneously.Karl Jaspers termed the intense period of philosophical development beginning around the 7th century BCE and concluding around the 3rd century BCE anAxial Age in human thought.
Graphical relationship among the various pre-Socraticphilosophers and thinkers; red arrows indicate a relationship of opposition.Raphael'sSchool of Athens, depicting an array of ancient Greek philosophers engaged in discussion.
While there are ancient relations between the IndianVedas and the IranianAvesta, the two main families of the Indo-Iranian philosophical traditions were characterized by fundamental differences in their implications for the human being's position in society and their view of man's role in the universe. The first charter ofhuman rights byCyrus the Great as understood in theCyrus cylinder is often seen as a reflection of the questions and thoughts expressed byZarathustra and developed inZoroastrian schools of thought of theAchaemenid Era ofIranian history.[1][2]
Ideas and tenets of Zoroastrian schools of Early Persian philosophy are part of many works written inMiddle Persian and of the extant scriptures of the Zoroastrian religion inAvestan language. Among these are treatises such as theShikand-gumanic Vichar by Mardan-Farrux Ohrmazddadan, selections ofDenkard, Wizidagīhā-ī Zātspram ("Selections of Zātspram") as well as older passages of the book Avesta, theGathas which are attributed to Zarathustra himself and regarded as his "direct teachings".[3]
Indian philosophy begins with theVedas wherein questions pertaining to laws of nature, the origin of the universe, and the place of man in it are asked. In the famousRigvedicHymn of Creation (Nasadiya Sukta) the poet asks:
"Whence all creation had its origin,
he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,
he, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
he knows—or maybe even he does not know."
In theVedic view, creation is ascribed to the self-consciousness of the primeval being (Purusha). This leads to the inquiry intothe one being that underlies the diversity of empirical phenomena and the origin of all things. Cosmic order is termedrta and causal law bykarma. Nature (prakriti) is taken to have three qualities (sattva,rajas, andtamas).
Jainism andBuddhism are a continuation of the Sramana school of thought. The Sramanas cultivated a pessimistic worldview of the samsara as full of suffering and advocated renunciation and austerities. They laid stress on philosophical concepts like Ahimsa, Karma, Jnana, Samsara and Moksa.Cārvāka (Sanskrit: चार्वाक) (atheist) philosophy, also known as Lokāyata, it is a system of Hindu philosophy that assumes various forms of philosophical skepticism and religious indifference. It is named after its founder, Cārvāka, author of the Bārhaspatya-sūtras.
Rishaba –Rishi mentioned inRig Veda and later in several Puranas, and believed by Jains to be the first official religiousguru ofJainism, as accredited by later followers.
Siddhasenadivākarasuri (5th century CE), Jain logician and author of important works in Sanskrit and Prakrit, such as Nyāyāvatāra (on logic) and Sanmatisūtra (dealing with the seven Jaina standpoints, knowledge and the objects of knowledge)
Kundakunda (2nd century CE), exponent of Jain mysticism andJain nayas dealing with the nature of the soul and its contamination by matter, author ofPañcāstikāyasāra (Essence of the Five Existents), thePravacanasāra (Essence of the Scripture) and theSamayasāra (Essence of the Doctrine)
Umāsvāti or Umasvami (2nd century CE), author of first Jain work in Sanskrit,Tattvārthasūtra, expounding theJain philosophy in a most systematized form acceptable to all sects of Jainism
Adi Shankara – philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of theAdvaita Vedanta school of philosophy
The Hundred Schools of Thought were philosophers and schools that flourished from the 6th century to 221 BCE,[13] an era of significant cultural and intellectual expansion in China. Even though this period – known in its earlier part as theSpring and Autumn period and theWarring States period – in its latter part was fraught with chaos and bloody battles, it is also known as the Golden Age ofChinese philosophy because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely. The thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influencedlifestyles andsocial consciousness up to the present day in East Asian countries. Theintellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods ofgovernment,war, anddiplomacy. This period ended with the rise of theQin dynasty and the subsequentpurge of dissent. TheBook of Han lists ten major schools, they are:
Confucianism, which teaches that human beings are teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavors, especially including self-cultivation and self-creation. The main idea of Confucianism is the cultivation of virtue and the development of moral perfection. Confucianism holds that one should give up one's life, if necessary, either passively or actively, for the sake of upholding the cardinal moral values ofren andyi.[14]
Legalism. Often compared withMachiavelli, and foundational for the traditional Chinese bureaucratic empire, the Legalists examined administrative methods, emphasizing a realistic consolidation of the wealth and power of autocrat and state.
Taoism (also called Daoism), a philosophy which emphasizes theThree Jewels of the Tao:compassion,moderation, andhumility, while Taoist thought generally focuses onnature, the relationship between humanity and the cosmos;health andlongevity; andwu wei (action through inaction). Harmony with theUniverse, or the source thereof (Tao), is the intended result of many Taoist rules and practices.
Mohism, which advocated the idea of universal love: Mozi believed that "everyone is equal before heaven" and that people should seek to imitate heaven by engaging in the practice of collective love. His epistemology can be regarded as primitive materialistempiricism; he believed that human cognition ought to be based on one's perceptions – one's sensory experiences, such as sight and hearing – instead of imagination or internal logic, elements founded on the human capacity for abstraction. Mozi advocated frugality, condemning the Confucian emphasis on ritual and music, which he denounced as extravagant.
Agrarianism, or theSchool of Agrarianism, which advocated peasantutopian communalism andegalitarianism.[16] The Agrarians believed that Chinese society should be modeled around that of the early sage kingShen Nong, a folk hero which was portrayed in Chinese literature as "working in the fields, along with everyone else, and consulting with everyone else when any decision had to be reached."[16]
TheSchool of Diplomacy or School of Vertical and Horizontal [Alliances], which focused on practical matters instead of any moral principle, stressed political and diplomatic tactics, debate, and lobbying skills. Scholars from this school were good orators, debaters, and tacticians.
The Miscellaneous School, which integrated teachings from different schools; for instance,Lü Buwei found scholars from different schools to write a book calledLüshi Chunqiu cooperatively. This school tried to integrate the merits of various schools and avoid their perceived flaws.
The School of "Minor-talks" was not a unique school of thought but a philosophy constructed of all the thoughts discussed by and originated from ordinary people on the street.
Another group is the School of the Military that studied strategy and thephilosophy of war;Sunzi andSun Bin were influential leaders. However, this school was not one of the "Ten Schools" defined by Hanshu.
The founder of the Qin dynasty, who implemented Legalism as the official philosophy,quashed Mohist and Confucianist schools. Legalism remained influential until the emperors of theHan dynasty adopted Daoism and later Confucianism as official doctrine. These latter two became the determining forces of Chinese thought until the introduction of Buddhism.
Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han dynasty, whose greatest thinker wasDong Zhongshu, who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements. He also was a promoter of the New Text school, which considered Confucius as a divine figure and a spiritual ruler of China, who foresaw and started the evolution of the world towards the Universal Peace. In contrast, there was an Old Text school that advocated the use of Confucian works written in ancient language (from this comes the denominationOld Text) that were so much more reliable. In particular, they refuted the assumption of Confucius as a godlike figure and considered him as the greatest sage, but simply a human and mortal.
The 3rd and 4th centuries saw the rise of theXuanxue (mysterious learning), also calledNeo-Taoism. The most influential philosophers of this movement wereWang Bi,Xiang Xiu andGuo Xiang. The main question of this school was whether Being came before Not-Being (in Chinese,ming andwuming). A peculiar feature of these Taoist thinkers, like theSeven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, was the concept offeng liu (lit. wind and flow), a sort of romantic spirit which encouraged following the natural and instinctive impulse.
Buddhism arrived in China around the 1st century AD, but it was not until theNorthern and Southern,Sui andTang dynasties that it gained considerable influence and acknowledgement. In the beginning, it was considered a sort of Taoist sect, and there was even a theory aboutLaozi, founder of Taoism, who went to India and taught his philosophy toBuddha.Mahayana Buddhism was far more successful in China than its rivalHinayana, and both Indian schools and local Chinese sects arose from the 5th century. Two chiefly important monk philosophers wereSengzhao andDaosheng. But probably the most influential and original of these schools was theChan sect, which had an even stronger impact in Japan as theZen sect.
^Philip G. Kreyenbroek: "Morals and Society in Zoroastrian Philosophy" in "Persian Philosophy". Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy: Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam. Routledge, 2009.
^Mary Boyce: "The Origins of Zoroastrian Philosophy" in "Persian Philosophy". Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy: Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam. Routledge, 2009.
^An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia. From Zoroaster to 'Umar Khayyam. S. H. Nasr & M. Aminrazavi. I. B. Tauris Publishers, London & New York, 2008.ISBN978-1845115418.
^Zurvan. A Zoroastrian Dilemma. Robert Charles Zaehner. Biblo and Tannen, 1972.ISBN0-8196-0280-9.
^abSasanian Iran - intellectual life. A. Tafazzoli and A. L. Khromov in: History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Crossroads of Civilization. B. A. Litvinsky, Zhang Guand-Da, R. Shabani Samghabadi. Unesco, 1996.ISBN9231032119.
^Mansour Shaki.Falsafa. Philosophy in the pre-Islamic period. Encyclopædia Iranica. Volume IX. 1999.ISBN0-933273-35-5.
^Prods Oktor Skjaervo.Bardesanes. Encyclopædia Iranica. Volume III. Fasc. 7–8.ISBN0-7100-9121-4.
^David A. Scott.Manichaean Views of Buddhism in: History of Religions. Vol. 25, No. 2, Nov. 1985. University of Chicago Press.
^Yarshater, Ehsan. 1983. The Cambridge history of Iran, volume 2. pp. 995–997
Luchte, James,Early Greek Thought: Before the Dawn, in seriesBloomsbury Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2011.ISBN978-0567353313
