I wonder if it would be helpful to explicitly divide our Philosophy forum into two forums; one for Eastern thought and the other for Western?
Doubtless, Eastern and Western traditional approaches cross boundaries from time to time, but for the most part they remain embedded in their respective traditions and methods.
In hopes of preempting an obvious response, I freely admit there are endless possible further subdivisions: Western into Analytic/Contenintal, Eastern into Buddhist/Jewish, etc. And yet splitting the philosophy forum into Eastern/Western would no more set us on a slippery slope of endless classifications than did the separation of philosophy from religion.
Why pick such an arbitrary division at a geographical one? I’ve not come across any conclusive difference between Eastern and Western philosophy. No offence, but I really don’t see the point in doing this.
I’m not… quite too sure of your reasons for this, but it seems if only for a bit of aesthetic ease and comfortability, then it makes sense to me to split them both up. As you said,
Just for clarification however, I’m personally up for 1, 2, or no splits. I’m just playing devil’s advocate here.
Well, it is an ill-kept secret that I enjoy exploring eastern philosophy and there are times when it would be nice to be able to have a serious discussion without someone with no understanding killing a thread, but it really isn’t so much about eastern-western than it is about the level of certainty the posters bring to a thread. This is particularly true in the religion forum.
Even as I could take advantage of a split, I’d say no to the divisions. Understanding has no divisions and division is also an opportunity for alienation.
It would be nice if folks would at least have some understanding of the subject matter before expressing opinions. Either that, or ask questions. But that assumes that everyone is attempting to find understanding, and that isn’t always the case.
I don’t consider Eastern Philosophy to be anything, in any way, similar to Western Philosophy. When I hear the word “philosophy” I think of Western Philosophy. In this regard, the two “philosophy’s” are completely different. This said, I do not see the market for a completely different forum.
Imp - I think what Nick was asking for in religion was less of an obvious divide. I read his proposals and never clearly understood what he wanted, anyway. That may just be my ignorance, but I can clearly see the difference between Eastern “philosophy” and Western Philosophy.
Hi SIATD,
No offence taken. I asked for your views, not for your aggreement.
I might be less suprised if you’d said you’ve not come across any conclusive difference between American and European football.
Hey Old_Gobbo
We wouldn’t have to; not if we already had a dedicated forum for Eastern thought.
I confess that my first motivation was concern over the the quasi-Eastern philosophical/religious threads that find their way into the Philosophy fourm. Recent examples
How can one achieve liberation, moksha?
Can humans levitate?Is there an end to the impossibity?
What is an answer that does not answer?
Who can challenge a dragon?
One solution would be to move these, “What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?” threads over to the Religion forum. Only, I’ve noticed that a fair number of people at ILP have expressed an interest in Eastern thought. Tentative has just said as much.
Yes or no, it’s no big deal to me; and certainly not worth my arguing over. I’m just wondering aloud if we might satisfy a need by dedicating a forum to Eastern Thought (Philosophy/Religion)?
I do see the problem. Although I’m reluctant to say that the intent to explore philosophy isn’t the same anywhere, the perspectives and apriori assumptions do clash from time to time…
I think that it might be best to just move the eastern philosophy threads over to religion since issues metaphysical are a large part of eastern understanding. This would give more breathing room to the more logic dependant discussions of western thought.
Imp is the go-to person in making that sort of decision. I don’t think it needs a lot of fanfare. If an explanation is proffered with the move, most people would gladly comply. We all have those threads where we can’t decide which forum it belongs in, and very few of our members would object to the exact forum placement of their threads.
I see why you brought it up, I have noticed more of those IT’S SO DEEP, MAN threads cropping up. Would it be unfair to suggest that they belong in mundane babble? Maybe too condescending?
I think one of the strongest aspects of Eastern thought is its use in examining Western thought. While their metaphysics and world view are very different from the Western examples, when reflexively applied, Eastern though can shed light onto areas not previously explored.
The greatest benefits come from a discussion of ideas and a fusion of the concepts. Now, both sides need to keep in my where they are coming from and to keep modern thought in mind. If I started using ancient chinese Logic (A is to B as A’ is to B’) is a rational discussion I’d be laughed off the forum and rightly so. At the same time, discussion virtue ethics without at least touching on Eastern traditions in this area is extremely foolish.
Plus, Eastern thought can be as real and as useful as western though. However, due to misunderstandings, it gets co-opted by new agers and it becomes something else entirely. By creating an “Eastern Philosophy” forum, you are inviting discussions on crysal powers and othersuch non-sense. While those discussions may occasionally pop up now, they are pretty much ignored. Let’s not legitimize the more obscure aspects of Eastern Thought.
this might sound stupid, but don’t eastern and western philosophy just answer the same questions differently, so if we split them, would we not simply limit the opinions and arguments and viewpoints on a question depending on where we placed it. and to hear all possible arguments, would we not have to post the same thread in both? that seems silly to me… but i might just be being an idiot…
While both eastern and western philosophies ask similar questions, the apriori assumptions they make can differ widely, sometimes to the point of making one incomprehensible to the other. An example: "The sage does nothing and nothing is left undone: For most western thought this is incomprehensible. It makes perfect sense to me.
I’m inclined to believe such a virtual division would be useless - If it was a physical division, a “Hey let’s build a temple for the Chink-lovers to discuss stuff 500 miles over there.” Then, yes, the problem of Taoist-bashing would indeed be much decreased.
As it is though, a simple click will still bring your target of choice into view. Better to let the Taoists hide amongst the reeds of “Does God do sudoko…?” and other such burning questions.
Unity I say, unity !!! Everything is one afterall.
If you look at each closely enough, they are both, eventually, of the same. East and West are not so different from eachother as some people would like to think or funnily enough, think they know. No matter how much they think they’ve studied, hehe.
I am against the ‘splitting’ of eastern and western philosophy on these forums.
wriggly little critters, ain’t they?