Comparative philosophy and beyond…

Matti Nojonen13.1.2014

Aalto University

The traditional base

• Classical Western thought were born out of strive to understand the reason, “one behind the many”, logical reasoning and debate, deduction, pondering why we exist, identifying causal relations …

• Classical Chinese thought was predominantly interested on issues of proper social, political organization, motivations how to organize society and state, more like policy think-tanks

Differences in world views

Western ’scientific’ analysis

• Theory – practice• Conceptual preciseness• Agency – action• Subject – object• Agent (heroic) controls the

situation/process• Order (divine) comes from a

model, strive for universal law• “Reason”, “cause” behind the

order/reality can be deducted

Chinese world view• Notion of “dao” – constant flux

and movement, situational, never repetitive

• Conceptual ambiguity• Priority of situation, emphasize on

transformation/change over agency and action

• Subject – object deeply interdependent of the world of change, mutually replaceable

• Agent can never control, only lead the process to certain direction

• No divine order, Order always dynamic, models constantly changing, regularities always provisional, site-specific

Western driving force• Ontological drive: “Knowing

what the reality is behind appearances”

• ‘knowledge’ is based on logic, reason that can be illustrated in clear models and theories

Chinese driving force• Cosmological drive:

“Knowing how the world hangs together”

• “Knowing” is more of knowing+doing, knowing is practical, practice oriented, something you do something with, knowing is always more pragmatic than theoretical

The cosmology of dao

• Dao (道 ) is used by all Chinese schools of thought

• Early Chinese cosmological principle• ”reality is an endless stream of always novel

and real situations”• Yin-yang thinking• Agents cannot be decontextualised, agents

cannot be isolated, thinking and analysing only ”one” is impossible

Matteo Ricci

• Matteo Ricci, famous Jesuit in China (1552-1610):

• “to teach the Chinese to distinguish between substance and accident, the spiritual soul from material body, the creator and his creation, moral good from natural good”

• fundamental pattern of thinking differed, mental categories and modes of thought differed

Encounter with “the Science”

• Since late 19th century the Chinese (particularly the young radicals) began to adopt Western based scientific learning

• First: technological reforms (national defense, economy) failed, as the thinking was different

• Then rapid adoption of “Western learning” since the early 20th century– newest and most radical ideas adopted

“Western” learning

• Western scientific, political and cultural impact changed the traditional China

• From West: China first democracy in Asia (1911), but soon internal struggle

• May 4th Movement (1919) and radicalization of whole youth generation

• Youth: Smash the old Confucian China• Chinese Enlightenment Era, but soon struggle

between the Communists and Nationalists

Is there a legacy in thinking?

• Does Chinese world-view, cosmology differ?– Yes, Chinese do not have any trace of radical,

fundamental religious fanatism (or therefore wars of religion)

– Flexibility, adaptability and curiosity toward “religions”

– But how does affect social behavior? • The “Soviet” model of scientific education

heavy emphasize on hard sciences

Is there a legacy in thinking?• Concept of “Practical Rationality” (shiyong lixing, 实用理性 ), by Li Zehou

• Due to the ontological and cosmological differences the Chinese are extremely practical in what they do

• ”creative principle in a dynamic living process of historical accumulation of experiences”, ”more fullfilment to the end rather than than the appearance of the means”

• ”inseparateness of emotions from rationality (gingli bufen, 情理不分 )

• ”historical awareness” (lishi yishi, 历史意识 )

The geography of thought

• Does the cognition differ? Does it matter?• Case of dyslexia – there are differences in how the

brain function in reading• However, brain is adaptable• Cognition differ between Asians (Japanese, Korean)

and Westerners– Asians pay more attention to the relationship between

different “fishes” and potential changes– Westerners pay more attention to the individual (big)

fish and provide a static description