Abstract
The question of whether what is known as ‘Eastern Philosophy’ qualifies as real philosophical venture engenders lingering divergent positions among scholars. Edmund Husserl, for instance, view the entire corpus as some forms of religion embodying specific systems of belief and mystical practices bereft of Greco-European model of philosophy. This paper is an attempt to further, in the context of ‘Receiving Asian Philosophy’, the project of consolidating the reality of that Philosophy. The paper attends to the project by exposing and examining, the philosophy of Taoism, which advances the interconnection between nature and reality, with special attention to its principles of nature. As a research based on qualitative method, this paper relies on library and web sources for data collection. It combines the methods of phenomenology and analysis (Phenomenalysis) for its enquiry. The paper finds that against the polemical viewpoints of Husserlian like minds, some other scholars including Joseph Adler, Chen Chung-Ying, Bina Gupta and Cheng Derong endeavoured to establish the philosophical appropriateness of Eastern Philosophy. It also finds that since philosophy can be viewed, in line with the thought of Theophilus Okere, as hermeneutics of culture, Chinese philosophy , an important aspect of Eastern philosophy is the critical presentation and interpretation of the Chinese culture. The paper further finds that Taoism with its emphasis on nature represents the oriental perspective to the entire corpus of humanism, although with minor content on scientific and technological progress. The uniqueness of this paper lies in its attempt to reinvent the import of Taoism especially its theory of quiescence in the contemporary world driven so much by the blare of homocentric humanism. Nevertheless, the paper’s appraisal of Taoism shows that its tenets cannot be taken in its totality. Rather any adherent of Tao ought to find a balance of life by developing intellectual capacity and proper disposition to the human preservation driven progress of the modern time. Keywords: Philosophy, Taoism, Quiescence, Humanism DOI: 10.7176/JPCR/50-08 Publication date: October 31 st 2020
Highlights
Questions about origins are usually difficult to answer, because they belong to the mysteries of history about which we may guess and propound theories but can never absolutely know
Safe to start from the exploration of the entire gamut of Chinese Philosophy, which, if understood, will make our task simpler, since it will be a sure aid to the understanding of Taoism and the cultural and philosophical current that gave rise to it amidst some Western scepticism
The paper further finds that Taoism with its emphasis on nature represents the oriental perspective to the entire corpus of humanism, with minor content on scientific and technological progress
Summary
Questions about origins are usually difficult to answer, because they belong to the mysteries of history about which we may guess and propound theories but can never absolutely know. As strikingly summed by Perkings(2015), While there was no word corresponding precisely to the term “metaphysics,” China has a long tradition of philosophical inquiry concerned with the ultimate nature of reality -- its being, origins, components, ways of changing, and so on In this sense, we can speak of metaphysics in Chinese Philosophy, even if the particular questions and positions that arose differed from those dominant in Europe. The Contemporary Period (1912--): Here, Chinese Philosophy entered into what can be conveniently called the era of endless confusion This is the era of continued influence by the West in what can be described as the cross-fertilisation of thoughts. Wikipedia describes him : “Lao Tzu, rendered as Laozi and Lao-Tze, was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer He is the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions.” (www.wikipedia.com). There would be few inventions, for these only add to the wealth of the rich and the power of the strong; there would be no books, no lawyers, no industries, and only village trade.(Durant, 1954)
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