Comparative (Chinese-Western) Introduction to Philosophy
Chad Hansen MB 307
Review Sampling intro to philosophical thought
Norms and tools of philosophy Arguments
Six traditions: China and West Broadly historical order
Plato, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Nietzsche, Zen, Dewey
Text available in philosophy department Web page http://www.hku.hk/philodep/ch
Bulletin Board for discussion argument http://www.hku.hk/discussboard/ and select
Comparative Philosophy Student - valid
Requirements: 100% coursework includes tests Coursework=quizzes, take-home mid-
term and in-class final Argumentative focus Quizzes almost weekly on Tuesdays
Grading 5-1 (explanation) Both exams: ten questions in
advance and prepare eight
Objectives 3 goals of philosophy education
Intensive: logic, deep analysis Extensive: range of options, open mind Insight, wisdom, judgment
Disciplined discourse—discussion lecture Ask questions as they come up Special times with review
Tutorials: 4 with 5 -6 each (by vote)
Warnings Plagiarism is not crediting a quotation
Minimally put quotes around it—name:year in parentheses or footnote
Zero for assignment, Zero for course, suspension
Penalty for late submission Graduated: decide when better to get it
done well (rule of A result) ¼ per day for quiz, 2% per day for tests
Basic Divisions Of Philosophy: Metaphysics: theory of being/reality
Idealism, materialism, dualism, monism (2 senses)
Epistemology: theory of knowledge Rationalism, empiricism, skepticism,
pragmatism Logic—includes semantics (meaning) Ethics—Value theory, prudence, art,
politics etc.
Questions?Quiz Question:Formulate an argument proving that the conclusion of any sound argument is true. (Hint: you will need the definition of 'argument' of 'valid' and of 'sound'.)
Greek Rationalism Start on Western Philosophy
Greek Rationalism Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
Pre-Socratics
Thales: Water
Western philosophy starts in mid-east Differences there at the beginning
Thales: stargazer and practical businessman Navigation and trade
"Everything is water" Growth and range of states of matter Early scientific theory (explain change)
Implicit Model Of Knowledge Knowledge as a description of reality Metaphysics and science as the
model Philosophy = love of knowledge "Natural" philosophy is early western
science Knowing is reducing to one,
unchanging thing Theoretical reduction of many to one
Dichotomies Of Greek Rationalism Western "perennial problems" of
philosophy Assumption: explanation is reducing many to
one Assumption: something permanent underlies
all change Shared with Indian Buddhism Only the permanent is real
Dependent or caused = unreal
Heraclitus: Fire
Series of other ‘reality’ candidates: Air or the indescribable absolute, or "love"
Often likened to Daoism – constant change The one is fire--symbolic "substance" for flux
Reality is no permanent reality (no substance) No reality, only change
Everything includes its opposite In the process of becoming it (yin-yang)
Also Gradual Substance Change
Cannot step in same river twice One river, one (?) water Mass stuffs and countable objects
with “lifetimes”A thing v the stuff it consists ofNot a concern in China
The Law (Logos) ”Exists"
All things in constant change 'Logos' crucial to Western philosophy
Discourse, words (bible), logic, reason, and –ology: Law: “all things change”
Link to 道 dao—guiding discourse Cannot know changing things
Knowing cannot catch up Knowledge is of reality so must be permanent Western knowledge is of eternal "truths"
Add "knowledge-belief" to the list of rationalist dichotomies
Parmenides: Being Exact opposite: nothing changes Influence on Plato – and western
philosophy Primacy of reason over experience Reason tells us experience is deceptive
What is is; what is not is not Cannot “become”
Truths of reason (tautologies/analytic truths)
Experience A Fantasy/Dream What is not cannot become
anything Experience is that things change
and move but rationally impossible Proof is hard to understand
Two possible elementsStart tale of differences
First Element "Cannot speak or think about what is
not" We can only refer to things that exist "Santa Claus lives at the north pole"
If Santa does not exist, the sentence is false
Consequently, we cannot think or speak about non-being
Second Element ‘Being’ tied to the Indo-European verb--to
be (copula) Two uses in Indo-European languages
Predicative and existential Predicative: needed to make a sentence or
assertion 他高 Links things to a subject To describe a thing is to say what "is" of it
What its existence includes
Existential “X is” = X exists = there is ( 有 ) X Blending the two uses leads to the view
that all change is impossible—why(?) To describe a change entails that it no longer
is what it was before This is to change “is not” to “is”
Parmenides construes change as non-being becomes being
That is impossible Hence change is impossible
Classical Chinese Case
Literary Chinese has no copula “exists” expressed with 有無 Also no required subject term Doesn’t have a puzzle about how being
can change This “Perennial” problem turns out to be a
problem of only one philosophical culture A problem rooted in the language used to talk
of existence and description
Guo Xiang: Like Parmenides 無 cannot become 有 and 有 cannot
become 無 Although it changes constantly, it never
ceases to exist So accepts that reality is in constant change—
no problem Can deny movement from non-being to being
without denying all change