Eastern_Philosophy

Eastern and Western Philosophers Comparison Brandi Taylor 03/12/2011 PHI/105 Eastern and Western philosophy has been a part of part of this world for many decades and generations. Each person may have their own understandings of what each philosopher means but can we ever fully understand the implications, intentions, or justifications for the differences with each one and their beliefs' I chose to compare Siddhartha Gautama and John Dewey, comparing these two gives understanding of the differences in culture, time, and essence. Eastern Philosopher Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563-c. 483 B.C.E) also known as Buddha was eastern philosopher who created Buddhism religion and philosophical thought. What led Siddharta Gautama to explore why the people suffered in so many ways were his thoughts and questions. He defined suffering as a long-term torment of one’s body and soul. Although Buddha was born in a life of comfort and never missed out from anything he would wish for, he set out to discover why there was suffering and how to dissolve of it. After six years of study he was certain that suffering was due to humanity, the changes which occur, and the doubt or dread the changes may cause (Moore & Bruder, 2008). The fact this in modern society we see many changes which affect the way people act and live makes this sound logical. In Siddhartha Gautama’s writings he concluded the Four Noble Truths: (1) There is suffering; (2) suffering has specific and identifiable causes; (3) suffering can be ended; (4) the way to end suffering is through enlightened living as expressed in the Eightfold Path (Moore & Bruder, 2008, p. 530). To understand the Four Noble Truths is to understand the Eight Fold Path to Enlightment. The Eight Fold Truth consists of eight stages which signify proper living. If all stages are followed, an individual will reach higher mental and behavioral traits, which allow happiness and strength to flow through. Buddha also thought that one’s karma has much to do with current life experiences, the reason people suffered was their lack of knowledge. Buddha did not believe in a godly creator that people were on their own with the discovery of how to live life without suffering. The Eight Fold Path was written so humans could walk a finder path without fear and doubt. Western Philosopher The western philosopher I chose is John Dewey (1859 – 1952) who was deeply involved with pragmatist movement of philosophy in America. Pragmatist rejected the idea that there is such a thing as fixed, absolute truth. Instead, they held that truth is relative to a time and place and purpose and it is thus ever changing in light of new data (Moore & Bruder, 2008, p. 222). Considering everything changes every day whether we want it to or not, this makes perfect sense. John Dewey’s modern way of thinking became known as instrumentalism, which is human thoughts and activity. He believed that people could use their minds to solve problems instead of searching for the truths. John Dewey believed that thinking was an activity and would lead people to answers needed for living a better and less suffering. His beliefs corresponds with other philosopher with that humans have the ability to make things better within their life and find happiness. This is how Buddha and John Dewey are similar. Buddha’s path of enlightment was bettering oneself to help us to deal with life’s changes and end suffering, when John Dewey’s believed suffering could be concurred. There are also many differences between Buddha and John Dewey, mostly the differences in time frames of life and culture play a vast role here. John Dewey’s thoughts were based on logic and real life scenarios, while Buddha’s thoughts and experiences were more of a mystical element. Buddha’s remedy was based on his individual changing through meditation and self reflection, while Dewey helped people and society through hands on change. I agree with both Eastern and Western philosophy but I lend more throws Western philosophy. It makes sense that things are always changing and we are always changing with it. They way I see it is how change controls how our life changes. Reference Moore, B. N., Bruder, K. (2008). Philosophy: The power of ideas (7th Ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Eastern Influences Chapter 15 The Pragmatic and Analytic Traditions Chapter 9