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Thread: Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition

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    Default Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition

    These two video courses are going to fill in a prominent void in knowledge for me:
    – the Eastern intellectual tradition, and the history and roles of prominent women of antiquity through the Middle Ages. In my experience, this type of knowledge is not even remotely an expectation of a traditional undergraduate college education, and one has to put effort into seeking it out on your own to acquire any passing familiarity with the subject matter. I consider these courses to be a cure to my ignorance!

    Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition
    Professor Grant Hardy, Ph.D. University of North Carolina, Asheville

    Western philosophy is a vast intellectual tradition, the product of thousands of years of revolutionary thought built up by a rich collection of brilliant minds. When most of us study philosophy, we're focusing only on the Western intellectual tradition brought about by people such as Aristotle, Descartes, and Nietzsche. But to understand the Western intellectual tradition is to only get half of the story.

    Among the many sages, mystics, poets, revolutionaries, critics, novelists, politicians, and scientists you encounter in Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition are some you may have heard of before but have never gotten an in-depth introduction to.

    -Zarathustra: This ancient Persian priest was the father of Zoroastrianism, a belief system that spread throughout the near East and parts of the West. Zarathustra's greatest insight was that the universe is characterized by dualism, with good and evil locked in a cosmic conflict in which individuals must choose one side or the other.
    -The Buddha: Born Siddhartha Gautama around 563 B.C., the Buddha achieved a profound state of enlightenment after meditating under a bodhi tree. Although he retained classical ideas from Hinduism, he sharply differed from it when he taught that nothing has a soul and that any grasping at permanence ends in suffering and failure.
    -Confucius: A contemporary of the Buddha, Confucius is the most significant philosopher in Chinese history. He developed a program for lifelong moral growth that would influence the culture for more than a thousand years. Confucius saw the answer to the increased violence and lawlessness of his society as rooted in the social standards of sages, not revelation.
    -Gandhi: Best known for the concept of satyagraha (nonviolent resistance), this Indian independence fighter changed his philosophical ideas over time in response to particular situations. His overarching goal, however, was a more humane way of life based on self-government, self-sufficiency, and a deep connection to one's community.
    Many of the great minds in this course will undoubtedly be new to you, but despite their unfamiliarity, you'll learn that their lives and views held just as profound an influence on the course of Eastern philosophy and history. Four of the many figures you'll come face to face with are

    -Ashoka, the Indian ruler and Buddhist convert whose role in the spread of Buddhism is similar to that of Emperor Constantine's in Christianity;
    -Prince Shotoku, one of the most admired individuals in Japan and author of a 17-article constitution that, unlike the U.S. Constitution, was a list of moral injunctions on leadership;
    -Patanjali, the Indian philosopher who developed yoga as a means not for stress reduction or flexibility but for people to escape life's suffering and achieve spiritual liberation; and
    -Nanak, a contemporary of Martin Luther who became the first Sikh guru and taught that salvation comes when the soul, after cycles of reincarnation, is finally united with the One God.
    Warriors, Queens, and Intellectuals: 36 Great Women before 1400
    Professor Joyce E. Salisbury, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

    Throughout history, women have played integral roles in family, society, religion, government, war—in short, in all aspects of human civilization. Powerful women have shaped laws, led rebellions, and played key roles in dynastic struggles. Some were caught up in forces beyond their control, while others manipulated and murdered their way to the top. However, unearthing their stories from the historical record has been a challenge, with the ordinary difficulties of preserving information across the generations increased by centuries of historical bias and gendered expectations. Women, when they were mentioned at all, often filled the role of virtuous maiden, self-effacing mother, or seductive villain. Imagine what you are missing when only half the story is being told.

    Power isn’t always about wealth and political clout. Sometimes, it can come from something as simple as the ability to read and write. For centuries of human history, women were often denied access to literacy and education. Since most would live out their lives as the keepers of hearth and home, education for women was often considered unnecessary—or even morally dangerous. Despite these fears and the limitations they imposed, we know that some women were able to pursue knowledge and deeply influence fields such as:

    -Religion: The writings of Christian martyr Perpetua became so influential after her death that church leaders warned others not to treat them as scripture.
    -History: Byzantine princess Anna Comnena is credited with writing one of history’s greatest chronicles of the First Crusade.
    -Mathematics: Lubna of Córdoba was an astonishing mathematician who became an intellectual leader in a time and place where women were rarely accepted as public figures.
    -Literature: Lady Murasaki of Japan wrote what is now considered to be the first prose novel, hundreds of years before the novel would become a definitive literary form in Europe.
    -Philosophy: Perhaps best remembered for her love affair with Abelard, Heloise made her own mark on the world through her writings on philosophy and religion.
    -Medicine: The German Benedictine abbess Hildegard revolutionized the medical field with her writings that blended the science of the day with more traditionally feminine knowledge of herbs and food.

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    nice list.. great topic. eastern thought is just not.....thought of much. But it's got a lot to offer about the state of minds

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    you might want this moved to the religion forum -more activity/views

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    I’m surprised that Sun Tzu wasn’t mentioned.
    You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople View Post
    I’m surprised that Sun Tzu wasn’t mentioned.
    I would expect an astute observation like that from you.

    As far as I can tell, he is indeed featured in lecture 10 course, but rather than using his westernized name "Sun Tzu" he is referred to in this class by his traditional Chinese name Sunzi.

    Sunzi
    CHINESE STRATEGIST

    Sunzi, (Wade-Giles romanization Sun-tzu, also spelled Sun Tzu), personal name Sun Wu, (flourished 5th century BC), reputed author of the Chinese classic Bingfa (The Art of War), the earliest known treatise on war and military science.

    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sunzi

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    Quote Originally Posted by anatta View Post
    nice list.. great topic. eastern thought is just not.....thought of much. But it's got a lot to offer about the state of minds
    I literally cannot think of a single friend, colleague, acquantaince that took any kind of class in college focused on Eastern intellectual history. In contrast, quite a few people I knew took the standard undergraduate philosophy and psychology classes focused on the western tradition of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Freud, Nietzsche, et al.

    So my hope is to alleviate some of my ignorance about the Eastern tradition.

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    Quote Originally Posted by anatta View Post
    you might want this moved to the religion forum -more activity/views
    Appreciate the suggestion, and if there was a do-over, I might reconsider the subforum category.
    I am of the mind that the fanatical, neurotic, and even obsessive fixation on making sure posts are in the “right” forum to a preposterous preoccupation with trivial minutiae. This is an obscure forum with like two dozen active members; does it really matter? – for the most part I say let anyone post wherever they want, and don’t worry about it. Just my two cents.

    On another tangent, I have wanted to learn more about Daoism because it doesn’t seem to have the rigidity and prescriptive social function of Confucianism, and it seems to accept the reality, necessity, and spirituality of the natural world in a way that Buddhism does not. Of course, my ignorance of Eastern philosophy is vast, so I have attempt to avoid being an armchair expert, and remain open to the possibility that I am dead wrong about all that.

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    With 6 you get egg rolls
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    I’ve long been interested in Eastern philosophy. It’s one of the things I found fascinating about studying Chiropractic arts and sciences was the heavy influence Eastern philosophy has on the profession.
    You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople View Post
    I’ve long been interested in Eastern philosophy. It’s one of the things I found fascinating about studying Chiropractic arts and sciences was the heavy influence Eastern philosophy has on the profession.
    That's an interesting observation. I have a friend who's a chiro and very much "into" Eastern philosophy. For a long time I thought it was just a personal preference of his, but others seem to be the same way. What do you find fascinating about it?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cypress View Post
    These two video courses are going to fill in a prominent void in knowledge for me:
    – the Eastern intellectual tradition, and the history and roles of prominent women of antiquity through the Middle Ages. In my experience, this type of knowledge is not even remotely an expectation of a traditional undergraduate college education, and one has to put effort into seeking it out on your own to acquire any passing familiarity with the subject matter. I consider these courses to be a cure to my ignorance!
    Are these part of those "Great Courses" lectures?

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    Quote Originally Posted by ThatOwlWoman View Post
    That's an interesting observation. I have a friend who's a chiro and very much "into" Eastern philosophy. For a long time I thought it was just a personal preference of his, but others seem to be the same way. What do you find fascinating about it?
    Their concept of energy flow. It’s very similar to the Western concept of neural networks and predates that Western concept by a millennia.

    Also the Western concept of homeostasis has its parallel in the Eastern concept of Chi,
    Last edited by Mott the Hoople; 07-03-2019 at 05:44 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople View Post
    Their concept of energy flow. It’s very similar to the Western concept of neural networks and predates that Western concept by a millennia.

    Also the Western concept of homeostasis has its parallel in the Eastern concept of Chi,
    I didn't know that. My Western-trained mind has a hard time with both understanding those concepts, and finding value in them. It wants to run around screaming "bogus". lol

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    Quote Originally Posted by ThatOwlWoman View Post
    I didn't know that. My Western-trained mind has a hard time with both understanding those concepts, and finding value in them. It wants to run around screaming "bogus". lol
    Not of you think of an action potential as energy flow. Which it is. For example study acupunctures energy meridians. They are literally identical to the major nerve pathways.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cypress View Post
    Appreciate the suggestion, and if there was a do-over, I might reconsider the subforum category.
    I am of the mind that the fanatical, neurotic, and even obsessive fixation on making sure posts are in the “right” forum to a preposterous preoccupation with trivial minutiae. This is an obscure forum with like two dozen active members; does it really matter? – for the most part I say let anyone post wherever they want, and don’t worry about it. Just my two cents.

    On another tangent, I have wanted to learn more about Daoism because it doesn’t seem to have the rigidity and prescriptive social function of Confucianism, and it seems to accept the reality, necessity, and spirituality of the natural world in a way that Buddhism does not. Of course, my ignorance of Eastern philosophy is vast, so I have attempt to avoid being an armchair expert, and remain open to the possibility that I am dead wrong about all that.
    daoism is ying/yang principle of the duality of nature and all things
    ~~

    The ancient Chinese concluded that nature is based on the interaction of complementary, mutually dependent opposites (active-passive, male-female, sun-earth, giving-receiving, advancing-retreating, etc.).

    Everything in the universe can be explained as a manifestation of two complementary opposites. Yin and yang are generic types that refer to these opposites.

    Having seen that nature is based on the interaction of polar opposites, the Chinese figured they would do well to study all aspects of this polarity so as to “insert themselves” in the binary universe with the least amount of friction.

    There is a tension between yin and yang the Chinese refer to as qi (chi). Examples are the sexual tension between male and female and the push-and-pull between magnets. Magnetism is the primary manifestation of qi.

    All aspects of Chinese cultural were informed by yin and yang, whether architecture, sociology, warfare, or medicine. Chinese artists made it their task to make qi visible in an aesthetic manner.
    ~~
    https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-me...ng-yang-symbol
    The painting below from China’s 12th century master Mu-Qi is the visualization of qi. Note the tension between black (yang) and white (yin), and between convex (yang) and concave (yin).

    Yin and yang create the compositional tension and balance in the painting. Just cover the branch at the top of the image with your hand and notice the balance of the composition collapses. The qi disappears.



    yes daoism doeshave some mystical/sprit based overtunes -I'm not all up on them.
    ANONAMOOSE is a practicing daoist. I'll ask if he wants to comment here
    Last edited by anatta; 07-03-2019 at 06:26 AM.

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