Ancient Philosophy · Part 26 · Rome, Alexandria and beyond · B2
Philosophy in India and China
Part 26 of Ancient Philosophy: while the Greeks asked what the world is made of, thinkers in India asked what the self is, and thinkers in China asked how to live together. Sophia takes Philo, Marcos and Demetria round the world, and back to Alexandria. Comparing and contrasting (both, whereas, similarly, in contrast, unlike), with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
Tonight, the last lesson of our philosophy: the rest of the world.
We’ve met Indians and Chinese in almost every lesson.
In small comparisons. Tonight they have the whole evening, as the Greeks have had for twenty-five.
And then we will have finished, and you can decide for yourselves which philosopher you agree with.
Between about 800 and 200 BCE, new ways of thinking appeared in several parts of the world at once: in Greece, in Persia, in the land of Israel, in India and in China. A modern philosopher called this the “Axial Age”; historians debate whether it was really one connected moment or a coincidence.
In India, the Upanishads asked about the true self; the Buddha and Mahavira, the teacher of the Jains, taught paths to freedom from suffering and rebirth. In China, Confucius, Laozi, Mozi, Mencius, Zhuangzi and Xunzi argued about virtue, government and human nature.
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