Historical Context
In China, the fragmentation of the Zhou Dynasty gave rise to a period known as the Warring States (c. 500 BCE), when competing kingdoms and warlords vied for power. As the Zhou Dynasty seemed to lose the Mandate of Heaven and power diffused among regional warlords, the atmosphere was ripe for a flourishing of new ideas. Inspired by political turmoil and rivalries between various Chinese states, those who wished to retain power were drawn to the study of the military arts, diplomacy, and political intrigue. The two most influential “philosophical” systems of Chinese civilization—Confucianism and Daoism—had their roots in this period, though they would be further developed and adapted to changing circumstances in later times.
In Greece, the flourishing world of the Mycenaeans came to an end during the Bronze Age collapse, ushering in what became known as the Greek Dark Ages. It was during this period that Homer (allegedly) wrote his epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey about the bygone days of Mycenaean Greece and the (perhaps real) Trojan War. In the eighth century BCE, using the Greek alphabet (derived from Mycenaean Linear B and the Phoenician alphabet), scribes wrote these stories down for the first time. As the Greeks recovered and established city-states throughout the Mediterranean world, these city-states began experimenting with different forms of government, from monarchies to oligarchies (rule by the few) to democracies (rule by the people, or in this case, free males). While the Greek city-states shared a common culture, they could also be quite competitive (leading to both warfare and the start of the Olympics).
Confucianism originated around 551- 479 BCE in China and was based on the teachings of Confucius, a thinker and social philosopher. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correct social relationships, and justice and sincerity. Confucius served as a record keeper and advisor in the declining years of the Zhou Dynasty, when warring kingdoms vied for supreme power and force of arms seemed to be the only thing holding a state together. But Confucius imagined an alternative means to control society and provide order. According to Confucius, each person should act with virtue in all social matters, including family, community, state, and kingdom, to ensure order and unity. To him, the early Zhou period was a Golden Age of wise rulers and benevolent government to which they needed to return. He also placed great importance on the rituals that guide people in their daily interactions with one another, since these promote harmony in human relations. For Confucius, the family was the fundamental component of society, and the ways in which family members regulated their conduct in the home prepared them to serve as subjects of the state. Each person had his or her place and duties in a hierarchical order that was determined by age and gender. The “filial piety” of children to parents, which included obedience, reverence, and love, had its analogue in the devotion of subjects to the ruler. Confucianism placed immense value on making society function smoothly at every level and provided a philosophical and ethical framework for conducting one’s life and understanding one’s place in the world.
His ideas also advanced the earlier concept of the Mandate of Heaven. If rulers were just and moral, the people would follow their example and fulfill their roles, ensuring harmony and stability in the state. But if a ruler was corrupt, the people would also become corrupt and act immorally, leading to chaos and the loss of the Mandate of Heaven. Confucius' ideas would later be written down by his followers, like Mencius, in the Analects.
If Confucianism emphasized social engagement, Daoism (Taoism) urged withdrawal from the empty formalities, rigid hierarchy, and distractions of Chinese society. In the days of the chaos of the Warring States of China, Daoists found it more satisfying to let go of the material world. Daoists seek to live in harmony with the Tao, or Dao, which denotes something that is both the source and the driving force behind everything that exists. According to Daoism, opposite and contradictory aspects, namely yin and yang, are present in all things.
Laozi is regarded as the originator of Daoism and is credited with the foundational text of Daoism, the Classic of the Way of Virtue. It raises questions about whether the material world in which we operate is real or a kind of dream that blocks us from perceiving a higher reality. It argues that education, knowledge, and rational analysis are obstacles to understanding and that we would be better off cultivating our senses and trusting our intuitions. The primal world of the distant past was happy and blessed before civilization and “knowledge” corrupted it. Thus, the text emphasizes the balance between opposites and the importance of yielding to the natural order. The Daoist sage strives to lead a tranquil existence by retreating from the stresses and obligations of a chaotic society. He chooses not to “act” because such action almost always leads to a different outcome from the one desired, whereas inaction may bring the desired outcome. In the end, in a world that is always changing and lacks any absolute morality or meaning, all that matters is the individual’s fundamental understanding of, and accommodation to, the Dao, the “path” or pattern of nature.
Confucians used the term dao to speak of the way human beings should behave in society. From the point of view of Daoism, however, the Confucian concept of dao was too limited. Daoists preferred to understand the dao as the Way of Nature as a whole. They believed that Confucians, by insisting on a purely human Way, exaggerated the importance of man and failed to pay attention to the lessons which Nature has to offer about time and change, gain and loss, the useful and the useless. The basic idea of the Daoists was to enable people to realize that, since human life is really only a small part of a larger process of nature, the only human actions which ultimately make sense are those which are in accord with the flow of Nature — the Dao, or the Way. In general, Daoists stayed away from matters of government, preferring to live naturally and simply. Similarly, wealth, status, and fame were all no-nos. Instead, Daoists promoted a lifestyle of small, self-sufficient communities in harmony with nature. Daoist women were permitted to be spiritual figures and teachers. In the system of yin and yang, the feminine yin, is valued in Daoist belief systems as a necessary and natural aspect of the universe. Indeed, because Daoists emphasize naturalness and inaction, a more yielding, non-dominating yin is seen as beneficial.
Some of the most important philosophers to emerge from the Greek "Dark Ages" were the Sophists. he Sophists were professional teachers who, for a fee, would undertake to teach their students how to get ahead in the world. They emerged as an important presence in the democratic world of Athens beginning in the mid-fourth century BCE. They claimed to be able to teach anyone rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, for a fee, as a means to achieve success as a lawyer or a politician. While many ambitious men sought the services of sophists, others worried that speakers thus trained could lead the people to act against their own self-interest. To get a position of importance, especially in a democracy, one had to have oratorical skill, strength in debate, and a knowledge of law and politics; one would need to know how to manage property and maybe run the State, and know something of music, astronomy, math, physics, and so on. The Sophist equipped one to be a leading citizen.
Some of his contemporaries considered Socrates a kind of Sophist, but one who taught freely without expectation of reward. To Socrates, truth was something one pursued, not something one uncovered. He allegedly said that "a wise man knows that he knows nothing," so wisdom should be the goal of all people. He publicly questioned other sophists and politicians about good and evil, right and wrong, and he wanted to base values on reason instead of on unchallenged traditional beliefs. Socrates' focus was on the improvement of individual character, which he defined as the “soul”, in order to live a virtuous life. His central vision is summed up in the claim attributed to him by Plato that “an unexamined life is not worth living” and that one should not, therefore, simply repeat what one has learned from others but, instead, examine what one believes – and how one's beliefs inform one's behavior – in order to know one's self truly and behave justly. This reasoning gave rise to dialectic, the idea that truth needs to be pursued by modifying one's position through questioning and conflict with opposing ideas (the Socratic method). It is this idea of the truth being pursued, rather than discovered, that characterizes Socratic thought and much of our world view today. For Socrates, "virtue is knowledge." If one knows the good, one will always do the good, and ethical knowledge could be gained by rational reflection on goals and consequences. It follows, then, that anyone who does anything wrong doesn't really know what the good is. This idea, for Socrates, justifies tearing down (or questioning) people's moral positions, for if they have the wrong ideas about virtue, morality, love, or any other ethical idea, they can't be trusted to do the right thing.