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“The Silent Transformations” by RANÇOIS JULLIEN tackles this head on by highlighting western thought’s roots in ancient Greek concepts of determined forms of be

“The Silent Transformations” by RANÇOIS JULLIEN tackles this head on by highlighting western thought’s roots in ancient Greek concepts of determined forms of being and Aristotilian logic, compared against the fluidity of non-Western thought and emphasis of change over time from ancient Chinese philosophy. To put it glibly, the Ship of Theseus problem goes away when you stop thinking of identity as discrete points and instead as a process of change and movement through time. I.e., We are not the same people we were as children, and that’s okay. Or Emerson: “I contain multitudes.”

michaelsbradley 3y ago
But, you are you, from the moment you were conceived in your mother's womb through to the end of your days. Author, thou, of my inmost being, didst thou not form me in my mother’s womb? I praise thee for my wondrous fashioning, for all the wonders of thy creation. Of my soul thou hast full knowledge, and this mortal frame had no mysteries for thee, who didst contrive it in secret, devise its pattern, there in the dark recesses of the earth. All my acts thy eyes have seen, all are set down already in thy record; my days were numbered before ever they came to be. — Psalm 139, Knox translation https://www.newadvent.org/bible/psa138.htm https://www.newadvent.org/bible/psa138.htm
enasterosophes 3y ago
To regard Western and non-Western thought as distinct is to again indulge the fallacy of determined forms and non-fluidity. Going back at least to the time of Alexander the Great before 300BC, there were was constant cross-polination of ideas between Indian and Mediterranean cultures, so that Ashoka used Greek Buddhists to spread the dhamma, and there is some suspicion that Nagarjuna was influenced by Pyrrhonism.
- benj111 3y ago
  You could say the opposite and say there's no such thing as western, or eastern thought. Even within countries people have different ideas and have very different world views. We can nonetheless generalise certain things.
  - enasterosophes 3y ago
    I don't think that's the opposite of what I said. It's more like an extrapolation. But if I came right out to the person who I was replying to and said there is no such thing as eastern or western thought, everyone would have started jumping up and down ;)

michaelsbradley 3y ago

But, you are you, from the moment you were conceived in your mother's womb through to the end of your days. Author, thou, of my inmost being, didst thou not form me in my mother’s womb? I praise thee for my wondrous fashioning, for all the wonders of thy creation. Of my soul thou hast full knowledge, and this mortal frame had no mysteries for thee, who didst contrive it in secret, devise its pattern, there in the dark recesses of the earth. All my acts thy eyes have seen, all are set down already in thy record; my days were numbered before ever they came to be. — Psalm 139, Knox translation https://www.newadvent.org/bible/psa138.htm https://www.newadvent.org/bible/psa138.htm

enasterosophes 3y ago

To regard Western and non-Western thought as distinct is to again indulge the fallacy of determined forms and non-fluidity. Going back at least to the time of Alexander the Great before 300BC, there were was constant cross-polination of ideas between Indian and Mediterranean cultures, so that Ashoka used Greek Buddhists to spread the dhamma, and there is some suspicion that Nagarjuna was influenced by Pyrrhonism.

benj111 3y ago
You could say the opposite and say there's no such thing as western, or eastern thought. Even within countries people have different ideas and have very different world views. We can nonetheless generalise certain things.
- enasterosophes 3y ago
  I don't think that's the opposite of what I said. It's more like an extrapolation. But if I came right out to the person who I was replying to and said there is no such thing as eastern or western thought, everyone would have started jumping up and down ;)