Maria Jose Chiriboga

Eastern vs. Western philosophy

There are so many different philosophies that people can relate to all around the
world. These philosophies are divided into eastern and western, depending on where they
were established by their philosopher/s and where their followers live. The Eastern
philosophies have a greater influence in parts of Asia. These classical philosophies are
Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism and Daoism. As we live in Ecuador, which is
located in the occidental part of the globe, we have been influenced greatly, by
philosophies that started to develop in Greece, by Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. These
philosophies have developed and branched into many others, such as, the Jewish and
Christian faith. Both the western and eastern philosophies, have an impact on how we
identify our identity, how we think, act, behave and even educate our society. This is
why; people should have access to all kinds of teachings and find their true way of life.

The Hellenistic or Western philosophy had formed communities in the past of
Greek people that had an education and that wanted to ask questions about the world.
These schools of thought had lots of prestige and many people wanted to join it. This is
how the Western philosophy started to grow and became so important and significant.
From then this philosophy takes part in not only Greece, but in major parts of Europe to
the West. Philosophies started to branch out into other religions who where based on the
questions and expectations from the Hellenistic philosophy. People required
philosophies that were portable, easily learned, and plainly engaged with the fortunes and
misfortunes of everyday life. (Wildman, 1994) The quote summarizes the main
characteristic of the philosophy and why it was so easy to be spread and communicated to
the Western world.

The eastern philosophy has many different ideals and believes that people
follow. There is Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism and many others. As an
example, I am going to use Buddhism, which is one of the most important religions in
India and China. Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who was believed to be
the enlightened one and became Buddha. As any other philosophy people who are
Buddhist have to follow some doctrines named the four noble truths and the eightfold
path to reach nirvana. Some other things that characterize Buddhism and some Eastern
philosophies are moral conduct, meditation/mental development and wisdom/insight. I
give and example of Buddhism because we can see the difference there is between the
traditions from the west.

Furthermore, I can say that both Eastern and Western philosophies are influential
in different parts of the world, because of the cultures that have been created. I believe
that this cultures if spread from one side to another thoughts and believes of people
would be question and sometimes changing. That is why I believe that philosophies
should be taught in countries in a small scale. If people start to question their faith and
themselves, there would be even more problems and chaos in the world. It is important to
know what each philosophy is and understand it, but there in no need to be taught so
hardly into them.