Eastern philosophy: Encyclopedia II - Eastern philosophy - Syntheses of Eastern and Western philosophy

Eastern philosophy - Syntheses of Eastern and Western philosophy

There have been many modern attempts to integrate Western and Eastern philosophical traditions.

German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was very interested in Taoism. His system of dialectics is sometimes interpreted as a formalization of Taoist principles.

Hegel's rival Arthur Schopenhauer developed a philosophy that was essentially a synthesis of Hinduism and Buddhism with Western thought. He anticipated that the Upanishads (primary Hindu scriptures) would have a much greater influence in the West than they have had. However, Schopenhauer was working with heavily flawed early translations (and sometimes second-degree translations), and many feel that he may not necessarily have accurately grasped the Eastern philosophies which interested him.

Recent attempts to incorporate Western philosophy into Eastern thought include the Kyoto School of philosophers, who combined the phenomenology of Husserl with the insights of Zen Buddhism. Watsuji Tetsurô, a 20th century Japanese philosopher attempted to combine the works of Søren Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Heidegger with Eastern philosophies. Much of the work of Ken Wilber also focuses on bringing together truths of Eastern and Western philosophies into a coherent and integrated framework or Integral theory.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Syntheses of Eastern and Western philosophy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki