Title: Beyond Orientalism Author: Marianne Benetatou Publisher: Konidaris Place: Athens Year: 2007 Language: Greek ISBN: 960 – 392 – 107 - 3 Pages: 272 Book Description Orientalism is the study of Asian civilizations from the point of view of the West. Inevitably, such an approach examines different intellectual traditions in the light of its own familiar conceptual habits. Beyond Orientalism goes further than the prevailing point of view of two different and often conflicting civilizations of East and West. It approaches the Chinese philosophy of life and the ancient Greek philosophy of knowledge with a critical intention. Its purpose is to investigate the mental habits and the conceptual models which have contributed to the articulation of these two philosophical traditions. The constituent principles of Chinese philosophy are investigated, as well as some well established notions concerning ancient Greek philosophy. Before any kind of communication, of exchange or of comparative study there is an intention, an idea concerning what we expect and what we think of the others. This image is brought about as much by personal experience as by the imagination and the expectations of the whole society. Additionally, the familiar is perceived through the affective and intellectual channels inherited by cultural tradition, as well as through the manner we wish to perceive ourselves and others. From antiquity until today, China has never stopped to fascinate the Western man. The distance, the organization, the exoticism, the mystery, the riches and the opportunities have played their part in this long, as well as ambiguous relationship. Sometimes as the utopia, sometimes as the model, sometimes as the apple of Discord and today as the new Eldorado, the imagination of the West has never ceased to project its own symbolic representations on the Kingdom of the Middle. From antiquity until the Enlightenment, China has been considered an ideal State, where moral perfection was predominant. During colonialism, this representation was degraded by the disparagement of Chinese civilization. Today it has been replaced by the conviction that China provides abundant opportunities for making a fortune. The West uses the idea of China in order to fulfill its own dream: Virtue, power, money. Three ideals, which have developed the symbolic representations of China and these, in their turn, have determined in various ways the real relations between the two ends of Eurasia. During their long term exchanges, the Chinese have hardly been interested in European civilization. They have been eager to import Western technology, but they were convinced that China was the only civilized country in the world. Only at the beginning the 20th century did the intellectuals study and introduce Western ideas and theories to China. It is beyond doubt that there has not been direct historical influence between Chinese and Greek intellectual traditions. In the ancient world ideas circulated through diverse channels. The central meeting point was the Persian Empire. The ancient world, throughout Eurasia, was preoccupied with the same ideal of political harmony and stability based on man’s moral virtue. Nevertheless, the viewpoint and, consequently, the answer to such questions varied according to the circumstances and the prevalent conditions of each society. The Chinese philosophy of life is based on the thought of the two great philosophers, Confucius and Laozi. Confucius thinks of man as an integrated part of the political and social community. Right behavior is obtained by reproducing particular exemplary actions, written down by tradition. The virtuous and good man imitates them to the point of deliberately reproducing the spirit of the ancients. The ancient Greek philosophy of knowledge is based on the thought of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Virtue comes from the knowledge of truth, which converts the soul to the moral good and determines all aspects of behavior. The first fundamental condition of philosophy is put in evidence: the philosophy of life, aiming at efficient action in order to promote the social good, follows the model of reproducing exemplary actions. The keynote is the integration into vast entities. The philosophy of knowledge underlines man’s right judgment as the path to truth. From the initial choice arise the respective positions of the two intellectual traditions concerning human destiny. Taoist philosophy adapts the model of imitating exemplary actions to the integration of man into the vast universe. Man is born to live harmoniously with the visible and the invisible world. He copies nature’s way of proceeding in order to integrate into the cosmic pattern obtaining, thus, indestructibility or immortality. Ancient Greek philosophy, centered on man, diverges from the natural world. Aristotle opposes nature’s determinism to freedom of rational thought. Therefore, man realizes his destiny by participating actively in the public affairs of the city - State. Further, the noblest and most appropriate occupation is the contemplation of the divine being. The origins of philosophical thought are approached by an unconventional manner. Instead of looking for historical documents, the book proceeds by the examination of two classical texts of China, the Book of Changes (Yi Jing) and the Book of Documents (Shu Jing). It analyses the guiding lines of Chinese thought through the ages. The style of the philosophy of life and of the philosophy of knowledge respectively is investigated from the point of view of tradition and innovation. Confucius, self styling himself as the transmitter of ancient wisdom, values and behavior, chooses to call his own, original or not, ideas commentaries and explanation. Socrates criticizes the sophists’ positions. He encourages the philosopher to seek the truth by his own means and to formulate personal and original ideas. The conscious choice of these two philosophers has influenced philosophical discourse until today. Classifying an idea or theory as traditional or original results mostly from the way it is perceived by its author (and public) and less by the actual content. Wishful thinking can also play a more or less important part in the attribution. Conscious choice of the way philosophers define their work is even more decisive for the history of philosophy in the subject of method. Traditionally, the philosophy of life is considered to be holistic, whilst the philosophy of knowledge is considered to be analytical. By the examples of the philosophies of Laozi, Confucius and Plato a much more complex reality is put in evidence. None of the above mentioned philosophies appears consistent in methodology. The authors follow different methods according to the object under discussion and which they believe – but never discuss openly- to be most appropriate to their purpose. Other important choices, this time concerning the content of philosophical discourse, come from the linguistic idiom into which they are expressed. This view is examined on the subject of motion according to Aristotle and to Laozi. The particular chapter puts in evidence the linguistic, sometimes even the empirical, factors, which have restricted the Aristotelian theory of movement between two steady points. The subject of motion is of primary importance in Chinese philosophy. Once more it is connected, for linguistic reasons, to the subject of the nature of things and of cosmic being. Dao means road and the two original principles of Sky (Tian) and Earth (Ti) express the two consecutive moments of movement, beginning and duration respectively. The absence of distinction between verb and noun in the Chinese language has led philosophical thought to conceive being as moving, circular and constant. Such a reality is properly incomprehensible to verb – noun languages. Belonging to the same school of thought does not prevent Chinese philosophers from supporting sometimes opposite views on crucial issues. Mencius and Xunzi, famous representatives of the Confucian school, have defended divergent views on man’s nature. The first one held that man is by nature good, compassionate and affectionate. The second one argued that man is by nature bad and he is yoked to the common good by education and discipline. Finally, the Taoist school has criticized all Confucian positions by pointing out that education, as well as social and moral values deviate man’s natural potentialities. If he is left to himself, unhindered by external intervention, man develops harmoniously his natural endowment contributing, thus, to universal peace and happiness. Another subject of initial choice is that of the distinction between subject and object in Greek philosophy and of interior and exterior in Chinese philosophy respectively. Taoist philosophy maintains that subject and object belong to the field of phenomenal or external reality, which is deceiving. The real interior self is united with the real interior world forming a whole. The distinction between subject and object (beings, things and world) comes from the irrational desires and wrong choice of ego centered man. The philosophy of life starts with the integration of models of behavior which guide man to adapt gradually to bigger and bigger entities. From family to society and to the State, man cultivates harmony internally and appropriate conduct externally. The ideal of Chinese society is peace and stability of all members into a harmonious unity. The Annex is about longevity in China. The question of a long life has been diversely approached in China and in the West. Western thought has been mostly preoccupied with the idea of life after death. It further maintains that to live a meaningful although short life is the supreme good man can attain. It stresses the importance of the spiritual and moral values in shaping the quality of life and considers as morally indifferent the quantity of years to be lived. Since Greek antiquity, continuing with Christianity and modern philosophy, the needs, the desires and the aspirations concerning the persistence and the well being of the body have been subordinated to the values of the spirit. The body is perishable, a “necessary evil,” whilst the soul is eternal, indestructible and morally good. The question of how to live longer has recently appeared in the medical research concerning geriatrics. In what measure a long life span can be a self-fulfilling, meaningful goal to be pursued is still an open question for scientists and philosophers alike. In China, long life together with good luck and social status are considered to be the best things to pursue. A natural life span is thought to be one hundred to one hundred and fifty years and consequently many techniques have been developed which try to protract life to this length. The philosophy of long life is based on the general views of the Chinese concerning the world, nature and man. It is articulated around certain key concepts, such as qi, spirit (shen), physical form (xing), immortality (hsien) and fate (ming). Long life is attained by preserving and developing the original qi that man is born with. This original qi is the life energy, the vital power which gives and sustains life. Death is caused by the depletion of the vital qi. The word qi is difficult to translate literally as it covers a wide range of meanings, like breath, vitality and life energy. If we try to define its “nature,” it is neither a substance, nor a function, but it partakes in both. Some times it is considered to be the primordial material out of which the world and man have been made. Other times it is considered to be the cause of different processes and movements in nature and in man. It is what can be called an “operational concept,” which explains how things come to be rather than what things are. As such it is potentially both spirit and matter. In the Western mind, spirit and body are two distinct entities which are different in nature. This is the reason why, philosophically speaking, needs and aspirations are separated into bodily and spiritual and they, in turn, are usually perceived as conflictual. In the Chinese mind, spirit and body are distinct yet they partake of the same qi nature. The conflict cannot be caused by an ontological difference; it arises for psychological reasons, when an artificial egoistic identity is created and superimposed on the original one. This man-made construction disrupts the natural harmony of spiritual and physical qi. Daoist philosophy has developed different ideas about longevity according to the importance given to the spiritual or the bodily qi. Until 1000 CE adepts have been interested in physical longevity and in experimentation with alchemical drugs. Longevity is then considered to be a non-death, or a non-experience of death. It is a state of spontaneity and freedom where the adept sheds off the limitations of the apparent body, recovers the potentiality of the natural physical form and roams happily around the universe. After circa 1000 CE the adepts have been more interested in the idea of spiritual longevity and in the techniques of inner alchemy, like qi gong. Spiritual longevity is attained by the manifestation of the original purity of the spirit which transcends conscious thought. In this perspective, physical form is subordinated to the spirit. In both spiritual and physical longevity it is necessary to have a good health and a long life span in order to have the bodily fitness and the time to accomplish the goal. But according to Chinese beliefs the length of life is predetermined by fate. The amount of vital qi received at birth is fixed in advance by the stars and it cannot be changed. Yet fatalism seems to be now in retreat. There is a more active tendency to attribute to fate the facts and to man the way to handle them. In comparison with current western ideas about longevity, some remarks are to be made: 1. The age to be stabilized is different in the West and in China. The Western world favors youthfulness whilst the Chinese favor old age. 2. The ideas about life and death and consequently about how important it is to protract physical life differ greatly. In the West the idea of a strong individual nucleus which persists after death predominates. In China, man’s qi returns to nature and merges with the elements after death. The Chinese idea of nature and naturalness call for some remarks: 1. The same laws govern man and the physical world. 2. There is an overall necessity which runs through man and the universe alike. The state of naturalness is less a fact and more an ideal. It is produced by different views and motivations, such as philosophical, mystical, ideological, political, medical, etc. It is difficult to dissociate it from the historical, cultural and ideological context which has fostered it. The philosophy of longevity gives emphasis to personal effort in order to live long, healthy and happy. It is realized through a continuous improvement of the physical, psychological and spiritual well being. It stresses the need to be open, in tune with things and people, to avoid rush action and forceful intervention. It encourages in letting things develop their potential on their own particular rhythms. It determines a way of action which evades open conflict and proceeds by continuous small readjustments. Finally it underlines the fact that longevity techniques are only the means for a harmonious life in dao. They are not to be confused for the end in and of itself.