ABOUT BOOK

It is Euro-centric to refer to all the Philosophies of Asia as “Eastern” as it unfairly groups the quite various Philosophies that developed in West Asia (Zoroastrianism), South Asia (Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Sikhism), and East Asia (Ch’an Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shintoism) into a single unit that implies they are quite similar. Other than their relative geographic proximity, the various philosophies are, in many ways, more different than those philosophies that have been developed in Europe and the other parts of the world. This first Unit explores some of the older philosophicalviewpoints that underlie much of the philosophy that has been developed in East Asia, particularly China and Japan. These are Taoism, Confucianism, and the philosophical underpinnings of the Shinto religions.