Check out the first in what may be a series of posts on China’s “intellectual marketplace” over at Brainysmurf - it’s fascinating. Just a taster:
Parapundit wonders if in ancient China there was not much of an “intellectual marketplace.” There isn’t much to wonder about. Ancient Chinese philosophy flowered during times of upheaval like the Hundred Schools of Thought period. It was characterized by such small, legendary but relatively unheard of figures such as Mo Tzu, who is similar in ways to Pythagoras in that Mo Tzu redefined linguistics the same way that Pythagoras did mathematics, and both of their respective schools died out pretty quickly but left a deep, lasting impression on the philosophical development of each country. Also, Yang Chu is another notable hedonist philosopher who competed intellectually with Mencius and Mo Tsu during the Hundred Schools of Thought. With so many influencial figures we have to conclude that there was quite the intellectual marketplace.
Read the rest on your own.
2 Comments
China has been a marketplace of ideas, but in many cases of really loopy ideas. The problem isn’t a paucity of ideas - it’s a lack of good ideas.
Robert, See my questions put to Adam in the comments section of his post. I have serious doubts about his points about Greece. I don’t know enough Chinese history to judge some of what he says about China.