Chinese philosophy
Taoism and Confucianism
Chinese philosophy encompasses the major intellectual traditions originating in China, including Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Buddhism as adapted in Chinese contexts.
These systems address ethics, governance, harmony with nature, and self-cultivation.
Confucianism emphasizes social relationships and moral duty; Taoism stresses spontaneity and alignment with natural patterns.
Chinese philosophy influenced governance throughout East Asia for millennia.
- AnalectsClassical Chinese wisdom text
- DaoismPhilosophy of natural harmony
- yin and yangOpposing yet interdependent principles
- Warring States periodEra of Chinese disunity
- LaoziTaoism's legendary founder
Confucianism · harmony · human nature · Mandate of Heaven · Mencius · filial piety · Zen · self-cultivation · yin · jade · impermanence · yang · enlightenment · ancestor · bamboo · mandate · Confucius · Neo-Confucianism
- SinologyChinese history, Chinese art, Confucianism, Daoism, Chinese poetry
- ChinaBeijing, Shanghai, Great Wall, Yellow River, Chinese calligraphy
- Asian studiesKorean language, Chinese history, Japanese history, Asian history, Japanese literature
- philosophiesempiricism, stoicism, nihilism, idealism, materialism
- philosophyethics, logic, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology
- Eastern PhilosophyTaoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism
Chinese philosophyWestern philosophy
European tradition of reasoned inquiry
Greek philosophy · ancient Greek philosophy · Indian philosophy · French philosophy · Scholasticism
Chinese philosophyreductionism
Explaining wholes through parts
atomism · rationalism · formal logic · scholasticism · deductive reasoning