14). Certainly, the vast majority of people in the West have come to think about the world around them in terms of the Greek philosophical tradition, combined with some version of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions. For example, Freiberg (1977) reports that "Philosophical systems based on positive and dialectical logic have co-existed throughout Western history, but dialectical philosophies have become increasingly important during the last two centuries" (p. 3). This author suggests that the emergence of formal symbolic logic in recent years can be attributed, at least in part, to the development of dialectical logic following the philosophy espoused by Hegel, particularly as it concerns its subsequent sociological reinterpretation by Marx (Freiberg, 1977). By sharp contrast, though, the Daoism traditions are virtually outside this hard-wired way of thinking about the world, and it quickly becomes clear that there is some type of conscious effort required in order to "think outside the box" in the West today - but this can be extremely challenging because it would seem no one wants their views of the world challenged or threatened. For example, Trott (2001) advises, "A basic worldview can be challenged, but seldom is by those who have committed to it" (p. 639). In fact, some observers suggest that while the Western view of the world has enjoyed its share of successes, the manner in which these achievements were achieved was less than desirable. According to Linstone and Mitroff:
There is no doubt whatsoever of the great success of the Inductive-Consensual and the Analytic-Deductive approaches in the natural sciences. Any one of countless models from Newton to Einstein attest to their overwhelming achievements. In the social sciences and in human affairs in general, however, far less 'agreement' exists regarding the success of this approach. (p. 46).
When researchers attempted to use systems thinking in real-world problem situations during the 1970s and 1980s, they largely found that what made the situations challenging from the outset was the inability to define objectives precisely, given the changing, multiple, ambiguous, and conflicting alternatives; these obstacles were at the level of "what to do?" As well as "how should we do it?" (Currie & Galliers, 1999, p. 52). The alternative to this approach was founded on the real-world universality of any attempted gainful action within the realm of human affairs; it also embraced the need to treat an associated set of activities that comprised a purposeful whole as a new system type: "a human activity system" (Currie & Galliers, 1999, p. 52). Alternative methods of framing models of such notional systems were developed subsequently introduced in the West, with each new paradigm being founded on a stated worldview. Currie and Galliers suggest that this was necessary "because one observer's terrorism is another's freedom fighting. Such models could then be used as devices to structure questioning of the problem situation (so that they were models 'relevant to' debate, not 'of' anything in the real world)" (Currie & Galliers, 1999, p. 52). This alternative method of systems thinking became known as "soft systems methodology" (SSM); it is described by these authors as being learning system as well as a system of inquiry; it is "one which happens to make use of models of activity systems (but other models could be incorporated)" (p. 52). The difference between this manner of systems thinking and the systematic thinking in the methods of systems engineering, RAND, and computer systems analysis is now considered to represent the milestone between the soft systems thinking of the 1970s and 1980s and the hard systems thinking of the earlier alternatives (Currie & Galliers, 1999). This is not to say, of course, that all people in the West - or the East - think exactly alike; it is to say, though, that everyone has a unique view of the world that helps guide them through the everyday routine. According to Olson and Roese (1995), "worldviews function something like schemas (cohesive and stable cognitive structures) in their functions of directing attention; structuring experience; and guiding memory, inference, and the interpretation of events" (p. 237). In many cases, even people from the same culture and background will develop entirely different conclusions when confronted with the same problems (Briggs & Peat, 2002).
The primary difference between them which remains largely unaddressed in the scholarly literature to date, is that the hard tradition assumes that systems exist in the world and can be engineered to achieve declared objectives. By contrast, the soft tradition assumes that the world is problematical, always more complex than any of mere human accounts of...
Religious Daoism has reconciled itself with philosophical Daoism by claiming its purpose as "cultivating this special epistemic ability, obediently following teachers and traditions. The philosophical strain's emphasis on natural spontaneity, freedom and egalitarianism, leads them to favor political anarchy." (Hansen, 3) as a result, while Religious Dao tends to views itself as a complement to the philosophical doctrine, philosophical Dao rejects such a relationship. Instead, there is a perception in
Daoism vs. Confucianism The author of this report is asked to compare and contrast Daoism (also commonly known as Taoism) with the focus being on the contrast. Indeed, the two belief and philosophy structures are quite different but they also have some strong similarities. Those facets and components that are the same will be enumerated throughout this text. The two writing styles follow common themes but are presented differently. Confucian writing
Lao Tze and Sun Tzu "War" Chicago citation War has been a part of the human condition since humans first stood upright thousands of years ago. Every culture and society has engaged in it, while simultaneously attempting to control and eliminate it. War destroys, injures, maims, and kills not only people but entire societies. In Chinese culture, there has been many attempts to deal with the violent aspect of humanity through philosophy.
Nature of Daoism The principles of yang and yin pertain to universal conceptions of balance that are found in nature. Specifically, these principles denote that for every force, emotion, or manifestation within the universe, there is also an opposite force, emotion or manifestation. In fact, this concept indicates that these forces of opposition are not only desirable but also necessary within the universe because they maintain a sort of balance
In an English concept of second nature performance of an action, no thought only the action is performed. The similar concept of Wu in Daoism, which is being or the ultimate understanding of what being is, is also represented in Buddhism by Atman, the inner or greater self. Taoist thought in China had been exercised for a long time over the relation of non-being to being, (chen-ju) non-activity to activity.
Confucianism and Daoism are Chinese religious traditions. While they are considered by some to be very different they are often actually woven together (Mou, 78). The teachings of one are often relatively consistent with the teachings of the other and because of this those who believe in one of these religious traditions do not discount the other one or feel that it is unworthy. Both of them indicate a reverence
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