Deconstruction kind of takes logic by the ear, drags it out
behind the woodshed and whips it silly for puttin' on airs for
the last couple centuries.
> And what do you mean by the
> whole sentence? What does the west ordinarily perceive as
eastern
> philosophy and its complexities?
Transcendental Meditation, _Kung Fu: The Series_, _The Tao of
Physics_, _Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_, _The Tao of
Pooh_....The Tao of Pooh?!? Is there any other culture in the
world that could take a major religion and cartoonify it? What's
next--the Gospel of Garfield? Zippy's Pinhead Koran? Sheesh.
The west's perceptions of Eastern philosophy are filtered through
pop culture references--the Beatles & the Maharishi, Richard Gere
& the Dalai Lama--and I think there is very little distinction in
the American mind at least between "New Age" & "Eastern".
Eastern religions are seen as "mystic" (hence Deb's assertion
that they don't appeal to "reason"...like "reason" is something
tangible and objective! Pshaw, Deb!)
> What IS eastern philosophy, properly
> understood?
The very question illustrates the lack of understanding Alan
referred to. Think of it this way: could you answer the question
"What is Western Philosophy, properly understood?" without being
remarkably reductive and cartoonish? Most people wouldn't
presume to lump our own various philosophical systems together
like that, but a vast majority of people will go "Eastern
philosophy? Oh, yeah...meditation and reincarnation and going
with the flow and that yin-yang thing."
I think Alan was suggesting that there does not even exist a
beast called "Eastern Philosophy" anymore than some unified
"Western Philosophy" exists; they're just constructions we use
that are probably more useful to bias and prejudice than to
inquiry and understanding.
>
> Bonus question: what is the logic of a thing that both is and
is not
> itself? i.e., the drunk human, the horny human, the "in love"
human, the
> soldier, the sailor, the spy.
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Joshua Aasgaard, M.A. - Get Started Today
> http://www.tweb.com
> Put your business on the web for $39/mo.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
-- Greg Ritter gritter@vcu.edu ritter@urvax.urich.edu http://www.urich.edu/~ritter