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proposals. By contrast,some states of ClassicalGreecewere almost Platonic. Our own age has seen Lockeist,Marxianand Spenglerianstates.
But there has been and is a subtle element of failure, either on the
part of the philosophersor the people, or of both. Do Fasciststoday sincerely believe that the Spenglerianstate is the ideal government? And
whatdo honestRussianstodaythinkof Marxismafter a quartercenturyof
trying to realize it? And what is the future of "democracy",or, for that
matter,whatis "democracy"?If democracyis the ideal form of governmentfor WesternSociety,whatis its programfor settlementof the world
after the presentwar is over? There will be no attempthere to answer
these questions;they are put only to suggestthat towardsthe end of the
age of philosophy,menlose theirenthusiasmfor its formulae,are not satisfied, even dully, with its results. It is in this phenomenonthat the subtle
failure becomesdefinitive. In the twohistoriccases here to be examinedprobablythe mostimportantcaseshistoryhas to show-military machines
put an end to civilization'sstruggles. The culturedstates of central and
easternChina,like the city states of Greece,fell before Leviathanswhose
most notablecontributionto civilizationwas a capacityfor powerpolitics
and the ability to frame and enforce a rigid code of laws.
Yet the failure is not merely found in the abrupt conclusionof the
strugglesof the age of philosophy. It appearsto be implicit in the very
beginningof such an age. The philosophiesthemselvesbegin as a protest
againstfailure. Thus in Chinathe Taoistsrepresenteda breakaway from
the effects of decadencein society. They preacheda renunciationof the
world and a returnto primitivesociety. They were opposedto all efforts
made to propagatetheir doctrinesbroadly,for to them such efforts were
useless andharmful. Theywere interestedonly in havingthe sage himself
seek the Tao and by example lead men to follow him. Organizedsociety
was inherentlyevil and effortsat reformwere useless. This was a rather
exclusive philosophy,for only the sage could attain the Tao; therefore,
it had little appealfor commonmen. The Taoistsheld that active participationin the affairsof mankindhad no value; non-activitywas preferable
to benevolentactivity,whichin itself is an indicationof the state of affairs
of thattime. Theirbasic work,the Tao Te Ching,gives many examplesto
illustratethe principle of non-activity. Accordingto this work the value
of a bowl lay in the emptyspace enclosedby it, and the utility of a wheel
dependednot on rims or spokes but on the empty space enclosed by the
hub.
Taoismwas a mysticalcreed and could be of serviceonly to those of a
philosophicalnature and at the same time free from all the cares and
human responsibilitiesthat are common to organized society. Those
Chinesewho were wealthyor exceedinglyscholarlymight have been able
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endurance.It always appealedto the Chinesedislike for meticulousregulation and to the attitude of contemplativedetachmentwith which the
Chinesetend to regard all affairs which are not of their immediateconcern. Even thoughTaoism did not meet with broad success in China,the
desirefor a systemwhichdeniedthe value of family ties and public duties
and whichemphasizedcontemplationand non-participation
persistedafter
Taoismhad long ceased to be a school of philosophyand had become a
popular religion. The success met by Buddhismin China is due to the
fact that Taoismhad establishedthe idea of renunciationof the world in
the Chinesemind.
Confuciuswas essentiallya political philosopherand his entire teaching was a reactionagainstthe loose spirit of his times, a protest against
the excesses of the national characterunrestrainedby moral inhibitions.
Filial piety was preachedto an age when parricidewas not uncommon.
To the ambitiousnobles who soughtto wrest kingdomsfrom the hands of
the Son of Heaven,Confuciustaughtloyalty. Ceremoniesand rites were
exalted when men were neglecting the ancient sacrifices and violating
the chivalrouscodes. These were not exalted for themselvesalone, but
the great sage, Confucius,said that throughthe performanceof them
inwardvirtue was symbolized. Strict rules of conductwere very necessary,for this was a time of sexual immorality,and evenprinceswere often
guilty of incest. The Confucianssoughtthe reformationof the world by
a returnto the virtues of a golden age. The only way to put the world
right was to returnto this virtue of antiquity;consequentlythe literature
of the past was prized and preserved. They were true reactionaries,for
they firmly believed that the past containedthe model on which present
and all futuresociety shouldbe patterned.Confuciusadvancedthe theory
of governmentby virtue in oppositionto the theory of governmentby
force as advocatedby the early militaristsor progressiveabsolutists. The
Confucians,proposedthat the governmentshould not interferewith competition among the common people and stated definitely that morality
shouldbe the basis of law.
It is easy to believe that Confuciandoctrineis based on a shrewdappreciationof the real characterof the Chinesepeople, and at the same
time so stimulatesqualitieswhich are naturallynot well developedin the
Chinesemind. Confuciusdeploredthe particularismof his countrymen
and emphasizedthe virtues of filial submissionand loyalty which had
almost ceased to exist in his time. Since the Chinese are naturally indulgentand kind to childrenand at the same time opposedto discipline,
Confuciusset up a strict programfor the training of the young which
wouldseemharshto us, but, unlesssucha programwas stressed,youthwas
condemnedto destruction. Unless loyalty and public service were made
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the idea of a single orthodox doctrine which was alone deserving of government patronage and support, developed later by the Confucians, is a
remnant from the old Legists school.
The Mohist school, perhaps the least influential of the Chinese systems,
taught doctrines which were morally the most sublime of all in the ancient
Chinese schools. The followers thereof believed that the remedy for the
ills of the world lay in practicing universal love; not merely a narrow
clan love as expressed in feudal society, but an equal love reaching beyond
family and state. They condemned war as the greatest of crimes and looked
for a world-wide kingdom founded on love. This system, preached some
five centuries before Christ, contained practically all the distinctive doctrines of Christianity except the idea of a savior and the belief in immortality for the blessed and eternal damnation for the wicked.
The conditions that gave rise to universalism in Mohistic doctrine are
similar to those that fostered the development of universalism in Greece.
In any society when the old loyalties have been swept away it is necessary
for new ones to come and take their places. When Alexander the Great
conquered the city states of Greece, the Stoics were faced with the job of
developing new loyalties applicable to the expanding Hellenistic society;
hence the universal ideal of Stoicism. During the period of the Warring
States in China when the national states began to crumble, Mohism sought
to develop in its doctrine some bond of union that extended beyond the
narrow confines of one clan or one state; hence universalism in Chinese
thought.
Mohism as a type of religious philosophy has much in common with
a form of mystical belief associated with the name of Orpheus in sixth
century Greece. Orphism, like Mohism, was a free religion and independent of the social structure of the civic community. In China, as well
as in Greece, the social bond, the sense of solidarity, had once extended
to the limits of the group of blood-kin; beyond were strangers. The rise
of these systems of thought in the two societies, both preaching doctrines
that transcended the limits and minimized the ties of kinship brought very
definite social results. The preaching of a doctrine that all men were
brothers set the old sense of solidarity free from its old limits, and spread
it to include all mankind and even all living things. Loyalty to one's blood
brothers in both societies came to mean love to all men. The old solidarity
of the blood group had entailed the diffusion of responsibility for the
actions of any one member among all the other members of the blood
group. This practice remains to a certain degree in China, for the position
of the family in China has persisted, whereas in Greece, Christianity, in
preaching similar views to those of Orphism, has given a different interpretation to the idea of collective responsibility.
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It is difficultto make a comparison of the importance of these two systems, for Orphic creeds, coming very early in Greek history, have been
lost in almost complete obscurity, while Mohism, coming at a much later
stage in Chinese history represented a complete departure from traditional
Chinese thought, and was lost in the turmoil of the age. It is obvious that
in an age such as that of the Warring States, the ideals of Mohism were
no more likely to be put into effect than the doctrines of Christianity in
the Dark Ages. The real object of Mohistic teaching was ignored and misrepresented by its rivals and the system became discredited as a visionary
and fantastic creed without practical application or value. The Chinese
are a practical race of men, and a doctrine which taught men to love
strangers as they loved their own parents, and condemned war as the
greatest of crimes, was noble in itself, but contrary to the normal instincts
of men. Mohism never recovered from the proscription of the schools and
the burning of the books. In the later history of China traces of it are
not obvious.
These similarities between the development of thought in classical
Greece and China cannot be pushed too far. The idea of political liberty
for the citizen and democratic government never found a place in Chinese
thought; therefore, in some fundamental matters the minds of China and
Greece do not meet. Then, too, the Chinese philosophical age was not
supreme in every field of endeavor as was the classical age in Greece.
For instance, art and poetry reached its zenith in classical Greece, but they
did not reach perfection in China until many centuries later; the Greek
culture flowered suddenly and reached its height in every field at the same
time while the Chinese civilization grew slowly over a long period of
time, each great period contributing something different to the developing
culture.
In China the form of political organization was never questioned.
Monarchy based on a patriarchal relationship was accepted as the natural
and inevitable vehicle of sovereignty. Aristotle showed a tendency toward
patriarchal government in his Politics. He regarded the state as the complete development of the earlier associations, the household and the village. At the head of these earlier institutions was one person who directed
their activities; therefore at the head of the state should be one individual
whose interests were directed toward the benefit of the community at large.
The point of contrast arises out of the fact that the Chinese schools of
philosophy tended to be concerned more with the moral foundations on
which the monarchy should be based. This preoccupation with moral principles rather than with political forms is characteristic of most Chinese
thought, and is in sharp contrast to the point of view adopted by Western
peoples, who tend to devise forms first and adjust moral principles to them
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