Communications in Humanities Research
- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences
Communications in Humanities Research
Vol. 13, 20 November 2023
Open
Access | Article
A Comparison Between Anaximenes’s Arche and the Wuxing in the Hongfan
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
While there are numerous similarities between Chinese philosophy and Western philosophy, there are also significant differences that make them extremely distinct from each other. The views of Milesian philosopher Anaximenes and the Wuxing (五行) in pre-Qin Chinese philosophy can be taken as examples, though they are rarely compared together. In actuality, their understandings of natural substances and how air (psyche) or Qi (氣) changes between substances present a framework that is very comparable. But from these comparable frames, two different modes of functioning finally developed. As an illustration, this paper will contrast Wuxing in Hongfan (洪範) with arche in Anaximenes’s ideas. Starting with the natural materials that are present in both philosophies, this paper compares them through textual analysis. According to the definitions and orientations provided by the two philosophies, conclusions can be drawn that Wuxing emphasizes relevance and people, whereas Anaximenes concentrates on the search for the most fundamental principle and the supreme power in the universe.
Keywords
Anaximenes, arche, Wuxing, Hongfan, Chinese and Western philosophy
References
1. Kirk, G. S. and Raven, J. E. (1984). The Presocratic Philosophers. Cambridge University Press, London.
2. Graham, D. W. (2003). A New Look at Anaximenes. History of Philosophy Quarterly, 20, 1-120.
3. Chinese Text Project. (2023). Great Plan. https://ctext.org/shang-shu/great-plan/ens.
4. Liu, C. (2019). Natural Attributes, Source of Motivation and Value Belief. Shaanxi Normal University.
5. Graham, D. W. (2006). Anaximenes’ Theory of Change. In: Explaining the cosmos: The ionian tradition of scientific philosophy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 45-82.
6. Deng, X. (2006). Lecture on Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy (1). Journal of SWUPL, 9, 3-20.
7. Jing, Y. (2015). On the Theory of Yin and Yang and Five Elements of Implications and Effects in Huai Nan Zi. Zhejiang Normal University.
8. Gao, F. (2005). From Hongfan Wuxing to Wude Zhongshi. Journal of Hunan University of Science and Engineering, 26, 178-184.
9. Wang, A. (2000). Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
10. Chen, J. (2012). Comparison of the Primitive of Miletus School and Chinese “Five Elements” thinking. Journal of Yichun College, 34, 10-15.
Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open Access Instruction).
- Volume Title
- Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Politics and Socio-Humanities
- ISBN (Print)
- 978-1-83558-115-5
- ISBN (Online)
- 978-1-83558-116-2
- Published Date
- 20 November 2023
- Series
- Communications in Humanities Research
- ISSN (Print)
- 2753-7064
- ISSN (Online)
- 2753-7072
- DOI
- 10.54254/2753-7064/13/20230261
- Copyright
- 20 November 2023
- Open Access
- This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited