Eastern Philosophy

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY ("love of wisdom") Chinese philosophy has passed through three distinct historical stages: The Classical Age: a creative period from the 6th to the 2nd century BC; The Medieval Age: from the 2nd century BC to the 11th century AD, a period of synthesis and absorption of foreign thought; The Modern Age: from the 11th century to the present, a period of maturation of earlier philosophical trends and introduction of new philosophies from the …

…of Nature (Tao) and by reverting to primitive agrarian communities and a government that did not control or interfere with life. Taoism attempted to bring the individual into perfect harmony with nature through a mystical union with the Tao. This mysticism was carried still further by Chuang-tzu, a Taoist philosopher of the late 4th century BC, who taught that through mystical union with the Tao the individual could transcend nature and even life and death.