Why is so much emphasis still placed on western based philosophy which assumes that the ancient greeks...?

Question

,,,were the first to contemplate concepts like abstract space. Once the knowledge that eastern philosophies were already way beyond that during the greek era, shouldn't we look at their similarities and like-minded assumptions to springboard our next questions from? It's like we're looking at the ocean while we still 'know' it's flat...Once our reality catches up to our science we find we have so many more questions.

As long as we remain anchored-down to western roots, our growth as a society will remain stagnant.

Answer 1

The trouble is although the Indians did develop some marvellously advanced philosophical and scientific ideas at almost the same time as the Greeks, it was all washed away in a sea of mystical mumbo jumbo. The same thing happened to Greek philosophy as Christianity helped propel the west into the dark ages. Luckily there was the renaissance and the enlightenment when the west shed much of its superstitious baggage. The east has not yet shed its solipsistic mysticism which overwhelmed its initial achievments..

Answer 2

Plato is largely identical to the Vedic and Buddhist traditions, once one gets past the terminology.

Answer 3

Though our society was largely based on Greek philosophy, recent years have shown a resurgence of other cultural philosophies such as Chinese and South American. However, democracy is still routed in the Greek as most other forward thinking cultures were primarily based on a human "godhead" figure such as an Emperor, Pharaoh or other such singular ruler.

Answer 4

Our society is not stagnant, if anything it is changing too fast. Most of the people of western culture do not understand philosophy or science. All you have to do is read some of the questions and answers in both those categories. They show a lamentable understanding of anything but superstition.

As for Eastern philosophies, yes that have a lot to offer however, much within them is based on superstition and blind faith.

If you think that Western philosophy is backward - just read Wittgenstein.