Early Philosophical Thought (East Asia and India)

Philosophy has its roots all over the world, and although the best preserved documents are from the Western world, which is why this topic is so frequently studied from a Western perspective, there are a number of Eastern thinkers that are very much worth discussing. Let's visit Egypt, Iran, China, and India to see what the earliest examples of philosophical thought looked like in these ancient times!
Script by Luca Igansi
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[@ipbo]

OMG OMG OMG This!! Please do more of these philosophy videos!! 😍

[@Linguae_Music]

I second this motion!

[@DisperseT]

It’s a series so there’ll be more

[@chobin7982]

Yes please

[@Skymannot6939]

Professor Dave every time I see and listen to your videos, I get and feel smarter, keep up good job of educating the masses.

[@ZombieXee]

This is going to be good. Looking forward to the rest of these tutorials.

[@aryansingh7209]

Indian philosophy is way bigger and contains almost all the thoughts of other regions in its different thoughts of school and it is underrated.

[@aryansingh7209]

@Moonlight Gamers i don't now about western perspective but it is indeed underrated when someone compares knowing both. Well, India is most populous country in the world and will attract most views as always like in his other videos.

[@prasoonjha1816]

@Moonlight Gamers Indians shouting about it all over the internet does it no justice for it is still not widely studied.

[@aryansingh7209]

@Moonlight Gamers no, I'm not talking about the mainstream religious thoughts but rather the philosophical one. You just read some books and you think you know everything. Some thoughts of school are overlooked and some may not. Greek philosophy and mythologises are much more overrated and comes in mind of everyone. Reasons are because of their race and ethnicity.

[@aryansingh7209]

@Moonlight Gamers brah. Who told you that trash? The similarity between Greeks and Indians is that both are descendants of the Indo Europeans or Aryans. The mythologies came from earlier Indo European people for both. They made up their own things later.

[@aryansingh7209]

@Moonlight Gamers your statement doesn't disprove my point that Greeks aren't philosophical forefathers of Indians philosophers. Again, I'm not arguing if Greeks are wrong or right.

[@combatkiller7881]

Thanks Dave, muchly appreciated for this video great work! Cant wait to watch the entire series.😉

[@foppishdilletaunt9911]

Thank you for these excursions into the fascinating, informative and maddening world of philosophy, Prof Dave.

[@jdm5570]

Very cool. I can't wait to see more in this vein of study!

[@ezrakatz6742]

I'm really interested to know your plan for this series, as philosophy is such a broad topic. I hope you eventually cover philosophy of science, either in this series or another, as it might be helpful to reference in some of your debates or debunks.

[@for_fox_aches]

Fantastic. Looking forward to more. Thanks and be well.

[@maxvaessen]

Awesome topic! Cant wait to watch them all

[@waelfadlallah8939]

Never cease to amaze Dave :)

[@darylatkinson4192]

Dao De Jing is one of the coolest and shortest thought pieces to reflect on and it has almost no supernatural concepts, absolutely recommended for anyone interest in (philosophical) Daoism. I read it about once a year

[@carolinewells4355]

i agree I love it and I listen to it at least once a week as a wash dishes or make dinner

[@AwakenZen]

Tao Te Ching

[@maximepotvin5419]

Awesome! Love your work!

[@jjkn884..]

Great video! 👍

[@marsy400sol]

Love from India 🇮🇳❤️

[@animefurry3508]

Im down for looking into Western Philosophy, but please do more on Eastern Philosophy, its so easy to find good resources (or at least resources at all) on Western Philosophy, but almost impossible to find good ones on Eastern Philosophy. (Here in the West) PLEASE!

[@theastropods]

loved this video on philosophy! i would love to see a westener's perspective on indian philosophy and ancient indian texts. A great indian content creator "project shivoham" actually creates videos analysing ancient indian texts (provides sources in the desciptions of his videos). would recommend!

[@4m0d]

it claims that india had foundations of atomic theory lol (no it didn't , saying world is made of earth fire water and wind is senseless and there is nothing special in saying there is an indivisible thing everything is made from) , just plain old hindutvadi ''we wuzz advanced and shit''. (dont disagree about the philosophical aspects though)

[@mauryanempire7503]

That channel also promotes conspiracy theory

[@theastropods]

​@@mauryanempire7503 how so?

[@MaddyIndia]

Good one Dave

[@joet.6019]

Professor Dave doing philosophy! My dream has come true!

[@firmbutton6485]

The man has a brain the size of earth!

[@MrKreinen]

This is great Prof Dave. I'd suggest that you take a detour and return to India in the 5th century ce to discus Shankara, and the Philosophies of Advaita (which many claim came to characterize the philosophy of the rest of Vedantic philosophy, and which is vary much like/connected to Theravada), and its "Kantian like" philosophy on the self (perceptual eye) and the other (Brahman/Universe/spinosa's-god). Im surprised you didn't linger on the Upanishads, and the Sutras were Hindu and Buddhist atheism/panantheism became central focuses, but it was really in Shankaras era that Advaita thoroughly rejected supernaturalism, and formalized their character as non-theistic consciousness-centered "religions/philosophies". Similarly, I was surprised you didn't linger on Confucianism, particularly to explore the influence of Legalism, a completely and explicitly atheistic philosophy that promoted aughts based on social structure, and the view of Confucianism first poised between legalism and folk taoism (centered on a looser set of sage-wisdoms). Looking forward to the series. Thanks alot Prof. Dave:)

[@aftermath7]

i was gonna comment same about upnishads, prof. dave plz take a detour on upanishads and how acharya shankrayacharya revived its traces back into the existence. also plz examine the modern philosopher "juddu krishnamurti" and "acharya prashant"(he even as a yt channel) if possible id like to make this request via email plz if possible watch some of his videos kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaO4XpWmr6acadk this one is abt K. this one is of AP"s recents kzbin.info/www/bejne/raLKq2Srn7V5btk

[@debarjandatta2170]

The knowledge this one dude has is equal to a university 💀

[@ThatCat-aclism]

Highly recommend the book "Sophie's World" for a whole bunch of philosophy concepts and history wrapped in a novel rather than a dry textbook. :)

[@OsvaldoBayerista]

It's ok to begin with, there is a few like that, but if you want to have a good knowledge, or even more a deep dve, you must read the work of philosophers, at some point it's easier and you start to really enjoy it.

[@truedivyansh]

I request you to explain the INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES after completing the Greek Philosophies... It has 9 prominent philosophies and the oldest of any other...

[@ManandeepSinghOfficial]

Yes I would request the same

[@youtubeuser206]

do a video on the role of psychedelic/psychotropic substances in philosophy and civilizational development

[@BrendavonAhsen]

Great stuff

[@BrendavonAhsen]

​@@thotslayer9914 Lol, U R a dum dum. 😂

[@journey578]

Yayyy a new video 🎉🎉🎉😄

[@palaksanwal4258]

So knowledgeable ❤

[@mikado359]

Why is Plato pictured with the Sophists??

[@librulcunspirisy]

Thanks 👍

[@Hellgrinde]

Yes please do more of these! Especially the eastern stuff 👍

[@harshvardhan5893]

He knows a lot about science stuff professor Dave explain s

[@irrelevant_noob]

about *_all kinds of_* stuff

[@sharadawanniarachchi4482]

Woah awesome

[@murugan_singh]

Damn.....now I will get more incredible materials for my 3 a.m discourse, which I do with myself 🤣

[@tirtunemdouq]

More more more❤❤❤

[@Igmu89]

The rest of the videos past #2 are hidden? How do I see the rest?

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

I release one per week

[@Igmu89]

@@ProfessorDaveExplains Ah! Didn't realize that, thank you.

[@juasjuasi4750]

It is understandable if it is a topic that is not exactly easy to research, but we will appreaciate a lot if you could also add a video about how exactly eastern philosophy shapped the cultures of indo-asia.

[@Monkeee_555]

Nice video

[@akshat9371]

In 2 min you watched 8 min video amazing you deserve spam report card

[@waelfadlallah8939]

​@@akshat9371 hahahahaha clever 🤣

[@Monkeee_555]

Well i watched half video in 2 x

[@dorasama5804]

Nice

[@bhavyajoshi7808]

Thank you for using the correct map of India

[@TheMilitantMazdakite]

As a Zoroastrian, I thank you for mentioning the great Zarathustra! I would go even further, and say that Zoroastrianism is what created the modern world, and could have even created something even better! (Communism) But it is also Worth noting that Zarathustra actually existed over 1,000 years before the time you said.

[@pratiksapkota5083]

😂😂

[@TheMilitantMazdakite]

@@pratiksapkota5083 ??????

[@0_Nobody]

😂🤣

[@TheMilitantMazdakite]

Ugh! Do you idiots want me to elaborate?!

[@JH-fb3mp]

Preach the anti-centrist gospel. Niche ideologies are the future

[@ansh-km2ws]

Any one here watching this video once read the Upanishads. Spontaneously he will realize the divine knowledge of great Indian sages😊

[@user-dj1wz3rc4s]

I'm confused, I thought Zarathustra had lived in the 15-10 century??

[@abdeljalilpr2033]

I advise you to watch Othman ibn Farouk's videos

[@thejackbancroft7336]

1:25 You've got another picture of Plato as the centre sophist.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Those are two arrows going to two different things.

[@MiloMay]

​​@@ProfessorDaveExplains yes, but one of the Sophsits in the picture(middle one) is Plato. It's only a small error though I wouldnt worry a out it,all greek statues look similar anyway lol. Edit:spelling

[@thejackbancroft7336]

​@@ProfessorDaveExplains And one of your two different things has a thing in it that is the same as the other different thing; a picture of Plato. Plato was not a sophist.

[@kailashrawat7615]

Please make a video for parallel World

[@Georg3e]

Multiverse?

[@kailashrawat7615]

@@Georg3e ya bri

[@jibriilnoorosman2317]

Where is political science course man....

[@-JA-]

👏👍

[@eggsbenedict8407]

daves actual content is so much better than flat earth stuff lol

[@e.h.5849]

yet Dave does away with flat Earthers in a very elegant way and a great style. hard to find anybody else who is this much on point in the fight against the FE cult.

[@thureintun1687]

Buddha was a philosopher

[@ZiadZeZo-iv1bw]

When does Professor Dave say his opinion about the religions he mentioned?

[@irrelevant_noob]

Not within this video.

[@noemitellez3098]

That does not matter in an educational video.

[@upulpriyantha5928]

🇱🇰

[@jercos]

6:57 Any other degenerates have their train of thought derailed here?

[@jumalajivee653]

Namo budhhay 😇

[@TheseNuts2]

Dead languages? Can't we just break them like codes or use AI?

[@noemitellez3098]

Easier said than done.

[@TheseNuts2]

@@noemitellez3098 Did some research, not so easy, but we are learning every day.

[@prasoonjha1816]

A lot of the languages do not have enough corpus left for AI to spot any pattern.

[@lennysela2092]

man these papers old

[@firstkaransingh]

Indians kicked out Buddha's enlightenment and replaced it with casteist hinduism. Good that it spread to other parts of the world

[@archivist17]

Hinduism, and the caste system, predated the Buddha. In fact, a lot of his teachings were against the assumptions and privileges of caste.

[@irrelevant_noob]

@@archivist17 one can still replace a new worldview with an older one...

[@archivist17]

@Robert clive the founder of India BCE itym.

[@AnshuKumar-fi2jy]

If you know Hinduism , you would have never said so. 1) caste system was never part of Hinduism ,, ( Varna system was mentioned, it was according to what work a person was doing) 2). Buddha's teachings were not very different from the different schools of thoughts of Hinduism ( vedant , Upnishads, etc )

[@firstkaransingh]

Caste system predates hinduism. It's how are ancestors lived by discrimination. All most all religions tried to fight it Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, shaivism except hindus. The Hinduism we follow today is a very modern ideology very different from what our earlier ancestors followed which is caste system.

[@hunterkage2842]

Buddhism morality >>>>> the Bible morality, both are interesting tho.

[@mikotagayuna8494]

Both are equally valid ways of learning how to conduct one's self in a society and each one could learn something from the other regardless whether you believe in some form of deity or not.

[@Iconoclast85]

I mostly agree, but both have become vehicles to maintain the status quo.

[@hunterkage2842]

@@mikotagayuna8494 some parts of the bible are sounded advice, some aren't

[@flyingfree333]

"science progresses and philosophy doesn’t" Lawrence Krauss

[@ashwinashwin4659]

😂😂😂fool

[@yurineri2227]

That's a dumb quote lol

[@yurineri2227]

@Moonlight Gamers I wasn't talking about your comment, I was addressing the first comment that says philosophy doesn't progress, which is simply factually incorrect this video by Dave showed a lot of different historical pieces that lead to the improvement and progress of philosophy this video address how philosophy is still progressing if you are in diving a bit deeper in the subject: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5OmhaV7oa-BjKM

[@yurineri2227]

@Moonlight Gamers You're welcome, and don't worry, philosophy isn't dead, and most people including most scientists know that Science and philosophy are both compatible and contribute to each other so no matter what, we will always need philosophy (ethics boards for research don't make decisions regarding ethical research based on nothing after all lol) And yes, science is fantastic, but it's a method made to acquire specifically scientific knowledge, asking science the answer for ethics for example would ironically be unscientific lol So don't worry as someone who also really likes philosophy and science, I can assure you don't have to worry about them being in conflict =)

[@prasoonjha1816]

@Moonlight Gamers Your comment reminds me of a Newton quote, "Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend but my best friend is Truth."

[@chandrajitkarmakar2333]

Philosophy : Questions that can never be answered. Religion : Answers that must never be questioned. Science : Answering the questions.

[@kahoHXXXXXXXx]

That’s kinda stereotypical

[@prasoonjha1816]

Science literally evolved from philosophy.

[@mirko7587]

More like: Philosophy: Makes questions and anwers them. Religion: Recognizes the spiritual dimension of these answers and questions. Science: Organizes and studies the questions and answers/Discovers the empirical manifestation of these principles.

[@ruthoglesby1805]

Slightly reductive, but funny! Could see on a t-shirt☺

[@uwillnevahno6837]

@@mirko7587 Philosophy asks questions like "If a tree falls in the forest w/no one around does it make a sound?" Religion answers only god knows. Science creates a test, devices to measure and debates the final answer (spoiler alert: the answer is yes).

[@davidpalmer9802]

Was this thumbnail made with AI

[@yurineri2227]

0:25 rejecting philosophical thoughts because of some cultural or religious influence is foolish and a fallacy If you have a problem with a philosophical idea you address its synopsis or conclusions, dismissing a certain philosophy just because of where it came from is a textbook example of a genetic fallacy Anyways, please don't think I am saying you guys did that, I was just addressing a certain type of person mentioned in the video, you did a great job with the video Dave =)

[@Mrfunny663vnb83]

I think what he meant that among those philosophy there's a good amount of pure theological propositions rather philosophical thought process .

[@e.h.5849]

Topics such as Vedanta and Buddhism can't be reduced to philosophy - they are mystical and esoteric empiricism. With that said, trying to understand them in their entirety in their original purpose by merely treating them as philosophies is like studying all there is about chocolate, but never actually tasting it. Yes, true, these schools all have very complex philosophical framework, but its purpose is to be used as a secondary tool within the main practice of the actual contemplation and knowledge. Philosophy is paroksha, indirect knowledge, whereas esoteric teachings cultivate aparoksha knowledge - direct, actual knowledge that is not interfered or compromised by the mind. Though... I honestly understand very well this natural tendency to treat them as philosophies, since I myself had at one point in my life thought they were philosophies. That all changed very abruptly after the first nirvikalpa samadhi. It literally changes everything, when you first time in your life are faced with the naked reality of your very true nature being sat-chit-ananda at the same time directly knowing it is also the nature of the entire existence in general. At that deep contemplative state you understand and experience the sum total of everything in a condensed form. Philosophy is a subtitute for the real knowledge, albeit, sometimes very useful.

[@ALOK-pe5fp]

🕉️ oldest religion in universe ⚔️🔥⚔️

[@eka_brahmanrishiputra4998]

Brother vedas mentioned in manusmriti , ramayana , mahabharat also Mahabharat historical evidence also found so vedas first So called budh ,jain pseudo science ideology

[@prasoonjha1816]

What do you want to say?

[@Himanshu-vz5xe]

@i^2 Keep it Real 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖀𝖇𝖎𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖙𝖔𝖗 Yes funny what he said is true😂😂

[@shakazulu301]

Lol calling Buddhism more of a religion then a philosophy is absolutely Silly. . . Silly silly

[@johntrazk]

Secular Buddhism might be considered as philosophy but the two main branches of Buddhism, Theravada and Mahayana are clearly religions. Why do you think Buddhism is philosophy while two main branches of it involves many supernatural concepts such as 31 Realms, Hell and Heaven?

[@prasoonjha1816]

It may have been a philosophy during the life of the Buddha but turned into a religion after him.

[@foppishdilletaunt9911]

⬆️ What they said…

[@yurineri2227]

Depends on the branch, most especially, the older ones are a religion

[@miguelatkinson]

@shakazulu301 and it's even siller calling Buddhism a mere philosophy..silly..silly

[@n8ux1963]

Thought this was a science channel. Moving on...

[@benjaminkoch2380]

Philosophy is the origin of science

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

I’ve been covering non-science topics since 2017. Try and keep up, chief.

[@n8ux1963]

@@benjaminkoch2380 I guess I need scientific proof of that assertion.

[@n8ux1963]

@@ProfessorDaveExplains Your welcome video is very science-oriented. I suppose this is the "and more" you refer to.

[@Claudius_Ptolemy]

Philosophy is like the father of all sciences lol

[@DREADHOT187]

Egypt is the origin of all this...MAAT civilized man 1st

[@IAintGonnaDrawHeliohi]

I think Mesopotamia is the 1st civilization.

[@DREADHOT187]

@@IAintGonnaDrawHeliohi U can think what U want... Come back when U know.

[@IAintGonnaDrawHeliohi]

@@DREADHOT187 I mean. It is stated as the oldest. But can you provide evidence?

[@DREADHOT187]

@@IAintGonnaDrawHeliohi U obviously are a promoter of scientific r@cism... All the evidence points to the Nile valley and delta.

[@mikotagayuna8494]

No one is claiming that any specific civilization was the origin of philosophical thought. As Dave said, we can only surmise through whatever records or oral histories that survived.

[@gavinbrooks9036]

The earth is flat wake up ❤

[@Monkeee_555]

Bruh moment

[@minitheatre7484]

And Hogwarts is real..🤣

[@consciousmindgame5047]

Nice joke

[@shivamchouhan5077]

Yo it's your brain, which is flat not earth

[@Malthusia]

L shit fr

[@Mrfunny663vnb83]

you should also mention about the history of philosophy in Ancient Arab ,Africa,medieval Islamic golden age and Ottoman philosophy in your next video please. You didn't mentioned them here .

[@AnshuKumar-fi2jy]

😂

[@Mrfunny663vnb83]

@@AnshuKumar-fi2jy huh?

[@narendrasomawat5978]

Hinduism came before Buddhism and it's much older than any other religious or philosophical knowledge in the world. It seems U didn't research properly.