The Relationship between Philosophy and Traditional Culture

The significance of philosophy to China people can be equated with the value of religion to westerners.

Many westerners believe that Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are the three religions in China, which is not accurate enough. In fact, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism really belong to religion, and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are an important part of China's philosophy.

Philosophy is a systematic reflection on life, while religion is the product of adding a certain superstructure to philosophy, including superstition, doctrine, etiquette and system. Philosophy and religion are both related and different.

For example, the connotations of Taoism and Taoism are not only different, but even contradictory. Taoist philosophy holds that everything must die, and people don't have to mind death and conform to nature. In contrast, Taoism aims to teach immortality, which includes the pursuit of conquering nature.

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People are not satisfied with the real world and seek transcendence, which is a deep human desire. In this respect, the Chinese nation is no different from other nations. Unlike westerners who seek to transcend the real world by caring about religion, China people choose to pursue the same goal in a philosophical way.

China people find existence beyond the real world in philosophy, and also express and appreciate a value beyond ethics in philosophy (one view holds that ethics is the spiritual foundation of China culture), and experience the pleasure brought by this value in philosophical life.

According to the tradition of China's philosophy, the function of philosophy is not to provide positive knowledge, but to purify people's minds. After the mind is promoted to a certain level, it can transcend the real world and experience values higher than morality.

Since the Renaissance, the conflict between western religion and science has intensified. Every step forward in science, religion takes a step back; Its authority has been weakened with the development of science. In the future world, philosophy will replace religion, because it can make people experience the highest blessing provided by religion in a way that is not bound by imagination and superstition.