Editing Ancient philosophy (section)

==Ancient Chinese philosophy==
{{Main article|Chinese philosophy}}
Chinese philosophy is the dominant philosophical thought in China and other countries within the [[East Asian cultural sphere]] that [[Adoption of Chinese literary culture|share a common language]], including Japan, [[Korea]], and [[Vietnam]].

===Schools of thought===

====Hundred Schools of Thought====
{{main article|Hundred Schools of Thought}}
The Hundred Schools of Thought were philosophers and schools that flourished from the 6th century to 221 BCE,<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/112694/Chinese-philosophy#ref171469 "Chinese philosophy"], Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 4/6/2014</ref> an era of significant cultural and intellectual expansion in China. Even though this period – known in its earlier part as the [[Spring and Autumn period]] and the [[Warring States]] period – in its latter part was fraught with chaos and bloody battles, it is also known as the Golden Age of [[Chinese philosophy]] because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely. The thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced [[lifestyle (sociology)|lifestyle]]s and [[social consciousness]] up to the present day in East Asian countries. The [[intellectual]] society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of [[Forms of government|government]], [[war]], and [[diplomacy]]. This period ended with the rise of the [[Qin dynasty]] and the subsequent [[Burning of books and burying of scholars|purge]] of dissent. The [[Book of Han]] lists ten major schools, they are:
* [[Confucianism]], which teaches that human beings are teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavors, especially including self-cultivation and self-creation. The main idea of Confucianism is the cultivation of virtue and the development of moral perfection. Confucianism holds that one should give up one's life, if necessary, either passively or actively, for the sake of upholding the cardinal moral values of ''[[Ren (Confucianism)|ren]]'' and ''[[Yi (Confucianism)|yi]]''.<ref>{{citation|url=http://arts.hkbu.edu.hk/~pclo/e5.pdf |author=Lo, Ping-cheung |title=Confucian Ethic of Death with Dignity and Its Contemporary Relevance |journal=The Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics. Society of Christian Ethics (U.s.) |year=1999 |volume=19 |pages=313–333 |publisher=Society of Christian Ethics |doi=10.5840/asce19991916 |pmid=11913447 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716110845/http://arts.hkbu.edu.hk/~pclo/e5.pdf |archive-date=16 July 2011 }}</ref>
* [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalism]]. Often compared with [[Machiavelli]], and foundational for the traditional Chinese bureaucratic empire, the Legalists examined administrative methods, emphasizing a realistic consolidation of the wealth and power of autocrat and state.
* [[Taoism]] (also called Daoism), a philosophy which emphasizes the [[Three Jewels of the Tao]]: [[compassion]], [[moderation]], and [[humility]], while Taoist thought generally focuses on [[nature]], the relationship between humanity and the cosmos; [[health]] and [[longevity]]; and [[wu wei]] (action through inaction). Harmony with the [[Universe]], or the source thereof (Tao), is the intended result of many Taoist rules and practices.
* [[Mohism]], which advocated the idea of universal love: Mozi believed that "everyone is equal before heaven" and that people should seek to imitate heaven by engaging in the practice of collective love. His epistemology can be regarded as primitive materialist [[empiricism]]; he believed that human cognition ought to be based on one's perceptions &ndash; one's sensory experiences, such as sight and hearing &ndash; instead of imagination or internal logic, elements founded on the human capacity for abstraction. Mozi advocated frugality, condemning the Confucian emphasis on ritual and music, which he denounced as extravagant.
* Naturalism, the [[School of Naturalists]] or the Yin-yang school, which synthesized the concepts of [[yin and yang]] and the [[Five elements (Chinese philosophy)|Five Elements]]; [[Zou Yan]] is considered the founder of this school.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/607826/Zou-Yan|title=Zou Yan|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=1 March 2011}}</ref>
* Agrarianism, or the [[School of Agrarianism]], which advocated peasant [[utopian]] communalism and [[egalitarianism]].<ref name="wp">{{cite book|last= Deutsch |first=Eliot | author2  = Ronald Bontekoei|year=1999 | page= 183|title=A companion to world philosophies|publisher=Wiley Blackwell}}</ref> The Agrarians believed that Chinese society should be modeled around that of the early sage king [[Shen Nong]], a folk hero which was portrayed in Chinese literature as "working in the fields, along with everyone else, and consulting with everyone else when any decision had to be reached."<ref name="wp" />
* The [[School of Names|Logicians]] or the School of Names, which focused on [[definition]] and [[logic]]. It is said to have parallels with that of the Ancient Greek [[sophists]] or [[dialectician]]s. The most notable Logician was [[Gongsun Longzi]].
* The [[School of Diplomacy]] or School of Vertical and Horizontal [Alliances], which focused on practical matters instead of any moral principle, stressed political and diplomatic tactics, debate, and lobbying skills. Scholars from this school were good orators, debaters, and tacticians.
* The Miscellaneous School, which integrated teachings from different schools; for instance, [[Lü Buwei]] found scholars from different schools to write a book called [[Lüshi Chunqiu]] cooperatively. This school tried to integrate the merits of various schools and avoid their perceived flaws.
* The School of "Minor-talks" was not a unique school of thought but a philosophy constructed of all the thoughts discussed by and originated from ordinary people on the street.
* Another group is the School of the Military that studied strategy and the [[philosophy of war]]; [[Sunzi]] and [[Sun Bin]] were influential leaders. However, this school was not one of the "Ten Schools" defined by Hanshu.

====Early Imperial China====
The founder of the Qin dynasty, who implemented Legalism as the official philosophy, [[To burn the classics and to bury the scholars|quashed Mohist and Confucianist schools]]. Legalism remained influential until the emperors of the [[Han dynasty]] adopted Daoism and later Confucianism as official doctrine. These latter two became the determining forces of Chinese thought until the introduction of Buddhism.

Confucianism was particularly strong during the Han dynasty, whose greatest thinker was [[Dong Zhongshu]], who integrated Confucianism with the thoughts of the Zhongshu School and the theory of the Five Elements. He also was a promoter of the New Text school, which considered Confucius as a divine figure and a spiritual ruler of China, who foresaw and started the evolution of the world towards the Universal Peace. In contrast, there was an Old Text school that advocated the use of Confucian works written in ancient language (from this comes the denomination ''Old Text'') that were so much more reliable. In particular, they refuted the assumption of Confucius as a godlike figure and considered him as the greatest sage, but simply a human and mortal.

The 3rd and 4th centuries saw the rise of the ''[[Xuanxue]]'' (mysterious learning), also called ''Neo-Taoism''. The most influential philosophers of this movement were [[Wang Bi]], [[Xiang Xiu]] and [[Guo Xiang]]. The main question of this school was whether Being came before Not-Being (in Chinese, ''ming'' and ''wuming''). A peculiar feature of these Taoist thinkers, like the [[Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove]], was the concept of ''[[feng liu]]'' (lit. wind and flow), a sort of romantic spirit which encouraged following the natural and instinctive impulse.

[[Buddhism]] arrived in China around the 1st century AD, but it was not until the [[Northern and Southern dynasties|Northern and Southern]], [[Sui dynasty|Sui]] and [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] dynasties that it gained considerable influence and acknowledgement. In the beginning, it was considered a sort of Taoist sect, and there was even a theory about [[Laozi]], founder of Taoism, who went to India and taught his philosophy to [[Buddha]]. [[Mahayana Buddhism]] was far more successful in China than its rival [[Hinayana]], and both Indian schools and local Chinese sects arose from the 5th century. Two chiefly important monk philosophers were [[Sengzhao]] and [[Daosheng]]. But probably the most influential and original of these schools was the [[Chan Buddhism|Chan]] sect, which had an even stronger impact in Japan as the [[Zen]] sect.

===Philosophers===
* [[Taoism]]
** [[Laozi]] (5th–4th century BCE)
** [[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]] (4th century BCE)
** [[Zhang Daoling]]
** [[Zhang Jue]] (died 184 CE)
** [[Ge Hong]] (283 – 343 CE)
* [[Confucianism]]
** [[Confucius]]
** [[Mencius]]
** [[Xun Zi]] ({{circa|312}} – 230 BCE)
* [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalism]]
** [[Li Si]]
** [[Li Kui (legalist)|Li Kui]]
** [[Han Fei]]
** Mi Su Yu
** [[Shang Yang]]
** [[Shen Buhai]]
** [[Shen Dao]]
* [[Mohism]]
** [[Mozi]]
** Song Xing
* [[School of Names|Logicians]]
** [[Deng Xi]]
** [[Hui Shi]] (380–305 BCE)
** [[Gongsun Long]] ({{circa|325}} – {{circa|250 BCE}})
* [[School of Agrarianism|Agrarianism]]
** Xu Xing
* [[School of Naturalists|Naturalism]]
** [[Zou Yan]] (305 – 240 BCE)
* [[Neotaoism]]
** [[Wang Bi]]
** [[Guo Xiang]]
** [[Xiang Xiu]]
* [[School of Diplomacy]]
** [[Guiguzi]]
** [[Su Qin]] (380 – 284 BCE)
** [[Zhang Yi (Warring States period)|Zhang Yi]] (bef. 329 – 309 BCE)
** [[Yue Yi]]
** [[Li Yiji]] (268 – 204 BCE)
* Military strategy
** [[Sunzi]] ({{circa|500 BCE}})
** [[Sun Bin]] (died 316 BCE)