Jon C

Ancient to Modern Philosophy A Synergy

The three main philosophical principles encompassing all of history are simplicity, hierarchy, and morality. Morality is a form of quality or social concerns. A simplicity emphasizes a oneness between form and function; dynamic quality and static quality. Hierarchy was originally social and natural in the ancient texts of Confucius, Plato, and The Tao Te Ching and is later refined to cover four distinct levels of increasing complexity. The principles can be applied to all thinking, whether in education, science, or the arts.

The hierarchy in education starts with art and poetry with both Confucius and Plato. Next comes physical education, then abstract sciences for Plato, and moral education for Confucius. Moral education encompasses "establishing harmonious relationships with people of different social strata". [Cai, p5] Confucius does not set a time-line for education but emphasizes a lifetime of devotion to the principles. [Cai, p5]. For Confucius, inner harmony expands outward hierarchically through the social sphere. [Cai, p6]. A gentleman, for Confucius has "cultivated inner and outer harmony". Plato's Allegory of the Cave seems to equate with a similar concept of seeing the light by developing outer harmony; leaving the cave. Society is reflected in the individual, inside of cave, and the individual in society, outside of the cave. Enlightenment is through education, and prepares the student for interactions with the outside world, morally. [6]

Confucius: "A gentleman displays a spirit of temperance under all circumstances. Temperance means avoiding extremes in ones thought, speech, action." [Cai, p5] Confucius: With parents the gentlemen exerts himself to the utmost. With superiors, he is ready to lay down his life, with friends he is true to his word, and with inferiors he provides for their needs and exacts their service in a fair manner.[6] Plato describes the gentleman philosopher with a gentle disposition as a defining quality.[5] In ZMM, the emphasis on social quality seems to center mostly on the family interaction through the travels, a few meetings with friends, and finally, the author's experiences as a University Professor.[4]

For Plato, poetry and music provide the development to recognize what is valuable and what is harmful; "lovely things will bring "joy to his soul" and the ugly he will "condemn and abhor." Those who fear Hades (hell) will fight fearlessly in battle [5, bk III, p86]. Poetry is not to be used in later education, according to Plato, because poetry is mimetic, and it only mimics the word rather than using the intellectual or abstract reasoning. Poetry "strengthens the feelings and impairs the reason" indulging the "irrational nature". [Cai, p7]. Mimesis or mimicking is the first stage of development taught by poets works, just above that of manual laborers. To Socrates, only more lowly than poets are manual laborers, sophists, and tyrants. [Cai, p13].

According to Confucius, there are four major ways poetry can enhance morality:

Xing

Inspire by "introducing comparisons and bringing categories together."; relationships.

Guan

Observing changes in social situations and structures, "rise and decline of government and moral customs".

Qun

Learning how to keep good company and reject bad company. "Petty acts of cleverness are difficult". page 10

Yuan

Show disdain and sorrows without being angry. "Airing grievances" tactfully; maintaining loyalty.

[6]

Confucius asks his disciples about employment. The first disciple says he will perform a great feat by leading a country of a thousand warriors threatened by powerful enemies. The second and third disciples choose less complex tasks. The fourth and final disciple wants to spend the day with youths, "take air in at the Rain Dance altars, and then go home singing". The master agrees with the fourth disciple. Confucius believes that "the first three disciples are tainted by personal ambitions". [Cai, p14]. The fourth disciple captures the nature of simplicity. Confucius writes, and the Tao affirms similarly, that a non-purposeful life leads to loss of egotism and "self-forgetting spontaneity in which one enjoys ultimate harmony with all things", "freedom of spirit".[6]

Role models and leadership are more greatly emphasized in Plato's text. Plato writes of the spirit of a person as being a motivation. Guardians must be "gentle and great-spirited" [ Bloom, p75].

Plato discusses the transformation of the soul through "three similar ideals: non-contentiousness, philosopher kings, and ultimate harmony." The philosopher king symbolizes the similar harmonious behavior seen in the fourth sage. Throughout the Republic, it is argued as to whom should hold office. The just man would gain little benefit from holding office, according to Thrasymachus. To Socrates, in a good or nearly ideal City, everyone will benefit from his or her position [Bloom, pp 43-50].

Both Plato and Confucius propose to ban certain forms of poetry that obscure practicality and moral character in the reader. [Cai, p17] "ugliness, discord, and inharmonious motion are nearly allied to ill words and ill nature". The "rightly ordered mind" produces "true simplicity".[Cai, p17] Plato decrees that musical instruments within the state are to remain simple. When "form and function" coincide accurately, without excess, as described in ZMM, simplicity is produced." To Confucius and Plato, moral and Aesthetic or artistic qualities are one in the same." [6]

While hierarchies do exist in the Tao, ZMM, The Republic, and Confucius texts, simplicity is emphasized in moment to moment thinking. The hierarchies of the Republic are social and intellectual; for example, there are philosopher kings, guardians, and citizens in The Republic and an intellectual hierarchy of importance in education. Poetry is the first in intellectual importance for molding the youth. ZMM has a physical level and quality, a biological level and quality, a social level and quality, and an Intellectual level and quality. Dynamic quality is important for moment to moment application of the knowledge of static levels; the simplicity of moment to moment thinking, non-being and absorption from the environment. Confucius and the Tao focus more on social quality, moral behavior, that being similar to the good in Plato or quality in ZMM. Social hierarchies and moral education are emphasized in Confucius texts, while a focus on non-contentiousness or non-being is also emphasized. Simplicity leads to "harmony and order" in the person and society. Good content is not overly elaborate in form. [Cai, 20] Plato believes in vertical hierarchy of "truth" starting with poetry,

then gymnastics, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, dialectic, to divine sphere" learned from the philosopher king.[6]

Confucius' text emphasizes simplicity as avoidance of the excessive and a focus on purity. The tunes of Zheng are excessive and the flatters are dangerous. Simplicity is better than multiplicity because simplicity is purer. Confucius says he "hates that purple usurps red". Red is a pure color (primary) while purple is a mix (Cai). Multiplicity is something that removes the actor from the moment. [6]

Plato: "Misrepresentation of Gods will lead to the imitation of evil conduct by the guardians". The misrepresentation of the Gods, interestingly in contrast, is what Socrates is later accused of in The Apology. Confucius: "linguistic miss-representation of socio-political reality will lead to a willful destruction of the hierarchical socio-political structure." Language is best made to represent reality or actions truthfully. God is more of a focus with Plato while Confucius focuses on "right" enduring ideas to live by. Socrates says "The god is altogether simple and true in deed and speech". [Bloom, p84]

To Confucius, "The Master said, a gentleman is ashamed to let his words outrun his deeds." "In official business, all that is necessary is to get one's meaning through." [Cai, p19] Plato: Artful words and ingratiating countenance scarcely have anything to do with the good." [Cai, p19] Confucius: "What need he to be a good talker?", "Those who down others with claptrap are seldom popular". Artfulness is best used to give character and aesthetic value to the substance of the matter. [6]

Confucius believes in horizontal truth starting from inward harmony and then establishing harmony at home and abroad in a "manner appropriate to ones status in a hierarchal society"[6]. The philosophy is more of an ideal all people are to obtain. The individual is comfortable with his position

in society because he follows the ideal.

Politically, both Confucius and Plato believe in the censorship of "poor quality" whether it be music, poetry, or writing. Poetry and music should not go to extremes and maintain simplicity [Cai, 17]. Artful refinement, according to Confucius, should be in addition to substance and simplicity, not in place of the meaning.

Both Confucius and Plato find Poetic harmony to be less significant than moral or intellectual harmony according to the text. [6] Perhaps poetic harmony is a stage in obtaining moral and intellectual harmony or perhaps, even more so, poetry is a way of displaying moral and intellectual values.

Beauty or simplicity is something that cannot be named. In Confucius text, Great was Yao as a lord. Greatness is only for heaven, yet Yao matched it. How sublime! People could not find a name for it." Confucius describes the perfectly good or moral and beautiful bound up together as one and the highest moral consciousness merged with aesthetic experience. [6] In the Tao, Continuous, unnameable, it returns again to nothing in writing about the way. In the Tao, beauty is known because it cannot be identified as such. When everyone knows beauty is beauty, this is bad. Start fashioning, and there are names; once names also exist, you should know when to stop. By knowing when to stop, you are not endangered [8]. The importance and beauty of simplicity is described in the Confucius text, the Tao, and the dynamic quality of ZMM. The dynamic quality of ZMM is very experiential, fluid, and romantic [7].

Confucius does not rise to an eternal theory of forms like Plato and the "Tao" is more experience-based. The interesting concept about eastern philosophy is a focus on flexibility, where western philosophy puts more emphasis on fundamental, static forms. While both the "static quality"

and "dynamic quality" described in ZMM are important, a balance in relation to the present is likely of even greater importance. The "be here now" concept carried from India through Hindu yoga and Buddhist meditation are seen in the dynamic quality of ZMM, the non-being and emptiness of the Tao, and the simplicity and non-being of Confucius, even more so than in Plato's simplicity. From the Tao Te Ching, Thomas Cleary translation, "So being and non-being produce each other: difficulty and ease complement each other, long and short shape each other, high and low contrast with each other, voice and echoes conform to each other, before and after go along with each other. So sages manage effortless service and carry out unspoken guidance." Dualities become well developed between Confucius and The Tao. In The Tao Te Ching, dualities complement one another in a poetic form of writing. The two philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism existed simultaneous since around 500BC. [8]

Confucius view was a horizontal "pattern of harmony" as described in the "Great Learning: "Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their States were rightly governed. Their States being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy." [6] The idea of harmony extends from within, outward, and then horizontal, across the people of the whole kingdom.

Interestingly, in many texts, "the philosophical journey is an ascent into the world of ideas and a descent back into the world of the senses". In Pirsig's ZMM, levels of quality, the physical level comes first while the intellectual level rises above in the hierarchy. [4] Often in the Confucius text and the Tao Te Ching, levels of harmony extending outward are discussed. Pirsig emphasizes an importance of one level over the other and the higher levels cannot exist without the lower levels. Confucius becomes

oblivious to the sensual experience through an intellectual experience with music; "I became oblivious to the taste of meat for three months. [Cai, p13] The intellectual quality is the highest level in Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality. It would make some sense that the musical experience is a form of social quality that transcends into the intellectual. Similar to Confucius', The subordination of scarce physical or psychological rewards to philosophic raptures may transcend an inferior with a sublime privateness. [Cai, p6].

According to Mara, Plato's hierarchical "forms are a pattern for ordering the social world". Analysis among Chaos often leads to order. Disparate elements are harmonized into an impersonal or trans-personal order; mans ideas are combined". Contemporary political philosophers are likely to disagree with "abstracting individual political actors". [Mara, p3]. Plato's metaphysics or ordering of the physical world may be based on a flawed theory of what "good" really is. The good or quality, as Pirsig would describe, is an agreed upon scientific model [7], in Socrates case, the good is the ideal city "which can never exist". [Mara, p3, 6] According to the Tao Te Ching, the apparent good is something we cannot and should not grasp, the non-being seen similarly in Confucius' "way". [8]

Confucius views lower-level poetry more as a means of improving socialization, while Plato believes that poetry is useful in the "cognition of the truth". Confucius says poetry can be positive for the "evocation of moral sentiments", "the distinction between good and bad customs", "the keeping of good company", "proper services to parents", "master of diplomatic protocol", and on "the proper expression of grievances".[Cai, 22] The prior positive effects seem to extend out horizontally from the individual. For Plato, the vertical ascent means to reach higher levels of increasingly abstract thinking; "absolute knowledge". [Cai, 21] Absolute truth seems to require a kind of "purpose" found in Plato's writings but not desired in Confucius' Dao or the Tao (the way). Confucius maintains the hierarchical society by promoting simplicity and refraining from "artful use of language" in social-political life.

[Cai, 22]. ZMM does not discuss much about social interactions other than the author becoming Phaedrus or alternative character, including the author's family interactions occurring in moment to moment descriptions and flashbacks. The emphasis on basic family and friends in ZMM is due perhaps to modern democracy more evenly distributing the power of individual and less focus is on leadership or society. The Tao focuses on a generalization of how a person should act, and avoidance of extremes in social life. In the Tao, not exalting "goods hard to find" and a concentration on non-being, nature, or emptiness is essential to maintain peace.[8] Confucius way" or "Dao" was developed around the same time as the "Tao Te Ching"; Plato and Confucius wrote concurrently. Scientific views were perhaps even more developed in ZMM, a modern text.

French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798-1857) formulated a form of empiricism, which he called Positivism, a system that improved upon classical concepts progressing to a foundation for modern scientific thinking, seen in ZZM. Comte wrote of knowledge as a series of relationships, known as laws linking phenomena or events together. The cause and effect relationships are the basis of much of modern thinking today.

We have no knowledge of anything but Phenomena; and our knowledge of phnomena is relative, not absolute. We know not the essence, nor the real mode of production, of any fact, but only its relations to other facts in the way of succession or of similitude. These relations are constant; that is, always the same in the same circumstances. The constant resemblances which link phnomena together, and the constant sequences which unite them as antecedent and consequent, are termed their laws. The laws of phnomena are all we know respecting them. Their essential nature, and their ultimate causes, either efficient or final, are unknown and inscrutable to us. [emphasis added] Auguste Comte (1)

Positivism was probably a culmination of enlightenment concepts which aided Comte to found the field of Sociology studied today. Comte suggests a hierarchy of human social development ranging from Theological to modern Positivism, that he and the enlightenment thinkers helped make standard. Theological is the primary stage in human development. Real or imaginary beings control beliefs. First the progression is from real material objects as possessing life to supernatural imaginary beings controlling material objects and events. The last stage of Theological development merges the supernatural beings into one god, creator of the entire universe, who can control nature and interfere with day to day life on earth. The next stage, Metaphysical, involves taking the power of God or nature, and transferring it to every defined object. Plants, animals, people, have a soul or force that causes them to interact. The magical quality may not be ascribed to a single Father or God but to forces that animate each individual person, place, or thing. Finally, Positivism, the basis for modern scientific thinking, bases the worlds operations on man-made empirical cause and effect beliefs like mathematical formulas or other tested scientific laws developed greatly by enlightenment thinkers like Descartes, Bacon, Galileo, and, lastly, Newton. (2)

Comte develops a framework that is the basis for the hierarchal thinking seen in ZMM (see attached, figure 1). Physical science was first developed and has the most history thus the least flexibility. Man knows that he can rub two sticks together and make fire. Without the physical matter, chemical and biological areas could not mature. Atoms make up molecules that make up organic chemicals that make up cells, tissues, and organs. The progression started early in the universe and eventually this matter became humans here today. Without biological beings, especially humans, there cannot be sociology. The complexity becomes greater as layers are added. Physical layers that started as atoms and molecules had the most history and refinement, while biological, social, and intellectual have progressively less history. Flexibility becomes greater because of less researched areas but complexity is also greater due to more hierarchal levels. A person knows he or she must eat and drink

water to survive. The flexibility is greater relative to socialization with other people or intellectual thinking about what patterns are best fit for his or her environment. A person may not need to speak; but a person definitely needs food and drink. (3)

The goal of the people and society is to obtain simplicity, a oneness, that can be seen in Confucius' way (Dao), the Tao's non-being or earth mother, and Pirsig's dynamic quality in the Metaphysics of Quality, MOQ (4). Confucius emphasizes a lasting simplicity where all beings rest. The concept of non-contention is also seen in the poetic writing of the Tao. Plato describes the simplicity of balance between poetry, music, and logic. Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality or MOQ describes a hierarchy within the static quality and simplicity in the dynamic quality of moment to moment thinking. When the dynamic and static are synchronized, there exists simplicity, another form of quality. Past, Present, and future become one. Plato describes a hierarchy of forms in education, trades, citizenship, and the tripartite model of the soul (see attached). The morality of avoiding extremes socially is described by Confucius' simplicity example, the disciple spending the day with youths, and in the Tao on not exalting goods hard to find.(8)

Supporting Diagram

Figure 1

Metaphysics of Quality (Expanded)

Hierarchical Levels (interpretive) Physical (least flexible >) Quantum Mechanics Nuclear Mechanics Electromagnetic Optics (light) Chemistry Biological (flexible >) Molecular Microbiology Cell Tissue Organ System Organism Species... Population Ecosystem Biosphere... Extra-Terrestrial Social (flexible >)

Anthropology eating, sleeping, basic rituals, small groups, similarities among monkeys and humans, family interactions, development of hunting, gathering, farming and supporting rituals. Nature spirits and gods emerge. Begins with pre-historic artifacts. Religion Ritualistic behavior that supports family, reproduction, and economy. Spirits become more developed, centering around father, mother, and afterlife. First pieces of classical literature. Classical thought Classical History and Literature. Begins with recorded history and ends around 1800. Male dominated influence until Catherine the Great (1700's). Ends with development of enlightened principles (Enlightenment) and Social theory. Philosophy Development of intellect and reason. Begins around ancient Greece (Plato) and China (Confucius and the Tao) Law - Codification of Classical and Philosophical Social Principles Police Enforce local and inter-state laws. Military Enforce law between nations Politics The direction of laws. Group council meetings. Larger groups make laws affecting larger populations. Principles of leader, executive, judicial, and legislative functions. Individual Psychology Analyzes individual principles of brain and behavior. Early childhood social principles. Sociology Socialism. Combines history, psychology, and economics. Feminist principles are emphasized. Female dominated. Developed beginning around end of 1700s. Population Developments Population Family (social) Band Tribe City State Nation Organizations, Corporations *Greater population density means greater complexity, higher levels, and more intellect. Intellectual (most flexible) Thinking Patterns. Traverses all four lower levels. Scientific cause and effect analysis. Static and Dynamic Quality

Static Learned. Physical, Biological, Social, Intellectual Dynamic Applied. Moment to Moment thinking. Influenced by and influences static. Care <===> Quality (Pirsig's Morality). What the individual or group cares about becomes quality or values (love). Past<== Present ==> Future. Present moment thinking affects the past and future.

Figure 2 Plato's Hierarchy

Citizens Tradesmen Guardians Military and Police Philosopher Kings Administrators, Legislators, Philosopher-King Work Hierarchy : Manual Laborers ==> Sophists ==> Tyrants ==> Poets==> Forms and Skill: Musicians will play music. Doctors will apply medicine. Carpenters will build. Poets mimic. Musicians uses instruments. Higher levels of intellect can be more abstractly represented. Education: Art => Poetry => Gymnastics => Mathematics => Geometry => Astronomy => Dialectic => Divine Sphere Subject and Object: Music and Logos. Context and Specifics. Plato's Mental and Physical representation of Objects as described in The Allegory of the Cave. Theory of the Forms. Tripartite Soul (2, book IV) Mental

LOGOS (mind, reason, nous)

THYMOS (Emotion, Spirit, Masculine) Emotional EROS (Appetite or Sexual Desire, Erotic, Femine.) Physical

Figure 3 Confucius
Balance: Words and Deeds (like Static and Dynamic quality) Harmony among Social Classes Inner and Outer Harmony. Hierarchy Knowledge to Thoughts to Hearts to Families to States to Kingdom. (morality) Roles with Parents. Superiors. Inferiors. (morality) Simplicity Simplicity is knowing the elements. Seeing parts of the whole. Purity. Leads to harmony and order in the person and society. Youth means flexibility; simplicity. The example of the disciple and the youths. Beauty is nameless. Lord Yao

Figure 4 The Tao Te Ching

Knowing Beauty 2.1 When everyone knows beauty is beauty, this is bad. 2.2 When everyone knows good is good, this is not good. 2.3 So being and non-being produce each other: difficulty and ease complement each other, long and short shape each other,

2.4 high and low contrast with each other, voice and echoes conform to each other, before and after go along with each other. 2.5 So sages manage effortless service and carry out unspoken guidance. 2.6 All beings work, without exception: if they live without possessiveness, 2.7 act without presumption, and do not dwell on success, then by this very non-dwelling success will not leave. Extremes 3.1 Not exalting cleverness causes the people not to contend. 3.2 Not putting high prices on hard-to-get goods causes the people not to steal. 3.3 Not seeing anything to want causes the mind not to be confused. 3.4 Therefore the government of sages empties the mind and fills the middle, weakens the ambition and strengthens the bones, 3.5 always keeping the people innocent and passionless. It makes the sophisticated not dare to contrive; 3.6 action being without contrivance, nothing is disordered. The way comes first 4.1 The Way is unimpeded harmony; its potential may never be fully exploited. 4.2 It is as deep as the source of all things; 4.3 it blunts the edges, resolves the complications, harmonizes the light, assimilates to the world. 4.4 Profoundly still, it seems to be there: 4.5 I don't know whose child it is, before the creation of images. Goodness as morality. 8.1 Higher good is like water: the good in water benefits all, and does so without contention. It rests where people dislike to be, so it is close to the Way. 8.2 Where it dwells becomes good ground; profound is the good in its heart, benevolent the good it bestows. Goodness in words is trustworthiness, 8.3 goodness in government is order; goodness in work is ability, goodness in action is timeliness. 8.4 But only by non-contention is there nothing extreme. Being a part of the world. 22.1 Be tactful and you remain whole; bend and you remain straight. The hollow is filled, the old is renewed. Economy is gain, excess is confusion.. 22.2 Therefore sages embrace unity as model for the world. 22.3 Not seeing themselves, they are therefore clear. Not asserting themselves, they are therefore outstanding. Not congratulating themselves, they are therefore meritorious. Not taking pride in themselves, they last long. 22.4 It is just because they do not contend that no one in the world can contend with them. 22.5 Is it empty talk, the old saying that tact keeps you whole? When truthfulness is complete, it still resorts to this. To absorb the good. 23.1 To speak rarely is natural. That is why a gusty wind doesn't last the morning, a downpour of rain doesn't last the day. 23.2 Who does this? Heaven and earth. If heaven and earth cannot go on forever, how much less can human beings! 23.3 Therefore those who follow the Way assimilate to the Way; the virtuous assimilate to virtue, those who have lost assimilate to loss. 23.4 Those who assimilate to the Way are happy to gain it, those who assimilate to virtue too are happy to gain it, and those who assimilate to loss are also happy to gain it. 23.5 When trust is insufficient, there is distrust. Self-control. Being reactive. How sages think and feel. 15.1 Skilled warriors of old were subtle, mysteriously powerful, so deep they were unknowable.

15.2 Just because they are unknowable, I will try to describe them. Their wariness was as that of one crossing a river in winter, their caution was as that of one in fear of all around; their gravity was as that of a guest, 15.3 their relaxation was as that of ice at the melting point. Simple as uncarved wood, open as valleys, they were as inscrutable as murky water. 15.4 Who can, in turbidity, use the gradual clarification of stillness? Who can, long at rest, use the gradual enlivening of movement? 15.5 Those who preserve this Way do not want fullness. Just because of not wanting fullness, it is possible to use to the full and not make anew. Parts to whole and relationships. Hierarchy. 54.1 Good construction does not fall down, a good embrace does not let go; their heirs honor them unceasingly. 54.2 Cultivate it in yourself, and that virtue is real; cultivate it in the home, and that virtue is abundant; cultivate it in the locality, and that virtue lasts; cultivate it in the nation, and that virtue is rich; cultivate it in the world, and that virtue is universal. 54.3 So observe yourself by yourself, observe the home by the home, observe the locality by the locality, observe the nation by the nation, observe the world by the world.

Works Cited

1) Martineau, Harriet. 1853. Cours de philosophie positive (1830-1842); English translation & condensation The Positive Philosophy of August Comte. 2) Mill, John S. 1865. Auguste Comte and Positivism. Available as Project Gutenberg EBook #16833, 3) Ward, Lester. 1895. The Outlines of Sociology. 4) Pirsig, Robert M. 1977. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. New York : Bantam Books. 5) Bloom, Allan. 1968 (2nd ed 1991). Republic of Plato. (Translated with notes and an interpretive essay). New York: Basic Books. 6) Cai, Zong-qi. 1999. In Quest of Harmony: Plato and Confucius on Poetry. University of Hawaii Press. 7) Mara, Gerald M. 1983. Politics and Action in Plato's Republic. University of Utah on behalf of the Western Political Science Association. 8) Cleary, Thomas. 1999. Taoist Classics. Shambhala; 1st Pbk.ed edition Specifically: Tao Te Ching.