Description

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Ki emerged first and is the thread that runs through the millennia of Chinese philosophy. Ri was added later in Sung times and, together, ki and ri became the mainstay and core of Chinese beliefs in Sun (960-1279), Ming (1279-1644) and Ch'ing (1644-1911) times. In this remarkable and inspirational study, researched over many years, the author takes the view that ki can profitably be compared with European philosophy. In China, the ki thread appears as an original 'primal ki' (genki), which is the source of all things and affairs. The search is for the whole. In Greece, and later in Europe, the thinking goes in the opposite direction: it searches for the exact truth in the independent units of the cosmos, the atoms, the truth being found in the part. The study has three separate but interrelated parts. Part I delineates the ki and ri philosophy as it developed in China; Part II presents Confucian study and learning in Tokugawa Japan (1600-1868); Part III finishes with conclusions about things East and West and the situation in today's world. From Taoism to Einstein will have wide appeal to students of Eastern religion and philosophy, as well as students of East Asian history and political science, and Chinese and Japanese studies in general.

About the Author

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Olof Lidin, Professor Emeritus, University of Copenhagen, and former head of the university's department of Japanese Studies, considers From Taoism to Einstein as the culmination of a life's research and study in this field. He is also well known for his work on Ogyu Sorai, the Tokugawa Philosopher, and has published widely on the subject, including The Life of Ogyu Sorai - A Tokugawa Philosopher and Ogyu Sorai's Journey to Kai in 1706. More recently, he published Tanegashima - The Arrival of Europe in Japan. He was President of the European Association of Japanese Studies (1982-85) and in 1996 was honoured with a Festschrift, entitled Florilegium Japonicum. Studies presented to Olof G.Lidin on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday. He continues to lecture regularly in Europe, the United States and Japan.