Conflicting Philosophy?

                        The philosophies of both the East and West are both very intriguing. At face value, they both appear to be very different, but how different are they really? Sure, there are some differences, like-

-Western Religion (Christianity) has a God or deity that it teaches should be worshiped

-Eastern Religion (Daodeijing) seems to focus more on its system of values and morals than a deity.

But while differences like this are present, both religions strive to accomplish the same thing – to get us to live a good moral life, the only real difference between the two is their reasons for why we should follow their morals. Christianity (particularly in the Genesis section we read in class) seems to be trying to deter us from committing immoral acts with threats of Holy vengeance from God, whereas the Daodeijing seems to be saying that we should follow its morals simply because they will lead to happiness.

            When we look at the actual morals that the two books try to get across, we can see that, while there are some differences in certain places, their overall messages are the same. For example, in chapter 74 of the Daodeijing, the book speaks of the idea of an executioner, and how the threat of death could be used to keep people in line so to speak. The reading then goes on to explain that those who would carry out the executions would probably be guilty of committing crimes themselves, thus creating a sort of paradox. In short, the message I got out of this passage was that murder, particularly capital punishment, is wrong.

            Western religions also seem to support this outlook, as the Catholic church is opposed to the death penalty in almost all cases because of the Bible’s depiction of the idea. The most common reason for using the death penalty is for when the convict is themselves, guilty of murder, but this idea is refuted in our first Genesis reading during the story of Cain Kills Abel. Cain murders his brother Abel, and God punishes Cain by exiling him, and branding him with a mark. Cain then goes on to say to God, that he would surely be killed, to which God responded by saying that anyone who killed him would be punished sevenfold. In other words, no one should kill Cain just because he himself committed murder.

            There are many other examples of where the moral virtues of the two religions seem to converge, as well as areas where they seem to diverge, but the ultimate goal of the two seems to be to get people to live a good moral life, so that society will be peaceful. So in that respect, they really aren’t all that different.