Although philosophy didn't exactly begin in Greece as Hegel said, the philosophical achievements of the Greeks are really unparalleled. The Greeks called philosophy "wisdom-loving learning" and entrusted it with the task of following theoretical wisdom and exploring the reasons for the evolution of everything in the world.
Pythagoras was the first person to use the words philosophy and philosophy. According to Heraclitus of Puntos, Pythagoras used the word philosophia for the first time when talking with the tyrant Lyon of Sikuon or Freya, and called himself philosophos. Pythagoras also said that in life, some servile people are born hunters of fame and fortune, while philosophos (who loves the wise) is born seekers of truth. He clearly put the love of the wise into the ranks of free men, and also linked freedom with truth.
The naturalist philosophers in ancient Greece are regarded as the earliest philosophers in the West. Whether their understanding of the world is correct or not, their thoughts are different from superstitions because these philosophers have summed up the truth of nature by means of reason and evidence. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle established the discussion category of philosophy, and they raised questions about metaphysics, epistemology and ethics, which still exist today. Some modern philosophers believe that until today, philosophical theory is still only a footnote for the three of them, and it is still inseparable from the questions they raised. In other words, even after thousands of years, we are still trying to answer their questions, that is, we are still confused about these questions or more questions extended from these questions. [3]
The word "zhe" has a long history in China. For example, the words "Confucius' Ten Philosophers" and "ancient sages" refer to people who are good at thinking and knowledgeable, that is, western countries are similar to "philosophers" and "thinkers". It is generally believed that China's philosophy originated in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, represented by Confucius' Confucianism, Laozi's Taoism, Mozi's Mohist School and later Legalists. In fact, philosophical issues have been discussed in the previous Book of Changes. In the East, the word philosophy is usually used to explain a person's outlook on life (such as a person's "philosophy of life") and basic principles (such as values, thoughts and behaviors), while academic philosophy is to question and reflect on the rational basis of these basic principles and try to reconstruct them rationally.
1874, the Japanese enlightener, a native of the Western Zhou Dynasty, translated the word philosophy into Chinese for the first time in A Hundred New Theories. Around 1896, Kang Youwei and others introduced Japanese versions to China, which gradually became popular. [4]1At the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 20th century, with the rise of new learning, the word "philosophy" began to be used in books, newspapers and magazines in China, and soon replaced such inaccurate terms as "metaphysics" and "metaphysics" and became a common term. "Philosophy" is even the study of human intelligence.