One of the things that I have observed is that thinkers do not realize how deeply the thoughts of Aristotle influence their own thoughts. The thought processes developed by Aristotle are so ingrained in the minds of Western thinkers that thinking any other way is virtually inconceivable.
It would be well to consider the following: Aristotle was someone who believed that it was proper to own slaves. Aristotle believed that heavy objects fell faster than light objects. Aristotle believed that everything was composed of only four elements. Yet logic, the way of thinking which led Aristotle to such erroneous conclusions and beliefs is considered the correct way to think.
Logic has undergone changes and refinements over the centuries since Aristotle - but the core way of thinking has not changed.
Logic as a way of thought appeared when Aristotle and other Greek philosophers abstracted rules and procedures from reality. At about the same time the Chinese were abstracting very different things from similar observations.
The critical difference from an historical perspective between these two abstractions is that the Greek abstractions were written down - the Chinese abstractions were not. The Chinese abstractions were passed from teacher to student by word of mouth.
Because the Greek abstractions still exist in their written form the ideas of Aristotle and the other Greek philosophers have been preserved.
Sadly the thoughts of the original Chinese philosophers have been lost over the centuries. As less developed brains than those of the original thinkers attempted to interpret and pass on the original thoughts - those thoughts became more and more garbled. All that remains of the original Chinese thinkers is a veiled mysticism which doesn't make much sense.
I said sadly because I have reached the conclusion that the Chinese abstractions of reality were more accurate than the Greek abstractions. Rather than being incomprehensible and mystical the Chinese abstractions appear to be based on a deeper analysis of reality than the Greek abstractions.
I believe that the time has come for the western world to reevaluate the fundamental abstractions used to create the core of thought. I think that if we do so from our current state of knowledge we will arrive at the same conclusions the original Chinese philosophers reached.
In the next section I will begin that process of reevaluation.