A Comparative Study of the Metaphysical Basis of the Political Thought of Ancient Iran and China

Abstract

Iran and China are two ancient civilizations, each of which formed a vas and stable culture. In addition, each culture had a different kind of cosmology during the formation of its civilization. Chinese cosmology was based on ethics, whereas Iranian cosmology was based on religion. In this regard, both civilizations underwent specific processes in developing their cosmology and metaphysics. Since ancient political thought was centered around the political ruler and since that ruler was thought to be part the cosmological system, a comparison of rulership theory in Persian and Chinese cosmologies is an interesting topic in the study of ancient political thought in general and of these two civilizations’ political ideas in particular. This paper attempts to determine the relationship between the political ideas of the two civilizations and their cosmological bases, how this relationship can be comparatively conceptualized, and how their similarities and differences can be identified. This study enables us to understand the nature of the political approach to these two civilizations during the emergence and evolution of the foundations of their thinking. At the beginning of human civilization, metaphysics appeared and evolved in its primitive form into cosmology. In this paper, we examine the cosmology of these two civilizations and the relationship between political ideas and their cosmologies. beginning and end of the world and social, political and ethical ideas that are related to each other. Cosmologies have theorized the practical systems of socio-political life in their own ways. They are among the signs of humanity’s self-alienation in this phase of mental evolution; that is, they have projected actual life systems into a cosmic system. Since cosmologies as mental creations are constantly evolving, their specific time and closed identity framework cannot be determined. Their conceptual boundaries can, however, be identified and defined. In this paper, although we are speaking of the Chinese cosmology and the Iranian cosmology in singular form, we will discuss their evolutionary aspects and the roles various ideas and scholars have played in developing them. We assume that in addition to the changes in the descriptive and conceptual elements of each cosmology, a specific identity can be observed in each system. Here, we focus on those general aspects of the cosmologies that, taken together, show a single identity that differs in its details. When we say Chinese and Iranian cosmology, we mean those mental systems that grew through myths, epics, and rites and that eventually evolved into philosophical and theological forms during the ancient times of both civilizations. A major source of texts in these fields was provided during the 6th-9th centuries BCE in China, although such a source was not available in Iran except for myths belonging to later times. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on myths, rites, religious texts (e.g., the Avesta), and their interpretations when studying Iranian cosmology, whereas in China, there are many texts from well-developed schools of thought. This paper does not discuss Chinese philosophical schools; instead, it examines cosmological traditions and texts focusing on cosmology in famous philosophical schools, including Confucianism. A discussion of the philosophical roots of Chinese cosmology, itself a broad and important topic, is beyond the scope of this paper.