To be honest with you I’ve read about all or most of about 12-13 philosophy books but that was in high school or right of it. And I’ve forgotten a good deal of it. I did take a philosophy class and an ethics class also. But yah haha when I say I prefer eastern philosophy I mean in general. And I also mean ancient philosophy. Not 17th century to current. I have read some of Kant’s stuff also the guy from Denmark Copenhagen but otherwise it’s mostly Aristotle/Plato oh and Nietsche and a French guy.
Philosophy is a very personal affair. I dont mind or really judge about ones own preferences, so much as it gives me just a glimpse of ones own cosmotheory but that's it. In fact I couldnt read more than a few pages of Nietzsche because it offended me from the get go as a reader, with his pseudo didactic arrogant looking down on you style and made me want to throw a punch in his face. What's the point of having to go through pages of his, to find wisdom when it would have already lead me one step away from a mental breakdown? Thats my preference and I have low tolerance for sobs whether their name is Nietzsche or whatever. I have also EXTREMELY low tolerance for sexist philosophies and also literature. I have thrown in the garbage some of the literature masterpieces because they treated women as objects. I have "cancelled" all these and have no interest to study them or waste any time and energy. I dont read philosophy and literature to pass a course or a class I just do it for my own hobby, entertainment and education and I have a right as a person and reader to pass judgement on any piece of art and philosophy. That's what philosophy is about. To be able to judge and critisize everything with logic and emotions. Therefore as a woman I find Aristotle disgusting and I wouldnt' mind toppling all his statues off the face of the earth. Especially him. Because as I said because his works were so famous they made it even harder for women for literally millenia to find equality. That's in the west. In the east others like Confucious still affect eastern societies and make life harder for women. I despise that one too.
That's great - you can honor them, that's your choice. But they don't have to be honored by everyone. And if people think there are better people to build statues to because they better represent the spirit of their institution, city, or cause, isn't that their choice? Who made it a rule that once you pick a person you can't change the person to represent your values? Everyone says it's cancel culture and unfair to the past if x person greatness is all of a sudden tarnished by changing modern values. But why do past figured have to be immortal and monolith? Are you telling me that in 100,000 years we should still have the same statues and people from the past 2,000? Culture changes, values change, and new events and challenges happen. The people in the future will have different values and ideas than us. And different heros. They should be able to celebrate the heros that they feel are relevant to their lives, not their ancestors.
I would caution also looking at Eastern Philosophy with current lens. While the Buddha did say and do some things that we would consider progressive that certainly wasn't all of the Buddhism and many Buddhists and Buddhist institutions followed things we certainly would consider very backwards. For instance Tibetan Buddhism supported serfdom well into the 20th Century. Confucius' world view was very rigid including the place of women and in many ways Confucianism has held back the progress in East Asian thought for centuries. On the plus side Lao Tzu did say that feminine energy (Yin) was as powerful as male energy (Yang) and necessary for the Universe.
