ABSTRACT
The philosophical reflections of Kong Zi and Socrates, among others, were an integral part of the social transformations. For the most part the mainstream within each of the traditions, as they later developed in Chinese and European intellectual circles, drew on the thoughts of Kong Zi as people know them through the Analects, and the ideas of Socrates as transmitted by Plato. One developed in the context of feudal relations, and the other was shaped by an urban intellectual environment. Socrates' starting point was the individual and his capacity to strive for wisdom. He concluded that the highest purpose of human activity was to seek wisdom. On the point of implementation Socrates and Kong Zi ran into a common problem: the contradictions between freedom and order. In the Chinese intellectual tradition there were spiritual elements, but there was no well-defined pantheon of gods or examples of humans who aspired to the knowledge of gods.
