When we think of this world and its origins, we as human tend to think in one of two ways religiously or scientifically. Those of us who think religiously obviously go with our religious affiliations. For example, Christians tend to think about the story of creationism in the seven-day time frame where God created the heavens, the earth, and everything else therein. The followers if science don't hold to any real theories as to the origins of the universe, but as far as this world and its surrounding heavenly bodies go some hold on to the big bang theory; this hypothesis states that all nine planets, including the sun, were once an enormous mass and were separated by a giant explosion, but kept in orbit by the gravity of the sun. It is a very rare thing indeed to find someone who first thinks philosophically when he or she ponders the origins of the earth and its inhabiting life. With the radical pigeonholing of philosophers today, usually thought of as being agitators of!
             the status quo, their theories about the nature of the world are hardly looked at as plausible. Throughout this essay, I hope to point out that philosophical and religious views about the creation are not as far apart as many of us would assume them to be. More specifically, I will discuss some parallels between pre-Socratic views of the formation of this world and the Taoist doctrine on the earth and its origins. Using the theories of Anaximander along with major Taoist themes I hope to show that philosophy and religion are more closely related than a lot of people would care to admit.
             Before I start the major discussion I feel that it is necessary to give an example of a pre-Socratic view on the origins of this world that may be held in very low standings by someone who believes in, let's say, a monotheistic creationism point of view. I am now going to discuss Hesiod's account of the origin of things called Theogony, and after giving ...