SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN AND WESTERN PEOPLES THROUGH THE PRISM OF PHILOSOPHICAL COMPARATIVISM

This article examines the problem of social development in Eastern and Western civilizations through the methodological lens of philosophical comparativism. The study proceeds from the premise that civilizational development cannot be adequately understood within the confines of a unilateral cultural paradigm. Instead, it requires a comparative philosophical framework capable of revealing both the internal logic of distinct traditions and the dialogical intersections between them. The article analyzes the axiological, anthropological, ethical, political, and epistemological foundations of social development in Eastern and Western thought, demonstrating that the differences between these traditions are neither absolute nor antagonistic, but historically mediated and philosophically productive. Special attention is given to the ways in which Eastern models of social harmony, moral self-cultivation, and ontological holism contrast with, yet also complement, Western emphases on rational autonomy, institutional order, and historical dynamism. It is argued that philosophical comparativism enables a deeper understanding of social development as a plural, multidimensional, and culturally embedded process.