Origins of schools of thought stretch back many centuries

And the realization of that potential is closely associated with the notion of virtue in ancient Greek philosophy. "Virtue is for Socrates knowledge and for Aristotle excellence, of both character and intellect, which one can achieve through the exercising of body and mind," says Wu.

It's worth noting that Aristotle, in advocating for a virtuous middle path between deficiency and excess, came up with the concept of the Golden Mean, or Golden Middle Way, which corresponds with the idea of balance and moderation central to Confucianism in its quest for harmony.

Reflecting on the research methods of the classics, Wu believes that a cross-disciplinary approach is necessary. "Literature, history, and philosophy — the areas that now require separate departments in our universities — were once unified for our ancestors, who infused their literary and historical writings with the questions and musings of life, which gave rise to philosophy," he says.

Kavoulaki, who teaches ancient Greek literature, can't agree more.

"In my class, I speak about poets as being the first thinkers who proposed, through their visions and insights, major ideas that the Greek philosophers would later discuss more systematically," she says. "Major Greek poets like Homer and Hesiod first introduced themes like cosmology, theology and ethical values. That's why they were considered the teachers, the sages on whose works the philosophers had been educated.

"In ancient Greece, philosophers gradually developed an antagonism toward poets because they wanted for themselves to be recognized as the true wise men, although both had struggled for truth in life," adds Kavoulaki, who sees China's strong literary and poetic traditions a fertile ground for the development of philosophy, including Confucianism.

In fact, Confucius himself is believed to have compiled the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry. Titled Shi Jing, or the Book of Songs, it is comprised of 305 works dating from the 11th to 6th centuries BC, and was enshrined through ancient Chinese history as a Confucian classic.

"Both ancient Greece and China had this very long chain of poetic artistic tradition, and another chain of philosophical tradition that intertwined with the literary tradition," says Kavoulaki. "That's where we can start from."