国としての中国や韓国のふるまいは、それぞれの国の人々の認識や行動の集合体である。そして、現代の脳科学の標準的な見解によれば、脳の振る舞いにおいて、「自由意思」(free will)は存在しない。それぞれの脳の内部、および外部との相互作用で指定された軌跡を追うだけのこと。
Several main concepts are common to all three thinkers: (1) Man's actions are determined by previous causes, but he can liberate himself from the power of these causes by awareness and effort. (2) Theory and practice cannot be separated. In order to achieve "salvation", one must know, one must have the right "theory". But one cannot know unless one acts and struggles. It was precisely the great discovery of all three thinkers that theory and practice, interpretation and change are inseparable. (3) While they were determinists in the sense that man can lose the battle for independence and freedom, they were essentially alternativists: they taught that man can choose between certain ascertainable possibilities and that it depends on man which of these alternatives will occur; it depends on him as long as he has not yet lost his freedom.