Monday, October 31, 2011

Chapter 5 class notes

Classical  Era is knows for : Seminal Ideas

Big 5+1

  1. Confucius born in China
  • 500 B.C
  • (Analects) He did not write himself.
  • Mandate of heaven 
  • Not a system of religion
  • Still relevant in China today
  • Social Stability 
    2. Siddharta Gautama (Buddha)
  • He was born a prince
  • 500 B.C
  • Born in India 
  • Religion = Hindu roots
  • Widely practiced today in China/Asia
  • Enlightenment, anyone can achieve within their lifetime
  • social change
    3. Hindu (Not an individual)
  • Caste System
  • (Priests,Warriors, Merchants, Peasants, Untouchables, Outcasts)
  • System of religion
  • Goal: Enlightenment
  • Social Stability 
  • Still practiced today
  4. Socrates
  • Greece (Humanist)
  • Did not write a book (Plato)
  • No religion/System of philosophy (rational inquiry)
  • 400 B.C living/teaching
  • Still practiced today
  • Tend to social change
  • (Classical Greeks) 100 year period flourish thoughts (humanist)
  • Philosopher king
   5. Jesus
  • Born 0
  • Roman Republic/Empire (Emperor at the top)
  • Roman Republic 
  • 300 B.C - 400 A.C (Anti Memorchical) 
  • TIRED OF KINGS
  • Religion
  • Still practiced today
  • Didn't write his own material
  • Social Change

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Chapter 5: Eurasian Cultural Traditions

 Confucius was both educated and ambitious. He believed that he had the answer to all of China's problems. His way of solving issues was way different than legalists. No laws, No punishments, he believed in the moral example of superiors was the key to restore the society. Confucius believed that in a human society there was an unequal relation ship
Father was superior to the son.
Husband was superior to wife.
Older brother was superior to younger brother.
Ruler was superior to subject.
If the ones who were superior behaved sincere and genuine to others it was likely for those who were inferior to be obedient. "The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend when the wind blows across it." Confucius made it clear that education was the key to moral betterment. Language,literature, history, philosophy and ethics had to do with practical government issues.
Confucianism was portrayed by Chinese culture.
"Let a woman modesty yield to others... Always let her seem to tremble and to fear... The she may be said to humble herself before others.. To guard carefully her chastity... to choose her words with care. to wash and scrub filth away... with whole- hearted devotion to sew and to weave to love not to gossip and silly laughter in cleanliness and order to prepare the wine and food for serving guests. These may be called the characteristics of womanly work." Meaning women had no say but to serve. They had no form of speech.
 They influenced young girls to get education this didn't mean they were equal to men but it was to prepare them to serve their husband when the time came.
Daoism was associated with the legendary figure Laoiz who was a sixth century archivist. This was the withdraw from the world of political and social activities. Nature was the main thing in Daoism." It meant living in small self sufficient communities. Limited government and leaving education.This will put end to everyone's troubles.
Islam, Hinduism had no historical founder.Over many centuries it grew along with Indian civilization. Later it spread to South Asia . Hinduism wasn't a missionary religion but it was associated with people and territory. Hinduism was a vast diversity of gods, spirits, beliefs, practices, rituals, and philosophies.They believed that humans souls migrated from body to body over many lifetimes depending on the individuals actions. Good actions resulted in rebirth in a higher social position.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Chapter 4: Eurasian Empires

The Persian Empire was one of the most impressive empires in history. Persians had a kingship. If the king died Persians civilians were known to shave their hair in order to pay respect for the king dying. Persians horses had their manes cut short. Their Empire was a monarchy. In the empires there was spies known to be the "eyes and ears of the king".There was a royal road that was 1,700 miles long the king had messengers and he thought to believe that  with whatever weather it will not prevent the messages to get across with speed and certainty.
The Greeks new civilization came along during  750 B.C.E. The population in this empire was between 2-3 million. That was only a portion of what the Persian empire had.  The Greek civilization was between mountains and valleys which help shape the type of civilization they turned out to be. They had city-states that had about 500-5,000 male civilians. Each city-state did not participate in the conflicts between neighbors. But they had a lot in common they spoke the same language and worshiped some of the same gods. The Greek unlike the Persians took everything to a brother level. Greek settlements where all over the Mediterranean. Settlers brought the Greek culture, language, and building styles to new parts of the world. Unlike the Persians the Greek had a type of "citizenship" which had citizens of the city-states involved politically.

The Roman and Chinese were two empires that didn't know anything about each-other. The Roman Empire threw away the monarchy type of empire and began a republic political type of ruling. In this type of ruling it only meant one thing the rich had complete domination. Written laws only help the lower class from being abused.
The Chinese empire on the other hand they didn't believe in creating a different type of empire but they believed that by bringing back and old style will be the best for them.