Chapters 2,3,4,&5

Cultural

You need to consider the following•How does religion influence the different

developing cultures?•How does cultural tie into what we have

already learned about politics?•Did the culture of these places affect the

fall of the empire?

ChinaIs it a religion or a philosophy??????

Culture and Politics

•Key: Religion/Culture is a major component to the political landscape

•Obedience to the State rather than to a god.▫Harmonious earthly life ▫Balance▫Ceremony▫Tradition

3 Major Religions develop

Confucianism Daoism

Legalism

Confucianism•Confucian ideas

▫ Fundamentally moral and ethical in character ▫ Restore political and social order; stress ritual ▫ Government is an extension of family

relationships• Primarily a system of ethics• Gave bureaucracy a common belief

system▫ Emphasis on individual virtuous behavior

both by the ruler and the ruled • Education:

▫ accessible to all talented and educated members of society

Confucius (Kung Fuzi) 551-478 BCE

•Founder• If people could be taught to emphasize personal

virtue a solid political life would naturally result•Respect for one’s superiors•Wrote: The Analects

▫ Principle of Jen: “Do not do to others what you would not like them

to do to you”

•Mencius-▫promoted Confucius’s teachings and slightly modified

them

5 Relationships of Confucianism

1. Father and Son 2. Elder brother and

younger brother3. Husband and wife4. Older friend and

younger friend5. Ruler and subject

Daoism

•Arose about the same time as Confucianism during the Zhou dynasty▫Prominent critics of Confucian thought

•Laozi (Lao-tsu)- furthered Daoism•Embraced

▫traditional Chinese beliefs in nature’s harmony▫ added a sense of nature’s mystery▫General conditions of the world unimportant; harmony

with nature is more important•Han rulers persuaded Daoist priests to stress loyalty

to the emperor

Legalism • The doctrine of statecraft

▫ Promoted a practical and ruthlessly efficient approach

▫ No concern with: ethics and morality the principles governing nature

▫ Discouraged art, and literature • Doctrine used by Qin dynasty • Called for harsh penalties even for minor

infractions• Disdained Confucian values in favor of

an authoritarian state ruled by force

Culture is more than religion•China’s culture evolved with very little

from the outside world▫Surrounded by barbarians with little to

offer Didn’t want much from them anyway

▫Didn’t want to teach others their culture•HOWEVER

▫China is not without cultural diffusion Buddhism

Art•Art was created in a detailed,

proportional, and balanced manner▫Nature was emphasized▫Often very decorative▫Jade, pottery, ivory, bronze, and silk▫Calligraphy

Science

•Many innovations▫364.5 days per year▫Movement of the planets▫Seismographs▫Advanced medical knowledge▫Acoustics▫Architecture▫Inventions

Paper, compass, water mills, porcelain, silk, plows

India You have how many gods?????

Vedic and Epic Ages

•Aryans (Indo-European) migrants- hunting and herding peoples originally from central Asia

•Vedas- sacred books of the Aryans▫Rig-Veda- 1028 hymns dedicated to the Aryan

gods▫Mahabharata- India’s greatest epic poem▫Ramayana▫Upanishads- epic poems with a more mystical

religious flavor•Encouraged tight levels of village organization• Indian caste system takes shape- partly

because Aryan invaders saw indigenous people as inferior

Hinduism

•Unlike all/most other world religions•Can encourage both political/economic

goals and worldly pleasures•No founder, no central figure so it

unfolded gradually•Very tolerant of different religions •Provided several channels for the good

life•Supplied some unity•Allowed people to hold on to some older

rituals

Buddhism

•C. 563 BCE Siddhartha Gautama was born▫Buddha is divine

•Started as a rebellion against Hinduism▫It was a threat to the Hindu way of life

•Argued for the individual and went against the caste system and the priests

•Wasn’t able to hold a strong portion of India ultimately

•The Four Noble Truths + Noble Eightfold Path = Religious goal of Nirvana

The Spread

Buddhism•Unlike Hinduism the spread of Buddhism travelled out of India▫Monks▫As it spread it

stayed relatively universal with some variation

Hinduism •Allowed many

people to keep old beliefs

•Gave lower class people hope of a better life through reincarnation

•Eventually all of India but not strong anywhere else

Jainism

•Believe in Karma, Dharma and Moksha•Expected to following five principle of

living:▫Non Violence▫Speak the truth▫No stealing▫Only one spouse▫Avoid excess

Cultural Developments

•Some great pieces of literature were written▫Common themes of love and heroics

•Science and Math▫One of the worlds 1st university▫Sterilization and clean▫Small pox vaccine▫Number system still in use (0)

•Art▫Stupa: spherical shrines to Buddha

Mediterranean Hercules….Hercules……Hercules

Religion of Greece and Rome

• Both were polytheistic • Gods used to explain nature and human

action • Rome borrowed from the Greeks• Christianity is going to develop during the

Roman Empire• Christians would not put the emperor

before God• Didn’t create a Formal/Significant World

Religion

Philosophers

• Socrates: one of the founders of Western Philosophy, virtue, justice, and piety. Question

• Plato: student of Socrates, Teacher of Alexander the Great, founded the first higher learning institution in the western world. Understand true, good and beauty. The Republic

• Aristotle: student of Plato, wrote about many subjects such as politics, logic, music, biology, ethics etc.

Math and Science

Pythagoras and Euclid: Geometry

Galen: Anatomy Ptolemy: Sun around

the Earth

Art and Architecture

•Great achievements in Architecture▫Columns, Aqueducts

•Theater:▫Drama and Comedy

There are other places

Japan•Seemed to have skipped the Bronze age:

▫Stone Iron•Shinto

▫Provided for both worship of political leaders and natural spirits

The Americas

•Olmec▫Beginnings of major artistic developments

in the Americas▫Polytheistic

A new religious map

•Outside the 3 core areas ▫Shamanism and animism continues to

hold strong•Death rates increasing+ Political

Instability= New faith developing•Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam

Spreading across the known world

Christianity

Spread

•Christianity spread West▫Jesus is the son of God▫There is a single God who loved human kind despite their sins

▫Paul important in the spreading of “the word”

•Buddhism Spread East

Discuss

•Talk about and make a list of all the ways culture affected politics in these place.▫Look back through your notes from the

other days lecture to make connections.