CH 4 Culture & Religion

CH 4: Culture and Religion in
Eurasia/North Africa

China and the Search for Order

• EST 2000BCE-state building tradition
• Legalist Answer 
• Han Fei leasing Legalist philosopher 
• strict rules, that are clearly defined and heavily enforced are the answer to disorder
• Confucian Answer
• Confucius 
• moral example of superiors is answer to disorder
• improvement possible with education 
• history important
• nonreligious 
• Daoism Answer
• Laozi- author Daodejing (The Way and Its Power)
• dao: way of nature

Cultural Traditions of Classical India

• very spiritual 
• Hinduism
• developed with Indian civilization 
• social hierarchy
• caste system

Buddhist Challenge

• developed side by side with hinduism 
• life is suffering
• rebirth
• enlightenment 
• challenged caste system

Classical Greece

• intellectuals abandoned myth
• way of knowing
• changed way questions were asked
• Socrates---->Plato------>Aristotle 

Birth of Christianity with Comparison to Buddhism 

• Jesus' was jewish 
• single deity
• Jesus' teachings more social/political than buddhism 
• Jesus was only around for 3 years 
• jesus was executed while gautama died of old age
• started spreading with Paul

(My thoughts...) Culture and religion are very important aspects to society. They make and shape the world and it shapes us as people. Ancient cultures and religions still live on today and I just find that crazy. That we can be apart of something that our ancestors were apart of. I myself am not a religious person but I find religion to be a very interesting part of cultures and I respect others beliefs and how those beliefs tie into their own culture.