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| 7377417128 | 1. What three major schools of thought emerged from the Warring States period (403-221 B.C.E.), what were their guidelines and beliefs, and with whom were they associated? | Legalism—was a philosophy that spelled out and strictly enforced rules or laws through a system of rewards and punishments. Legalists had a pessimistic view of human nature. Most people were stupid and shortsighted. Only the state and its rulers could act in their long-term interests. Legalists regarded farmers and soldiers as necessary because they performed essential functions, while suppressing artisans, merchants, aristocrats, scholars, and other classes who were seen as useless. Han Feizi Confucianism—was very different from Legalism. Not laws and punishments, but the moral example of superiors was the Confucian key to a restored social harmony after the Zhou and Qin dynasties. For Confucius, human society consisted primarily of unequal relationships as expressed through filial piety. If the superior party in each of the relationships behaved with sincerity, benevolence, and genuine concern for others, then the inferior party would be motivated to respond with deference and obedience. Harmony would then prevail. He emphasized the importance of education, striving for moral improvement, and good government. Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.) Daoism—was associated with the legendary figure Laozi. In many ways, Daoism ran counter to that of Confucianism regarding those ideas as artificial and useless, and making things worse. Daoists urged withdrawal into the world of nature and encouraged behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural, whereas Confucius focused on the world of human relationships. Daoism invited people to withdraw from the world of politics and social activism, to disengage from the public life, and to align themselves with way of nature. It meant simplicity in living, in small self-sufficient communities, in limited government, and the abandonment of education and active efforts at self-improvement. (Original: pp. 128-132; With Sources: pp. 192-197) | 0 | |
| 7377417129 | 2. Why has Confucianism been defined as a "humanistic philosophy" (for a tranquil society) rather than a supernatural religion? What does Confucius say about gods and spirits? | The driving force of Confucian teaching was distinctly this-worldly and practical, concerned with human relationships, effective government, and social harmony. Confucianism is based on the cultivation of ren— translated as human heartedness, benevolence, goodness, nobility of heart. Ren isn't achieved through divine intervention but is nurtured within the person through personal reflection, education, and a willingness to strive to perfect one's moral character. Confucius did not deny the reality of spirits and gods. In fact he advised people to participate in family and state rituals "as if the spirits were present," and he believed that the universe had a moral character with which human beings should align themselves. (Original: pp. 129-131; With Sources: pp. 193-195) | 1 | |
| 7377417130 | 3. How did classical Hinduism differ from other world religions? | Unlike Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam, Hinduism had no historical founder; rather it grew up over many centuries along with the Indian civilization. Although it spread into Southeast Asia, Hinduism was not a missionary religion seeking converts but was, like Judaism, associated with a particular people and territory. It was never a single tradition at all, but was a variety of Indian cultural patterns that dissolved into a vast diversity of gods, spirits, beliefs, practices, rituals, philosophies, and associated itself with a caste system. (Original: p. 133; With Sources: p. 197) | 2 | |
| 7377417131 | 4. What is the fundamental assertion of philosophical Hinduism? | It was that the individual human soul, or atman, was in fact a part of Brahman—the World Soul, the final and ultimate reality. Beyond the quest for pleasure, wealth, power, and social position, the final goal of humankind was to unite with Brahman to end our illusory perception of a separate existence—to become one with the surrounding atmosphere. This was moksha, or liberation of one's self. (Original: p. 134; With Sources: p. 198) | 3 | |
| 7377417132 | 5. How are moksha, karma, and reincarnation connected? | Achieving moksha was believed to involve many lifetimes as the notion of reincarnation became a central feature of Hindu thinking. Human souls migrated from body to body over many lifetimes, depending on one's actions. This was the law of karma. Pure actions, appropriate to one's station in life resulted in a higher social position or caste . Birth in a higher caste was evidence of "good karma," based on actions in a previous life, and offered a better chance to achieve moksha, which brought with it an end to the painful cycle of rebirth. (Original: p. 134; With Sources: p. 198) | 4 | |
| 7377417133 | 6. In what ways did Buddhism reflect Hindu traditions, and in what ways did it challenge them? | Buddhism reflected Hindu traditions in the idea that ordinary life is an illusion, in the concepts of karma and rebirth, the goal of overcoming the incessant demands of the ego, the practice of meditation, and the hope for final release from reincarnation. Buddhism challenged Hindu traditions through the rejection of the religious authority of the Brahmins, the lack of interest in abstract speculation about the creation of the world or the existence of gods, and its rejection of the inequalities of a Hindu-based caste system through its belief that neither caste position nor gender was a barrier to enlightenment. (Original: pp. 135-136; With Sources: pp. 199-200) | 5 | |
| 7377417134 | 7. What is the difference between the Theravada and Mahayana expressions of Buddhism? | The Buddha had taught a rather austere doctrine of intense self-effort, undertaken most actively by monks and nuns who withdrew from society to devote themselves fully to achieving enlightenment. This early version of Buddhism, known as Theravada, portrayed the Buddha as immensely wise teacher and model, but not one who was divine. It was more psychological than religious, a set of practices rather than a set of beliefs. The gods played little role in assisting believers in their search for enlightenment. A modified form of Buddhism, Mahayana, had taken root in the early centuries of the Common Era. It asserted that help was available for the strenuous voyage to enlightenment through bodhisattvas—spiritually developed people who postponed their own entry into nirvana in order to assist those who were still suffering. Elaborate descriptions of these supernatural beings, together with various levels of heavens and hells, transformed Buddhism into a popular religion of salvation. (Original: pp. 136-137; With Sources: p. 201) | 6 | |
| 7377417135 | 8. Why did Buddhism decline in India? | Buddhism declined in India perhaps in part because the mounting wealth of monasteries and the economic interests of their leading figures separated them from ordinary people. Competition from Islam after 1,000 C.E. may also have played a role. The most important reason, however, was the growth of a new kind of Hinduism during the first millennium, which the masses found more accessible than the elaborate sacrifices of the Brahmins or the philosophical speculations of intellectuals. (Original: p. 137; With Sources: p. 201) | 7 | |
| 7377417136 | 9. What did a revived Hinduism indicate? | Some scholars have seen this phase of Hinduism as a response to the challenge of Buddhism. Revived Hinduism indicated more clearly that action in the world and the detached performance of caste duties might also provide a path to liberation. (Original: p. 137; With Sources: p. 201) | 8 | |
| 7377417137 | 10. What religious path was also becoming increasingly prominent in Hinduism? | Another religious path was the way of devotion to one or another of India's many gods and goddesses. Beginning in south India and moving northward, this bhakti (worship) movement involved the intense adoration of and identification with a particular deity through songs, prayers, and rituals associated with the many cults that emerged throughout India. The most popular deities were Vishnu, the protector and preserver of creation associated with mercy and goodness, and Shiva, representing the divine in its destructive aspect. Many other gods and goddesses had their followers in their bhakti cults, too. (Original: p. 138; With Sources: p. 202) | 9 | |
| 7377417138 | 11. Explain the relationship of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu under Zoroastrianism. | Zoroastrianism recast the traditional Persian polytheism into a vision of a single unique god, Ahura Mazda who ruled the world and was the source of all truth, light, and goodness. This benevolent god was engaged in a cosmic struggle with the forces of evil, embodied in an equivalent supernatural figure, Angra Mainyu. Ultimately, this struggle would be decided in favor of Ahura Mazda, aided by the arrival of a final Savior who would restore the world to its earlier purity and peace. At a day of judgment, those who had aligned with Ahura Mazda would be granted new resurrected bodies and rewarded with eternal life in Paradise. Those who sided with Angra Mainyu were condemned to everlasting punishment. (Original: p. 139; With Sources: p. 203) | 10 | |
| 7377417139 | 12. What aspects of Zoroastrianism and Judaism subsequently found a place in Christianity and Islam? | Zoroastrian concepts of the conflict between God and an evil counterpart, the notion of a last judgment and resurrected bodies, a belief in the final defeat of evil, the arrival of a savior, and the remaking of the world at the end of time all influenced Judaism. Some of these teachings, especially the concepts of heaven and hell and of a coming savior, also became prominent in Christianity and Islam through this influence on Judaism. From Judaism, both Christianity and Islam drew a distinctive conception of the divine as singular, transcendent, personal, separate from nature, engaged in history, and demanding social justice and moral righteousness above sacrifices and rituals. (Original: pp. 139-141; With Sources: pp. 203-205) | 11 | |
| 7377417140 | 13. What was distinctive about the Jewish religious tradition? | Unlike other Mesopotamian peoples, the Jewish people through time came to believe in a single god, whom they called Yahweh. The Jews came to understand their relationship with Yahweh as a contract or covenant. In return for their sole devotion and obedience, Yahweh would consider the Jews his chosen people. Unlike other gods in Mesopotamia, Yahweh was increasingly seen as a lofty, transcendent god of utter holiness and purity, set far above the world of nature, which he had created. Unlike the impersonal conceptions of ultimate reality found in Daoism and Hinduism, Yahweh was encountered as a divine person with whom people could actively communicate. He was also a god who acted within the historical process. Yahweh was also distinctive in that he was transformed from a god of war into a god of social justice and compassion for the poor and marginalized. (Original: pp. 140-141; With Sources: pp. 204-205) | 12 | |
| 7377417141 | 14. In what ways was the mythical religion of the Greek city-states brought together and expressed? | The religion of the Greek city-states brought together the unpredictable, quarreling, and lustful gods of Mount Olympus, secret fertility cults, oracles predicting the future, and the ecstatic worship of Dionysus, the god of wine. (Original: p. 141; With Sources: p. 205) | 13 | |
| 7377417142 | 15. Why do you think many Greek intellectuals abandoned this mythical religious framework? | Perhaps they wanted to bring some order to their understanding of the world, by affirming that the world was a physical reality governed by natural laws, and to assert that human rationality could both understand these laws and work out a system of moral and ethical life. (Original: p. 141; With Sources: p. 205) | 14 | |
| 7377417143 | 16. What are the distinctive features of the Greek intellectual tradition? | emphasis on argument and logic relentless questioning of received wisdom confidence in human reason enthusiasm for puzzling out the world without much reference to gods (Original: p. 142; With Sources: p. 206) | 15 | |
| 7377417144 | 17. What did the earliest classical Greek thinkers have in common? | They had a commitment to a rational and nonreligious explanation for the material world. (Original: p. 143; With Sources: p. 207) | 16 | |
| 7377417145 | 18. After the 12th century C.E., how was the Greek legacy viewed? | The Greek legacy was viewed as a central element of an emerging "Western" civilization. It played a role in formulating an updated Christian theology, in fostering Europe's Scientific Revolution, and in providing a point of departure for much of European philosophy. (Original: p. 144; With Sources: p. 208) | 17 | |
| 7377417146 | 19. How had Greek works of science and philosophy been preserved for Europeans and how had it stimulated Muslim thinkers? | Systematic translations of Greek works of science and philosophy into Arabic, together with Indian and Persian learning, stimulated Muslim thinkers and scientists, especially in the fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, geography, and chemistry. It was in fact largely from Arabic translations of Greek writers that Europeans became reacquainted with the legacy of classical Greece. (Original: p. 144; With Sources: p. 208) | 18 | |
| 7377417147 | 20. Compare the lives and teachings of Jesus and the Buddha. | Buddha: Gautama was born into a ruling family and was surrounded by luxury. Buddhism was never promoted to the exclusion of other faiths in India, whereas in the Roman Empire Christianity was promoted as the single legal faith. The Buddha's original message largely ignored the supernatural, involved no miracles, and taught a path of intense self-effort aimed at ethical living and mindfulness as a means of ending suffering. Buddha's public life lasted over forty years. Jesus: Jesus was a rural or small-town worker from a lower-class family. Jesus inherited from his Jewish tradition an intense devotion to a single personal deity with whom he was on intimate terms. He performed miracles that reflected the power of God available to him as a result as that relationship. Jesus' teachings were politically and socially sharper than those of Buddha. Jesus' public life was very brief. Both: Both became spiritual seekers, mystics in their own traditions, who claimed to personally experience another level of reality. Both were "wisdom teachers," challenging the conventional values of their time, urging the renunciation of wealth, and emphasizing the supreme importance of love or compassion as the basis for a moral life. Both called for the personal transformation of their followers. Neither Buddha nor Jesus planned to found new religions. Both of their messages emerged soon after their deaths as separate religions embraced by much wider and more inclusive audiences. Both were transformed from teachers into gods by their followers. Both Buddhist and Christian followers clashed over interpretations of their respective founder's teachings. (Original: p. 145-150; With Sources: pp. 209-214) | 19 | |
| 7377417148 | 21. In what ways was Christianity transformed in the five centuries following the death of Jesus? | Jesus became divine in the eyes of his followers. Christianity developed from a small Jewish sect into a world religion that included non-Jews. It spread throughout the Roman Empire, at first via the lower-class, and then Roman rulers used its popularity as glue to hold together a diverse population in a weakening imperial state. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, and all polytheistic religions were banned. Christianity adopted elements of religious practice as it spread. It developed a hierarchical organization, with patriarchs, bishops, and priests. It ultimately developed a patriarchal, male-dominated clergy. Ultimately, permanent divisions formed because of the disunity in matters of doctrine and practice. (Original: pp. 147-150; With Sources: pp. 211-214) | 20 | |
| 7377417149 | Filial piety | the honoring of one's ancestors and parents, a key element of Confucianism (Original: p. 129 and 130; With Sources: p. 193 and 194) | 21 | |
| 7377417150 | Vedas | the earliest religious texts of India, a collection of ancient poems, hymns, and rituals that were transmitted orally before being written down about 600 B.C.E. (Original: p. 133; With Sources: p. 197) | 22 | |
| 7377417151 | Brahmins | the priestly caste of India (Original: p. 133; With Sources: p. 197) | 23 | |
| 7377417152 | Upanishads | Indian mystical and philosophical works, written between 800 and 400 B.C.E. (Original: 133-134; With Sources: pp. 197-198) | 24 | |
| 7377417153 | Brahman | The "World Soul" or final reality in upanishadic Hindu belief (Original: p. 134; With Sources: p. 198) | 25 | |
| 7377417154 | Atman | the human soul, which in classic Hindu belief seeks union with Brahman (Original: p. 134; With Sources: p. 198) | 26 | |
| 7377417155 | Siddhartha Gautama | The Buddha (ca. 566-486 B.C.E.)—the Indian prince turned ascetic who founded Buddhism (Original: p. 137; With Sources: p. 199) | 27 | |
| 7377417156 | Nirvana | the end goal of Buddhism, in which individual identity is extinguished into a state of serenity and great compassion (Original: p. 135; With Sources: p. 199) | 28 | |
| 7377417157 | Bhagavad Gita | a great Hindu epic text, part of the much larger Mahabharata, which affirms the performance of caste duties as a path to religious liberation (Original: p. 137; With Sources: pp. 201-202) | 29 | |
| 7377417158 | Zarathustra | a Persian prophet, traditionally dated to the sixth or seventh century B.C.E. who founded Zoroastrianism (Original: p. 139; With Sources: p. 203) | 30 | |
| 7377417159 | Socrates | the first great Greek philosopher to turn rationalism toward questions of human existence (Original: p. 142; With Sources: pp. 206-207) | 31 | |
| 7377417160 | Thales | a Greek natural philosopher noted for his application of reason to astronomy and for his questioning of the fundamental nature of the universe (Original: p. 142; With Sources: p. 207) | 32 | |
| 7377417161 | Pythagoras | a major Greek philosopher who believed that an unchanging mathematical order underlies the apparent chaos of the world (Original: p.143; With Sources: p. 207) | 33 | |
| 7377417162 | Hippocrates | a very influential Greek medical theorist; regarded as the father of medicine (p. 143; With Sources: p. 207) | 34 | |
| 7377417163 | Plato | a disciple of Socrates whose Dialogues convey the teachings of his master while going beyond them to express his own philosophy (p. 143; With Sources: p. 207) | 35 | |
| 7377417164 | Aristotle | a Greek polymath philosopher; student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great (p. 144; With Sources: p. 208) | 36 | |
| 7377417165 | Saint Paul | the first great populizer of Christianity; converted from Judaism along the road to Damascus (Original: p. 147; With Sources: p. 211) | 37 |
