Download Religious and Intellectual Developments

Bell Ringer
 Read the passage Zarathustra on Good and
Evil
 Answer the following:
What assumptions does Zarathustra make about
human nature and the capacity of human beings
to make morally good choices through free will?
Persia, China, and India
RELIGIOUS AND INTELLECTUAL
DEVELOPMENTS
Zoroastrianism
• Based on the teachings of Zarathustra
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Little information survives about life
Aristocratic family
Priest?
Left home in search of wisdom
 Series of Visions
• Ahura Mazda
▫ “The Wise Lord”
▫ Chose Zarathustra as prophet
• Gathas
▫ Magi (priest), transmitted religion orally
▫ Zarathustra’s hymns in honor of deities
• Not strict Monotheist
▫ Ahura Mazda supreme deity
▫ Spoke of six lesser deities
• Cosmic Conflict with evil spirit,
Angra Mainyu “the destructive
spirit”
▫ 12,000
▫ Good ultimately wins, Evil disappears
forever
▫ Humans would then receive reward or
punishment
 Heavenly Paradise
 Hellish Realm
• Material World considered a
blessing
▫ Wealth, sexual pleasure, and social
prestige
▫ Moderation and Honesty
 “Good Words, Good Thoughts. Good
Deeds”
Confucianism
 Confucius
 Educator and political advisor
 Sayings were compiled in the Analects by his disciples
 No focus on religious issues
 No focus on philosophical questions
 No focus on politics
 Confucian ideas
 Moral , Ethical, Practical
 Formation of junzi--"superior individuals“
 Key Confucian values
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Ren--a sense of humanity, kindness, benevolence
Li--a sense of propriety, courtesy, respect, deference to elders
Xiao--filial piety, familial obligation
Cultivate personal morality and junzi for bringing order to China
Daoism
 Laozi,
 Wrote the Daodejing
(Classic of the Way and of
Virtue)
 Counterbalance to
Confucian activism
 Pointless to waste time on
problems that defied
solution
 Reflection & Introspection,
Harmony with nature
 The Dao--the way of
nature
 An eternal principle
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governing all the workings
of the world
Does nothing yet
accomplishes everything
Humans should be passive
Ambition and Activism =
chaos
Wuwei: Disengagement
from worldly affairs,
simple life
Advocated small, selfsufficient communities
Legalism
 The doctrine of practical and efficient statecraft
 No ethics and morality
 No principles governing nature
 Legalist doctrine
 Discouraged trade, education, and the arts
 Strict Laws and Severe Punishment
 Harsh penalties
 Amputation of hand/feet for disposing trash in the street
 If people feared minor infractions then they would not
even consider committing large ones.
 State before Family
 Not popular, but practical
 Put end to Period of Warring States
Jainism
 Jainist doctrine and ethics
 Inspired by the Upanishads:
 Everything in universe has a
soul
 Nonviolence toward all living
things
 Sweep the ground before
walking
 Avoids going out at night
 Filtered water
 Abstains from harsh words
 Vegean lifestyle (mandatory)
 Avoid sudden movements
 Purify one's selfish behavior
= state of bliss, breaks
incarnation
 Too demanding, not a
practical alternative to the
cult of the Brahmans
Buddhism
 Early Buddhism
 Siddhartha Gautama
 Search for cause of suffering
 Buddhist doctrine: dharma
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The Four Noble Truths
Noble Eightfold Path
Suffering is caused by desire
Religious goal: personal
salvation, or nirvana
 Appeal of Buddhism
 Appealed strongly to
members of lower castes
 less demanding than Jainism
Hinduism
 Hindu ethics
1. DHARMA: obedience to religious
and moral laws (duty/obligations)
2. ARTHA: pursuit of an honest
economic well-being (material
status)
3. KAMA: enjoyment of pleasures
(sexual pleasures)
4. MOKSHA: salvation of the soul
 Achieve salvation through meeting
caste responsibilities
 The Bhagavad Gita
 A short poetic work: dialogue
between Vishnu and warrior
 Illustrated expectations of
Hinduism and promise of salvation