Chapter 6

The Great Schools

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Thinkers of the Axial Age

Zoroaster (7th-6th c BCE) taught that the world was shaped by a battle between good deity, Ahura Mazda (represented by fire and light), against the evil Ahriman (darkness and night) Vardhamana Jnatrputra or Mahavira (6th-early 5th c.BCE.) taught that the soul might be freed through ascetic practice of chastity, detachment, truth, selflessness, and charity that permitted only what was freely given Jainism Confucius (Kong Fuzi) (ca. 500 BCE) developed an ethical system based on hierarchy and truth. Eventually became dominant in China. Gautama Siddhartha or Buddha (sometime b/w mid-6th to early 4th c BCE) prescribed a combination of prayer, meditation, & unselfish behavior that would free the soul from desire, which is seen as the reason for suffering. Ultimate relief would come by achieving nirvana. This would be very difficult and few would make it, but reincarnation to higher bodies would be the reward of the virtuous. Religion spread across East Asia because of its universal appeal Hebrews Greek philosophers/thinkers

Focus Questions

WHAT DO historians mean by the term axial age? WHAT WERE the main areas of axial-age thinking in Eurasia? WHAT WERE the most important religious ideas that developed during the axial age? WHAT SIMILARITIES developed among Chinese, Greek, and Indian science and medicine during the axial age? HOW DID political pessimists differ from optimists in their ideas about human nature and the role of government? WHY WAS the axial age confined to such a limited area of the world? We guess so b/c the written records/evidence are from icertain regions only! Otherwise, there may have been similar developments in other regions as well. How limited/narrow was the area we talk about?

Why an Axial Age?

Political fragmentation: China, Greece, India

Need for new ideas

Population growth, intensive economic development Economic basis: patronage, leisure, education Questioning of tradition Main areas of development: China, India, the Aegean region, Iran

Survival of existing written records enables us to focus on these areas

Thoughts of the Axial Age: A. Religious Thinking: New ideas about

1.

2.

Creation: A divine creator + a God involved in the world : A growing discussion of non-being a. Early atomists (Leucippus) considered it a necessary consequence. b. The idea of creation as the result of an emotional force (Hesiod) or of thought or logos (the Stoics and then the Gospel of John). Monotheism /A single God
//Hierarchic polytheism + Dualism (Zoroastrianism in Iran) + Henotheism (Multiple gods reflect One) (in India)

3.

Divine Love = A God interested in its creation

// the idea that humans are made in the image of God + God gave humankind dominion Humankind was special & higher than other creatures (Aristotle + the Chinese sage Xunzi) In Christianity: the notion of Gods love for all people

New Religious Movements

Zoroaster (7th-6th century BCE) Zoroastrianism: Dualism: A world shaped by a cosmic struggle between good & evil, justice & injustice, light & dark / between the good Ahura Mazda (represented by fire and light) & the evil Ahriman (represented by darkness and night). Influential religion in southern Asia Preaches the duty of each individual to take part in this strugglein which light & truth must be victorious finally An individuals personal duty was to achieve purity of life On the social level, maintaining a just balance b/w social classes Rites connected with dawn and fire-kindling

Judaism to Christianity
Yahweh as basis for development of Monotheism A Covenant with Jahweh / Creator-God / A transendental vision, expressing a moral diemsion in the cosmosA moral : Adherence to the Law rules that governed Jewish life in return for land & wellbeing Adherence to Law: a way to relieve sinfulness and to convey a sense of immortality on a person. In Babylonia: the call to the love of a Creator-god elevated above any nation / But the need to endeavor for moral purity

Jesus (d 33 CE): the Messiah, preaching divine love Christianity spreads Islam

Divine love

India
Reactions to Brahmanism: Janinism + Buddhism Jainism:

Vardhamana Jnatrputra = Mahavira (the great hero) (6th-early 5th c. BCE)

The soul might be freed through Ascetic practice of chastity, Detachment, Truth, Selflessness Charity so complete that a Jain accepts only freely given Nonviolence Focus on sanctity of all life Revered but limited adherents in India / Not popular outside India

India [contd]: Buddhism

Gautama Siddhartha = Buddha (the enlightened one) (sometime b/w mid-6th to early 4th century BCE) Desire Suffering Prayer, meditation, & unselfish behavior to free the soul from desire through individual self-refinement or losing oneself in selflessness: an eightfold path: right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration Nirvana [the extinction of the flame]: The ultimate relief
(may continue through reincarnations)

Spread of Buddhist ideas over trade routes, especially to China

China

Confucianism Confucius (Kong Fuzi) (ca. 500 BCE): A bureaucrat in the Chinese state of Lu developed an ethical system based on hierarchy engagement with society, emphasis on virtue& truth. Eventually dominant in China. Daoism: by Laozi ( 4th century BCE) Disengagement from society, emphasis on virtue, focus on the mystical path (Dao), Legalism: belief that people are bad and that obedience without consideration of virtue is essential Mozi (ca. 400 BCE) and Xunzi (ca. 250 BCE) argued for universal love and that progress and freedom could create human goodness respectively

Nature worship. This rare Daoist scroll from about 1150 C.E.only a portion of which is reproduced here depicts some of the feats of the Eight Immortals, the most famous characters in Daoist folklore. The serene landscape is typical of Daoist painting.

Thoughts of the Axial Age: B. New Political Thinking

New ways of considering human nature New ways of considering how the state should function 1. Political pessimism: Humans are essentially bad and unable to
govern themselves without guardians
Plato (The Republic) + The Legalists in China (The good of the state & law & order > tyranny & injustice)
2.

Political optimism: Humans are essentially good seek virtue Rule of law or of a moral code is more than simple obedience
Responsible & virtuous monarch in the East (Confichianism + Daoism) Democracy, republic with shared/participatory law making (Greece + Rome)

3.

Subversive teachings of Jesus: He commands to love God & one another + favors outcasts, sinners & heretics [wants to bring them back to the fold of lovers]

Thoughts of the Axial Age:

C. Challenging Illusion

New ways of thinking about the nature of reality A struggle against falling to illusion

D. Mathematics:

India: Calculations of enormous numbers (to demonstrate the impossibility of attaining the infinite) Greece: Pi + Golden number + geometry ( revelation of a reality beyond sense perception) (Pythagoras, 6th c BCE + Conficuians and others in China)

E. Reason:
1.

Explorations of a rational understanding of the world

(Parmenides, 5th c BCE: The world of numbers made more sense than the world itself + Hi Shih: Thought does require experience or objects outside of it) An escape from reality? Or a control against dogma & emotion? Development of logic & logical organization of thoughts (Aristotle in Greece + Nyaya in India)

2.

3.

F. Science
Distrust of senses / Deceptiveness of appearances Warning against superstitions & popular notions of supernatural Development of science Systematic attempts to understand nature Daoist monks pave the way for experimentation & observation as the basis of understanding + Shen Xu, ca. 679 BCE + Conficious: respect tradition but pay attention to the pysical world Democritus (5th-4th c BCE) + Aristotle leads systematic attempt to understand the animal kingdom + Archimedes pioneers new understandings of hydraulics, mathematics, and mechanics.

G. Medicine
Development of medicine based on observation and rational explanation in China by the mid-6th c BCE + Hippocrates provides naturalistic explanations for diseases and revils supernatural ones in Greece in late 5th c BCE + a similar focus on rational explanations and treatments for disease appears in India by the 6th c BCE

H. Skepticism
The idea that nothing may be known for certain and that there is no purpose inherent in the world or in our existence. China (ca. 200 BCE) Epicurus (d. 270 BCE), and Pyrrho of Elis (4th c BCE) Stoicism

Greece / Early Philosophy

Development of rationalism Atomists: Democritus Postulation of atoms, void, perishable nature of material world Parmenides: Everything is one Socrates: unexamined life isnt worth living Plato: belief in moral absolutes Aristotle: categorization of everything Breaking arguments down into syllogisms, equations Hippocrates: understanding of disease via observation, diagnosis Foundation of schools of thought Sophists: emphasis on rhetoric, circular reasoning Epicureanism + Stoicism + Skepticism
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Might rationalism and religion have been two different means to the same end?

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Organization + structure of learning

Categories of intellectuals: (1) professional intellectuals (2) advisors to rulers, (3) prophets, & (4) charismatic leaders Support of activity & dissemination of ideas:

Most sages had networks of supporters and students. These stimulated innovation and competition. Institutions: Platos Academy + Aristotles Lyceum + Han Feizis Legalist school. Production of works helps but isnt necessary. Socrates, Jesus, & Buddha wrote nothing themselves; their followers spread their messages and teachings. Wealth helps. Plato was an aristocrat. The Buddha and Mahavira were princes. Patrons were essential for men like Confucius or his later successor, Mencius, for success. The Vedas of India contain bits of dialogues between sages & rulers.

Todays Question

How does increasing globalization affect axial-age religions and philosophies? Consider That axial-age philosophies and religions developed in geographically and culturally distinct societies While there are intriguing similarities in many of these systems of thought, they are products of very different cultures. Todays globalized communication, travel, and technology allow individuals and societies to borrow ideas, music, and technology from distant lands, creating new cultural hybrids. How are these global transformations affecting the systems of thought and religious systems originated by axial-age thinkers?
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