1 10 14 Basic History 2205 1766 BCE Xia Dynasty o Not much is left from this time period 1766 1122 BCE Shang Dynasty o Information from this period comes from writings on tortoise shells o World full of spirits who could be contacted acted as mediums to Shang o Many of these spirits were our ancestors huge emphasis on connecting to bones etc the past Di The Lord on High o Summary Look to the past for answers and write it down 1122 256 BCE Zhou Dynasty o Worshipped Tian o They introduced the notion of Tianming Heaven s mandate Old rulers were drunks so they had the right to take over because of Tianming o This starts a sort of naturalization in Zhou thought Moving away from spirits and moving towards a systematic explanation of phenomena resulted in a boom of thought Opens the quest for knowledge up to everyone as opposed to the Shang Di who can only be contacted by limited people 771 BCE King You screws up thus ends the Western dynasty o The moral of King You direct connection between moral decay and societal downfall 403 221 BCE Warring States Period o Characterized by fractured warring states o Much of Chinese philosophy flourishes during this period o Trying to answer the question How can we bring peace and stability back to society 770 221 BCE Hundred Schools of Thought Period o Confucianism 5th century BCE taught by Kongzi Everything will be good if individuals are respectable and follow Going back to natural roots results in loss of conflict rules are the hierarchy of society o Daoism 4th century BCE Laozi unnatural o Mohism 4th century Mozi Universal love Treat everyone kindly o Legalism 5th century Han Feizi punishment Ended Warring States Period o Yangism 5th Century Strong government with clear rules generous rewards and harsh Focus on yourself meet your own needs and there will be no conflict kind of follows Daoism o School of Names 4th century Focused on language if terms are understood there will be peace Similarities to watch for in all of these views 1 There are features of experience that we are not paying appropriate attention to 2 Because we don t recognized 1 our lives are troubled 3 There is a way to escape these problems 4 Taking this advice will make your life better than it would be otherwise 5 Everyone has the ability to make life better 221 207 BCE Qin Dynasty o Short lived dynasty based on legalist principles 206 BCE 8 CE Earlier Han Dynasty Meanwhile in India Starts in the Indus Valley o Circa 1700 BCE Sanskrit starts to dominated as the language of choice o Start to have philosophical thought because stuff was being written down o This leads to the first written religious texts of this period the Vedas 1st section what people said during rituals 2nd section how to perform these rituals 3rd section how they felt about these rituals 4th section deep questions about existence o For example Rig Veda written around 1500 BCE o Sanskrit can t develop because the universe will fall apart 800 400 BCE Early Upanishads o Focus more explicitly on philosophical problems 400 200 BCE The Epic Period o Long epic poems questioning the universe o This sets up a particularly strong philosophical tradition marked by self knowledge 5th Century BCE Siddhartha Gautama is born he becomes the first Buddha 1 CE Buddhism has made its way to China then Japan then South Korea 1 13 14 Kongzi 551 BCE 479 BCE Means Master Kong Kong Fuzi Confucius There is very little systematized philosophical thinking prior to Kongzi Not a revolutionary thinker he was a synthesizer and transmitted past ideas Kongzi s philosophy is so important that it is incorporated into Chinese culture The Analects Supposedly a collection of his actual sayings and teachings Supposedly collected by disciples after his death this is probably not entirely true more likely evolved over the next 200 300 years That said book 1 8 are generally considered more cohesive and authoritative 7 20 emphasizes looking backwards from knowledge o The Odes the History etc Kongzi wants to emulate the figures in these texts often referred to as Sages So what do the Analects teach us Moral development is the key to peace Laws will not bring about peace 1 Laws only change surface behavior they don t address the cause of bad behavior Example from Freakonomics people showed up later when there was a rule 2 3 people have no sense of shame if they only follow rules Kohlberg s Stages of Moral Development Pre conventional right and wrong determined by reward or Conventional views of others matter avoidance of blame punishment seeking approval Post conventional abstract notions of justice rights of other can override obedience to laws rules 2 2 3 Laws only encourage people to be more clever in avoiding punishment Life insurance we search for loopholes People need to be taught to respect the spirit of the law in order to avoid evasiveness 3 You can t have a law for every situation You re going to leave situations out sometimes We could have a few extremely complicated rules but this would be difficult Just go with a bunch of laws but this sucks too you can t predict the future 6 5 the appropriate things to do is context sensitive both in terms of what the student needed to hear and the situation The Lesson laws cant get the job done if we want to restore peace in society we have to treat the underlying cause o In order to reform the state we first need to reform the individual o This starts in the home o Xiao filial piety this is the foundation of all moral development The most important part of moral development is cultivating relationships properly this starts with your parents If you are a good son daughter then you will be a good subject o With a strong developed sense of xiao then your parents can help you develop li and yi You learn what the appropriate thing to do is li and it helps you develop the right motivation yi 1 15 14 Kongzi s Recipe for Success The junzi develops ren and de by following dao which is to practice xiao in order to cultivate the practice of li and yi Dao way or road or path but also something like teach o For Kongzi this means the method or formula to becoming a junzi o Two ways in a descriptive way in a normative way what you should do o The upshot we can talk about group s dao but there is also a correct dao that SHOULD be followed Xiao filial piety o Respect for one s parents this includes taking care of them respecting their opinions and presenting a good face in public among others obeying your parents o 4 20