Chapter 4

• China: Confucius and Laozi
• India: Upanishads defined what we call
• “Hinduism”; Siddhartha Gautama set Buddhism in motion
• Middle East: development of monotheism
1. a. Persia: Zoroastrianism (prophet Zarathustra)
2. b. Israel: Judaism (prophets such as Isaiah)
• Greece: rational humanism (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, et al.)
• all sought an alternative to polytheism, placating of gods through ritual and sacrifice
• quest for source of order and meaning in the universe
• guide humans to personal moral or spiritual transformation (especially development of compassion)
• the questions they pose still trouble and inspire humankind
• they defined their distinctive cultures

China and the Search for Order

A. China had a state-building tradition that went back to around 2000 B.C.E.

1. idea of Mandate of Heaven was established by 1122 B.C.E. (foundation of the Zhou dynasty)
2. breakdown into the chaos of the “age of warring states” (403–221 B.C.E.)

B. The Confucian Answer

1. Confucius (551–479 B.C.E.) was an educated, ambitious aristocrat

• spent much of life looking for a political position to put his ideas into practice
• Confucius’s ideas had enormous impact on China and the rest of East Asia
• his teachings were collected by students as the Analects
• elaboration and commentary on his ideas by later scholars, creating Confucianism as a body of thought

2. principle: the moral example of superiors is the answer to disorder

a. society consists of unequal relationships

b. duty of the superior member to be sincere and benevolent

c. will inspire deference and obedience from the inferior member

The Daoist Answer

1. associated with the legendary Laozi (sixth century B.C.E.)
2. Daoism was in many ways the opposite of Confucianism
• education and striving for improvement was artificial and useless
• urged withdrawal into the world of nature
3. central concept: dao:
• the way of nature, the underlying principle that governs all natural phenomena
4. Daoism invited disengagement with public life
• Daoist image of virtuous natural world that had been lost to civilization
• yearned to connect with nature
• simple self-sufficient living
• abandonment of education and active self-improvement
• family still central
• complementarity and balance between sexes rather than hierarchy