Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism,

Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism

Religion is a belief; it has a set of code of
conduct, principles, ethics and morals to
follow in one’s life. There are several
religions in the world. It only means that
people of the world follow different kinds of
religion that frame different sets of
principles, ethics, morals and codes of
conduct to follow for the people that belong
to them.
Philosophy, on the other hand, speaks about
the realization of the supreme truth. It deals
with the topic of life after death. It speaks
about the existence of the soul and life
hereafter. Philosophy establishes the divine
nature of man. It questions the absolute
truth that each soul is potentially divine. This
is philosophy associated with religion.
it can be said that religion and philosophy
are mutually exclusive and they cannot co-
exist.
 Zhou (Chou) Dynasty
1076-221 BC
(pronounced Jo)

POLITICS
• Regional feudal states similar
to Shang
• Ruled as coordinators rather
than as a central govt.
• military force determined
strength of rulers
• Conflict led to decline into the
"Period of the Warring States"
(403-221 B.C.).
• Introduced Mandate of Heaven

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 Mandate of Heaven
• Principles:
– right to rule is granted by Heaven.
– only one Heaven so only one ruler in China.
– right to rule depends on the virtue of the ruler.
• Advantages:
– It gives the ruler supreme power politically and
religiously
– power kept in check by virtue.
• The Mandate of Heaven justifies rebellion
as long as the rebellion is successful.
Virtue is a behavior showing high moral
standards/kabutihan/kabaitan.
 Start here🡪 A new
The emperor
reforms the govt.
dynasty
& makes it more
comes to power.
efficient.

Lives of common
people improved;
Emperor is
taxes reduced;
defeated !!
farming
encouraged.

Rebel bands find The

strong leader who Problems begin
unites them.
Attack the
Dynastic (extensive wars,
invasions, etc.)
emperor.
Cycle
Poor lose Taxes increase;
respect for govt. men forced to
They join rebels work for army.
& attack landlords. Farming neglected.

Droughts, Govt. increases

floods, spending;
famines occur. corruption.
 Mandate of Heaven

•The Mandate of Heaven was

the Chinese belief that the gods
picked the emperor to rule but
the gods could also remove a
bad emperor from power.

•The Mandate of Heaven can be

viewed as the right to rule.
 Economy

• Iron age
– stronger and cheaper than bronze
– weapons strengthened Zhou army
• catapult
• creation of China’s first cavalry
• 90% of peasants lived on farms in family
compounds
• new iron tools increased harvest, food
surpluses
• Silk was their most important product
• Roads, canals allowed better
transportation, communication
• Introduced coins, use of chopsticks
• Population grew under Zhou
• Cities grew in size
 Philosophy (Religion)
• At the end of the Zhou (403 BC-221BC), China
disintegrated into “the Warring States period” as
Zhou leaders lost control and states fought each
other
• 100 Schools Movement tried to bring stability to
China
• Confucianism
• Taoism and
• Legalism
• Are the resulting philosophies of life and govt
 Basic beliefs
• Dualism – everything relates to everything
else and works best when in balance
(Yin/Yang)
• Harmony, cooperation, submission to the
larger group while allowing for individuality
• Heaven controls life on Earth and life
passes from parent to child. Because
each child receives life from its parents it
makes sense that the child should
“worship” his or her parents
 Society

1. Emperor
2. Regional rulers
3. Farmers
4. Slaves
BUT,
Confucian ideals changed
this near the end of the
Zhou
 Philosophies and Religions of
China
• 1. Confucianism – Founded by Confucius
• He stressed the importance of order to achieve harmony.
• Confucius believed that if people knew and did what they
should do, then harmony would occur.
• Rulers relied on the ideas of Confucianism
• Confucius developed a philosophy that was concerned
with ensuring social order and good government

• 2. Legalism – Official Qin Dynasty policy

• People are evil in nature, strict laws and violent punishments
are needed to keep order
• Feudal rulers used legalism to keep order
 Philosophies and Religion
3. Daoism – Founder is Lao Tzu
-was a philosophy that stressed the importance of nature. By living
naturally, harmony could be achieved.
- A religion that rejected conflict
- Emphasized flexibility and yielding
-Daoist priests contributed to science and medicine

4. Buddhism – Founder is Siddhartha Gautama

-Key Beliefs – Escape Suffering & promise of personal salvation
-According to Buddhism, the goal of Buddhism is to reach
enlightenment through meditation.
⮚Buddhist belief of union with the universe and release from the
cycle of rebirth is known as nirvana.
•Factor that helped Buddhism spread through China is Mahayana
Buddhism offered escape from suffering and the promise of
achieving salvation.
SINOCENTRISM
• China regarded their
vculture as more superior
that other culturwa
• For Chinese, China
remained the center of
civilization
• China is refered to as
“Middle Kingdom”
• Neigboring countries are
regarded as “tributaries of
China”
• Those people outside
China’s borders are
considered as “barbarians”
a. Surrounding black portion
- includes kingdoms around
the country including Japan

b. Outer white portion

- includes the countries
considered as “Country of
the Giants”
c. Last black portion
- the “Universal Ocean”
whose extent they cannot
measure nor describe
 Qin Dynasty
• Shi Huangdi conquered the Zhou Dynasty
and abolished feudalism
• The Qin ruler was the first Chinese ruler to call
himself emperor.
• Shi Huangdi was a harsh but strong ruler.
• He introduced a uniform system of writing.
• The Chinese were forced to obey his rules.
• He ordered the execution of people who
disagreed with him.
• Shi Huangdi promoted unity, repaired/extended
roads, and standardized writing, measurements,
and coins.
⮚ Under the rule of Shi Huangdi
During Qin Dynasty, the Chinese
began building the Great
Wall of China.
⮚ The Great Wall of China was built
to protect China from nomadic
invaders.

E. Napp
In your own words, define the
following based from the discussion)
3-5 sentences

1.Philosophy
2.Religion
3.Confucianism
4.Legalism
5.sinocentrism