Classic Philosophies

All of these teachings indicate that you should live as a morally good person.
Zoroastrianism- believed that individuals determined their fate and that yu should enjoy the world but in moderation and be choose the good path in life.
Confucian- believed the six main attributesa person should have are kindness, respect, wisdom, honesty, trust and family obligation.
Doaist - believed you should be one with nature and the cosmos and that an eternal pronciple governed everything in the world
Buddhism- believed that all life involves suffering because of desire and you can rid yourself of suffering by ridding yourself of desire by disciplining your life.
Hinduism- believed that if you met your caste system requirments you would be rewarded. However you should also be obedient in moral laws and enjoy the pleasures of life.
Socrates- believed that honor and honesty were the most important things about a man.
Jesus of course believd that everyperson should love and pray for one another wven if they are enemies. Those who are righteous and good will recieve evrything in the afterlife.
This believe in salvation in the afterlife was also present in Buddhism, where if you flfilled your soul you would reach nirvana; Hinduism, where all people of any social class would be rewarded equally in the afterlife; and Zoroastrianism, where your soul would be judged and sent either to heaven or away with the god of evil, Angra Mainyu.
Many of these beliefs and teachers were not religiously influenced like Socrates, Confucius and Daoism however all of these techings believed in a similar thing, that moral good character is the best thing someone can have.

Empires form

Empires form due to civil war or warring areas in a panic and desperate for unification. In China they had been in a Period of Warring States for many years. During this time Legalist beliefs were forming and the man who eventually came to power took this philosophy and created a large empire of Western China with it. China nad no centralized government and an empire is always formed when there is nothing previously in place before it because it sets up ona whole new idea. This proves true again in India when the empire comes oit from the turmoil Alexander of Macedon left it in. Alexander left India withiut any kind of government so a total ruler stepped up to take complete control forming the first successful empire in India. Yhis happened again when a group of nomadic herders caled the Kushan people who conquered many regional kingdoms and brought them together. This shows that to form an empire a man must simply conquer a lot of small powerless areas in turmoil without strong governments and form a unified area. In Rome, again, when there was a period of weak government and rebelling farmers a man came to power and unified the entire area of Rome. The government that had previously controlled Rome was not fit to run a large empire and it had collapsed so Julius Caesar quickly took advantage and formed an empire from a broken government.

Wikipedia versus the textbook

I believe that wikipedia did a better job of giving a full detailed explanation of the religions Buddhiss, Jainism, and Hinduism. Wikipedia gave very detailed explanations on every aspect of the religion while the book simply gave direct simple explanations in just a few sentences. The book did not go into nearly as much detail as wikipedia did but the book did have some benefits such as being clear and concise on the main points of the religion. This brief explanation allowed it to be easier to learn a broader knowledge of the religion but did not let you know specifics. I prefer to be taught by the textbook because it covers a brief explanation of almost everything important in history without weighing us down with too many unnesecary details. However, it is then good to have the internet and wikipedia to have if we need to know more details on a certain section such as this exercise of exploring these religions.

Bhagavad Gita

In the Bhagavad Gita the soldiers of the Indian caste system were taught of the invulnerability of their soul. The writings claim that the soul of these people can never be destroyed, damaged, or harmed by anything, even death. Death, whether victorious in battle or in defeat, will grant your soul entrance to heaven. The duties of the soldiers in the caste system is to give their lives for their people and they will not have sinned. This contrasts to other philosophies such as Zarathustra and Confuciansim. Zarathustra taught its followers to enjoy what the world provided and good deeds and good thoughts were encouraged. However this does not provide the belief in a heaven after death. Similarly, Confucianism believes in the morality of man and righteousness as well as obligation to society, but it does not present a heaven or afterlife. The caste systems share the idea with Confucianism that they owe themselves to society.

Criteria for blogs

I believe the three points for a blog would be content, length, and quality of writing. The cintent should, of course be relevant to the topic and include important facts from either what we've gone over in class or what is in the book. The length should be at least five sentences but not so long that it is time consuming for Mr. Whitten to read. The quality of writing should include grammar and spelling as well as full sentences, however it should not be so elaborate writing that it is difficult or complicated. If any one of these parts are missing they drop the number. If there is a post at least containing one of theae posts they should get a 1 and if they have all of them the stident should recieve a 3. If the post is completely unrelated and shorter than 5 sentences they should recieve a zero, even if they have correct grammar or spelling. Students should write their honest thoughts and opinions and not feel pressured by the knowledge that other students are reading their posts. So I believe it should not be necessary for students to read each others posts.

Confuscius Leadership

Book XII. 14       Tzu-chang asked about government. The Master said, "Over daily routine do not show weariness, and when there is action to be taken, give your best."

 
This selection says about government that sometimes the very rough times are the times you must try the hardest and not show your weariness. This selection would be helpful to the U.S. governement because it emphasizes that when "action must be taken, give your best," which means you must try your hardest when it is necessary. Government officials sometimes forget this in the daily grind of the present recession. It is difficult for them everyday and it is obvious that the government is getting tired and slightly desperate in some situations, such as in trying to find a good healthcare plan for everyone in the country and finding jobs for those who are unemployed. Out of obvious desperation the government just cut almost half of the post office workers to save money in the government. This is why the governement should hear this selection because it will remind them that through these tough times they must do their best even though it is tiring.