Notes

China and the Search for Order:
-After the Zhou dynasty had substantially weakened, a period of disorder and turmoil followed. This led most of china to begin to think of an answer. There were many solutions thought of for this problem. Here are some of them:
-The Legalist Answer: One answer to the problem of disorder was a philosophy known as legalism. To legalist thinkers, the solution to china's problems layed in rules or laws enforced through a system of rewards and punishments. The legalists generally had a pessimistic view of human nature. They believed that most people were stupid and shortsighted. To them, only the state and its rulers could act in their long-term interests. Legalist thinking provided inspiration and methods for the harsh reunification of china under Shihuangdi.
-The Confucian Answer: A man by the name of Confucius believed that he had found the key to solving China's problem of disorder. He spent much of his adult life trying to identify a political position from which he could put his ideas into action, but he could not find such an opportunity. After his death, his students compiled his teachings into a short book called Analects to which later scholars commented endlessly on his ideas creating a body of thought that came to be known as Confucianism. The Confucian answer to China's problem was very different than that of the Legalists. Not laws and punishments, but the moral example of superiors was key to Confucianism. For Confucianists, human society consisted of primarily of unequal relationships: the father was superior to the son, the husband to the wife, the older to the younger brother. They believed that is the superior party behaved with sincerity, benevolence, and genuine concern for others, then the inferior party would aspire to become more like the superior. Rituals and ceremonies were also important because they conveyed the rules of appropriate behavior in the many and varying circumstances of life.
-The Daoist Answer: A legendary figure by the name of Laozi penned a short poetic volume before vanishing in the wilderness of China on his water buffalo. Daoist ideas were later expressed in a more explicit fashion by the philosopher Zhuangzi. Daoist thinking ran opposite to Confucianism. The Daoists encouraged behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural. They turned the spotlight on the immense realm of nature and its mysterious unfolding patterns. Yin Yang came from Daoism.

Left off beginning of 157