User:Atcovi/HIS 111-A26: World Civilization Pre-1500 CE (SP23)/Ch 5

7 questions

2. What cultural qualities do you think led each region to evolve different solutions to the same kind of spiritual crisis?

'''I believe its just natural cognitive progression that led to these differences. People saw the flaws in the rulings made by the higher-uppers (priests, government officials) and started to question them, leading into new philosophies being formed. Buddhism is an off-set branch of Hinduism and eliminates the caste system that Hinduism had.'''

3. Do you think one solution for the quest for knowledge and ethics is more successful than another? Why?

'''Not any one "solution" is going to be universally acceptable. Certain beliefs that allowed fighting, for example, served to be prosperous for a nation (Islam in the later centuries) while pacifist beliefs allowed cooperation and sustenance between certain communities (Jainism).'''

6. What did these early Greek philosophers think of women? What did they see women contributing to society?

'''According to the notes, it seems like women were not granted as many rights at the men did. Women did not have the right to vote nor engage in public standing. Instead, they saw that women could remain in the privacy of their prestigous family (if upper class) or work as agricultural/vendor workers (if lower class).'''

7. What was causing the desertification?

According to the notes, deforestation, field erosion (usage of the soil past its limits), lack of living standards (as a result of the poor agricultural environment) & animal extinction lead to desertification in Eastern Zhou in China.

8. Whom did it affect?

'''Everyone was affected, but the lower class people (peasants, mainly) were obviously more affected than the upper class people. Food shortages & considerable famines took place as a result of these changes. Also, animal extinctions take an obvious toll on the ecosystems at present.'''

9. Did the people living in the area try to find ways to stop it? Why did they not stop it?

'''I could not find a lot of information on this, but you can't really "stop" a famine from taking place. You can end a famine by changing farming practices (instead of re-using the same exhausted soil over and over again). Instead, they probably fleed the area to places that were able to provide them with sufficient food.'''

14. Discuss the axial age thinkers and their unique ideas.

'''Thales was a Greek philosopher that believed everything originated from water. Xenophanes believed in principles that were very similar to monotheism and rejected the Greek potrayal of the "gods". Aristotle believed in many scientific arguments that still influence our thinking today (physics, biology, philosophy, etc.). Siddharth Guatama was another axial thinker who preached Buddhism, one of the most followed religions in the world today.'''