-ISMs in AP World History

1. -ISMs in AP World History By: Chloe Corpuz

2. Religious Philosophies • Confucianism (China: around late 500s B.C) • The teachings of Confucius, who maintained that if people could be taught to emphasize personal virtue, a solid political life would naturally result. • Confucius traveled through many parts of China preaching his ideas of political virtue and good government. • He stressed respect for one’s social superiors, while those superiors should behave modestly. • Confucianism was primarily a system of ethics and emphasized loyalty towards the community. • Believed that social rank should not be based solely on birth but by talent and intelligence instead. • Daoism (China: around 600s B.C.) • A more religious philosophy which appealed to many in the upper classes; emphasized humility and frugal living. • Embraced traditional Chinese beliefs in nature’s harmony and added nature’s mystery. • Laozi furthered the religion insisting that nature contains a divine force that directs all life. • Confucianism and Daoism were able to coexist because they tolerated each other and one philosophy did not disturb the other.

3. Religious Philosophies (cont.) • Legalism (China: around late 300s B.C.E.) • Prided on pragmatism; favored an authoritarian state that ruled by force; believed human nature was evil and required restraint and discipline • Believed army should control the state and people should labor • Legalism never captured the widespread approval that Confucianism did. • Hinduism (India: around 1500 B.C.E.) • The belief in one supreme source known as the Brahma and the life goal to merge with the Brahma, which would be accomplished in one’s future life if they followed the dharma • Believed in social mobility after death, but must quietly accept their social statuses during life on earth • A cycle of life, death, and rebirth continued until one reached moshka, the highest state of being

4. Religious Philosophies (cont.) • Judaism (Hebrews: around 1000 B.C.E.) • Awareness of a unique relationship with God by worshipping him and following his Commandments, in return for our salvation • Consists of belief in an afterlife, a set of traditions and doctrines, philosophy, and personal salvation. • God created the world and humans for them to enjoy and exercise free will. • First widespread monotheistic religion, followed by Christianity and Islam. • Calvinism (Jean Calvin, Protestants: 1530s C.E.) • The teachings of Jean Calvin, a French theologian of the 16th Century • Stressed the doctrine of predestination • Spread from Switzerland to Northern Europe and North America • Also promoted wider access to government and broader popular education

5. Religious Philosophies (cont.) • Shintoism (Japan: 700 C.E.) • The worship of numerous gods and spirits of nature, including the all-important god of rice and political rulers • Offers food and prayers made to gods and nature spirits • This was a simple religion and was rather different in rituals and doctrine from the great world religions and philosophies during the classical civilizations • Shi’ism (Islam) • Practiced by the Shi’a; political and theological division within Islam; followers of Ali • Believed that Mohammad’s son-in-law, Ali, was the rightful heir to the Islamic empire • Contrasted with the Sunnis, who don’t believe that he is part of the hereditary line chosen to rule • Dominated the Safavids • Sufism (Islam) • Islamic mystics; stressed a personal relationship with Allah in contrast to other religions that emphasize a particular form of ritual • Allowed and encouraged people to revere Allah in their own way • Tolerated others who placed Allah in the framework of other beliefs • Succeeded in converting large numbers of people to Islam

6. Philosophical Beliefs • Rationalism (Greece and Rome) • The principle or habit of accepting reason as the supreme authority in matter of opinion, belief, or conduct • Greek philosopher Socrates encouraged his students to question conventional wisdom and focused on “improvement of the soul”. • Socrates’ pupil Plato suggested that human reason could approach an understanding of three perfect forms: True, Good, and Beautiful. • Stoicism (Greece and Rome) • An ethical system that emphasized an inner moral independence, to be cultivated by strict discipline of the body and by personal bravery • Later combined under Christianity. However is was not a religious consideration. • Practiced by Stoics during the Hellenistic period

7. Movements • Evangelicalism & Utilitarianism(India & England: 1770s C.E.) • A movement of the Evangelicals and Utilitarians, groups who took part in the social reforms in India • Wanted to put an end to the slave trade • Introduced British institutions and ways of thinking in India • Believed common principles needed to be followed if each social class were to live decently • Believed Western education was the key to revitalizing an ancient but decadent Indian civilization • Pushed for the introduction of English-language education for the children of the Indian elite • Realism (Latin America: 1870s) • Interest in or concern for the actual or real, as distinguished from the abstract, speculative, etc. • Emerged in the arts and literature that was more in line with the scientific approach of positivism and the modernization of the new nations • Took place during the Industrial Age

8. Movements (cont.) • Zionism (Eastern Europe: 1860s and 1870s) • Jewish Zionists (nationalists) argued that a Jewish homeland in Palestine was desirable and just • Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour declaration that stated the right for a home in Palestine for Jewish people without displacing its current residence. • Britain gained control of Palestine in 1920 and the Jews and the Palestines had to divide the land accordingly. • By the beginning of WWII, nearly 500,000 Jews had emigrated to Palestine. • Hellenism (Greece) • The culture, ideals, and pattern of life of Classical Greece • Greek art and culture merged with other Middle Eastern forms • During the Hellenistic period, trade flourished and important scientific centers were established. • Impressionism • A style of painting developed in the last third of the 19th century, characterized chiefly by short brush strokes of bright colors in immediate juxtaposition to represent the effect of light on objects. • Impressionists argued that realism in art was now unnecessary because of photographs. • They concentrated on the essentials of natural and other settings.

9. Political Movements • Republicanism • The ideology of governing a nation as a republic, with an emphasis on liberty and rule by the people. • Communism • A type of totalitarianism in which one person controls everything and wants to destroy tradition and social distinction • Joseph Stalin was leader of the Communist party when Lenin died • Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Latin America and Vietnam all had some form of communism at one point • Secularism • A system of political or social philosophy that rejects all forms of worship • Capitalism (Britain) • When governments remove themselves from regulation and individuals own their own properties and make their own production • Also known as a free market system, Adam Smith believed that private ownership was the best way to achieve economic prosperity and fairness. • Socialism (Western Europe: 1848-1860) • Founded by Karl Marx • Urged an attack on private property in the name of equality • Wanted state control of means of production • End to capitalist exploitation of the working man

10. Forms of Government • Absolutism (Western Europe-France: 17th century) • The principle or the exercise of complete and unrestricted power in government. The monarch has complete power over the nation. • In France, the monarchs passed laws as they saw fit and appointed a growing bureaucracy. • King Louis XIV reduced internal tariffs and set tariffs only on imported goods. • Spain, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary also adapted an absolute monarchy. • A strong military was a key goal for absolutists. • Authoritarianism (Japan & Latin America) • Favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, esp. that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom • Getulio Vargas (Japan) established a constitution in 1937 Estado Novo, that imposed an authoritarian regime wihin the context of nationalism and economic reforms, limited immigration, and eliminating parties and groups that resisted or opposed the government. • Latin American soldiers established a new bureaucratic authoritarian regime. They placed national interest over selfish interests by imposing dictatorships.