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Political Thought Notes- Phases of Change, Eastern Thought Buddhism and Confucianism, Ancient Greek Thought Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Roman Republic Thought

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Course
POLIT203

Institution
University Of Akron

Notes on Phases of Change, Eastern Political Thought, Ancient Greek Political Thought, and Roman Republic thought

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Uploaded on September 13, 2024
Number of pages 5
Written in 2024/2025
Type Class notes
Professor(s) James mchugh
Contains All classes

political thought
politics

Institution
University Of Akron
Course
POLIT203

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Phases of Change 8/27/24 Notes
- Phases of Change
1. Environmental
2. Economic
3. Political
4. Philosophical

Eastern Political Thought I: Overview of Buddhism, and Confucianism 8/29/24 Notes
- Eastern political thought is cyclical, harmonious, holistic, and inclosive
- Don’t just think of historical tense think about how it is still relevant today
- Both time and power in Eastern thought can be conceived in cyclical terms
- Power is significant to our view on politics
- We are more inclined to think of time in linear rather than cyclical terms due to how we
perceive the world
- We have a hard time distinguishing subjective and objective
- In Eastern thought it’s different proven by religion and architecture
- Western thought has an “in the beginning” story where the world was created
- The moment of salvation is thought of as an important moment that changes everything
such as the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Archangel Gabriel appearing to Muhammed
and giving him the ideas of the Quran in Islam
- Eastern thought believes time is a cycle and is a condition that you seek to break out of
- In Hinduism, you seek to escape from time via reincarnation
- Power is hierarchical in Western thought
- Eastern and Western thought can be combined in Celtic areas where things can be
liberal and cyclical
- Eastern thought is also regarded as emphasizing harmonious relationships
- Recognize that you cannot exist without other people
- Concept of toleration
- Harmonious doesn’t mean to tolerate people, it means to accept the necessity of another
person
- Individualism is a very Western concept, in Eastern thought individualism is crazy and
self-destructive, selfish, and does nothing to enhance someone's life
- Harmony is different than balance, balance is about accommodating opposing powers,
while harmony emphasizes the necessity to have balance to create a greater whole
- A holistic perspective stresses the interconnectedness of all things to each other
- Holistic ideas say you cannot achieve much in isolation
- In Eastern thought you are going to have crappy leadership if you don’t have ecological,
economic, political, social, and spiritual ideas managed equally
- There are no winners or losers in politics since humans are imperfect
- Eastern thought is inclosive and, thus, can be contrasted with the “explosive” nature of
Western thought
- Western thought is outward looking while Eastern thought is inward looking
- Europeans wanted to acquire for geographical reasons

, - In many Eastern cultures, there is a big focus on spiritual factors such as meditation to
make yourself whole before connecting to others
- In ancient Western cultures, one of the most valued skills was rhetoric (persuading
others)
- Rhetoric seeks to convert whereas meditation seeks to improve internally
- Rather than being acquisitive and externally inquisitive in the Western sense, this
approach is “inward-looking” and seeks human perfection, internally
- The inclosive nature of Eastern thought has a feeling of resonance
- The political ideals of Eastern thought can be applied to Buddhism and its core teaching
of the Four Noble Truths
- The Four Noble Truths are about detachment from the desire of allowing an outcome to
be what it will be Ex: you have a goal and want to achieve it, but in the process, you find
something else. It is okay and you should accept it, don’t destroy everything good along
the way.
- While meditating he realized there is nothing you can do about problems and that pain
comes from a desire
- The concept of Dhamma is central to this political understanding of Buddhism
- Dhamma is about the correct action
- Achieve detachment through right action
- Right action follows a particular path that is nurturing or the right thing to do
- Dishonesty only leads to bad results and is rooted in a belief that we think we are better
than we are
- The same applies to the government
The Buddhist concept of Bodhi assesses public policy in relation to human suffering and
desire
- Confucious wanted to teach how to behave not how to govern
- Confucious believed position was not unilateral and that character is important
- Confucious believed they needed to govern well or they would fail because they only
thought about themselves
- The behavior attitude and moral standing of a “gentleman” is known as Jen. It advocates
that all people should lead a life that is consistent with their particular station,
responsibilities, and proper relationships to other people
- Shû refers to the belief that all things and people do not exist in isolation but within an
intrinsic and inseparable relation to everything else
- Gîri roughly translates as “mutual obligation” or “reciprocal duty” and is the central
premise of the Confucian tradition, especially in terms of the interconnected relationship
of all things to each other
- If one person can’t do their duty, everyone else will fail causing a collapse
- Ren is a principle of “humanity” (consistent with Jen) as a duty of a ruler that has been
compared to a modern understanding of human rights
- Confucious emphasized the concepts of Shu and Giri through the context of filial piety
and its relationships

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