Deck 10: Non-Western Philosophy

Question 1

The Mayan and Aztec tradition of human sacrifice is probably linked to their beliefs that blood was the fundamental life force.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Confucius' concept of "the attunement of names" implies that using euphemisms like "collateral damage" is an abdication of right behavior.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

One's ancestors play a distinctive role in religious traditions in Africa and China and many islands of the South Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

According to Daoists,someone who lives in harmony with the Tao is like an infant,because of his or her flexibility and possibility.

Question 5

Philosophers have a long history of openness to ideas from individuals who are not male,white,and of European descent.

Question 6

Unlike Buddhists,Jains are committed to belief in the individual self or soul,and not only in human beings but in every living thing.

Question 7

For Daoism,wuwei involves acting non-assertively,taking one's cues from one's situation and going with the flow.

Question 8

Unlike Ibn-Rushd (Averroes),al-Farabi sought to demonstrate that revealed truth and the conclusions of reason coincide,so that neither faith nor reason have priority.

Question 9

Western philosophers have tended to dismiss

A) thought articulated in literalist explanations and arguments.
B) nonliteral,nonscientific
Explanations of life and the universe through myth,heroic legends,and
Non-monotheistic religions.
C) ideas that draw on monotheistic religions.
D) ethical reflection.

Question 10

Both Buddhism and Jainism focused on how to achieve liberation through accepting your caste.

Question 11

The project of inserting non-Western philosophy into the curriculum is challenging because the mainstream Western tradition may already have pervaded or transformed every other tradition that we might try to read.

Question 12

According to the Indian idea of karma every action bears fruit,leaving residues in the mind,especially,the unconscious mind.

Question 13

Traditional beliefs in Africa tend to favor a highly individualistic way of life,free of the limits of tribalism.

Question 14

Carefully preserved,written documents provide much information on the nature of the beliefs of peoples in North America and in Africa.

Question 15

It is challenging to understand the Chinese philosophical tradition because

A) there is no tradition of philosophy in China.
B) you have to take part in Chinese religious rituals to grasp it.
C) we've had access to the texts for so long that we tend to read them unimaginatively.
D) even if we read Chinese texts,it's hard to enter into the context within which those texts are comprehensible.

Question 16

Confucius' concept of nobility focused on how excellence in personal character was dependent on being born into the right family.

Question 17

Native Americans tended to view nature as

A) a resource which they had a right to use.
B) something over which the Great Spirit had granted them dominion.
C) something that should be treated with reverence and respect.
D) a source of aesthetic pleasure and recreation.

Question 18

Like Confucians,Daoists emphasize the importance of ritual actions.

Question 19

According to the Vedas,the self that we recognize within ourselves is ultimately atman,and atman is not separate from Brahman,the fundamental reality.

Question 20

Krishna is an avatar of the Hindu god Shiva.

Question 21

By advising Arjuna to approach the battle using karma yoga,Krishna is recommending that Arjuna

A) be detached from the consequences of his actions.
B) passionately commit himself to fighting.
C) use meditation and not weapons to defeat the enemy.
D) employ the Golden Rule.

Question 22

In traditional African tribes,a newly born baby is not yet a full person,whereas a deceased person who lives on in the memory of his or her descendents is a person still,despite physical death.This implies that

A) animism is false.
B) there are no funeral rites.
C) abortion is never justified.
D) birth and death do not mark the person's beginning and end.

Question 23

When the Daoist,Chuang Tzu,said that words are like fishing nets,he meant that

A) if they are to work,they must be mended constantly.
B) they catch the most essential realities.
C) they catch some things,but they allow much to slip through.
D) they provide us with our daily sustenance.

Question 24

According to Confucius,the virtue of practicing rituals is important because

A) rituals enable people to harmonize without coercion.
B) rituals enable people to avoid difficult social encounters.
C) rituals can create mystical states of consciousness.
D) God mandated such actions.

Question 25

That "everything exists in our world exists only in relation to other things" is the doctrine of

A) Brahman.
B) interdependent arising (pratityasamutpada).
C) karma,or action.
D) anatman,or no self.

Question 26

The Buddhist doctrine of anatman implies

A) self,atman and Buddha nature are one.
B) there is a permanent,eternal atman or self.
C) there is no permanent,eternal atman or self.
D) "You are that."

Question 27

People in Mexico and central South America shared the belief that time and reality had three levels:

A) ordinary,mythical,and divine.
B) monistic,dualistic and pluralistic.
C) unrelational,reciprocal and multi-relational.
D) material,psychological and spiritual.

Question 28

In Mahayana Buddhism,a Bodhisattva

A) achieves enlightenment and then passes into nirvana.
B) achieves enlightenment,and renounces nirvana,choosing to remain in the world,and help others extinguish suffering.
C) leaves behind this world for the next world.
D) is unconcerned with fellow beings.

Question 29

The Confucian "attunement of names" means that

A) the names we give to our children is an important factor in their character formation.
B) names don't really matter.
C) the name we give to something should match the reality.
D) what counts the most is who you know.

Question 30

To act naturally in the Daoist sense requires that you

A) act in a way that is free of social conditioning.
B) do anything that occurs to you.
C) act in a way that is prescribed by the most basic rituals.
D) refrain from acting.

Question 31

What are The Four Noble Truths in Buddhism?

Question 32

Explain Confucius' "attunement of names."

Question 33

Confucius' view of interpersonal relationships can best be described as

A) egalitarian.
B) egalitarian,but with the focus on merit.
C) hierarchical.
D) hierarchical,but with a focus on reciprocity and empathy.

Question 34

The Mexican philosopher who rejected positivism because it did not acknowledge the importance of emotions in music and the arts was

A) Augusto Salazar Bondy.
B) Jose Vasconcelos.
C) Octavio Paz.
D) Auguste Comte.

Question 35

The oldest philosophical text is the

A) Rig-Veda.
B) Old Testament.
C) Upanishads.
D) Bhagavad-Gita.

Question 36

The belief that created beings flow forth from God's activity as pure thinking is attributed to

A) Zoroaster.
B) al-Kindi.
C) al-Farabi.
D) Ibn-Sina.

Question 37

In Daoism,how is water a symbol for the Tao?

Question 38

Indicate three senses in which what is most real and important is best symbolized,for Native Americans,by the circle.

Question 39

Arjuna was advised by Krishna to employ the attitude of karma yoga.What is karma yoga?

Question 40

Hinduism is

A) polytheistic.
B) henotheistic.
C) monotheistic.
D) non-theistic.

Question 41

Write a fictional dialogue between two students,one from India or China,and one from America,exploring Eastern and Western perspectives on the nature of reality,of God (or ultimate religious reality),of self,and the nature of a good life.
The American student can speak from two or more of the Western points of view that have been explored in this book (including Descartes,Spinoza,Locke,Kant,etc.).
The Eastern student should focus on two or more of the following: Indian philosophies of Hinduism,Buddhism,Jainism,Confucianism or Daoism.
Your goal should be to clarify what the differences actually are,and to look for areas of common ground.

Question 42

Octavio Paz wrote that "Modern man likes to pretend that his thinking is wide-awake.
But this wide-awake thinking has led us into the mazes of a nightmare in which the torture chambers are endlessly repeated in the mirrors of reason"
.Do you agree with Paz?
What sort of nightmares has modern,Western reason created?
Think here especially of our attitudes toward time,death,social existence and our relationship to nature.
Could the indigenous philosophies of Latin America and Mexico,Native Americans and Africa provide perspective on how we live in society and nature?
Focus on three of these philosophical perspectives.
After briefly explaining them,identify any common themes they share.
Then focus on how these philosophies might offer lenses through which we can look at,evaluate and transform our attitudes toward time,death,society and nature.
Be specific: identify three alternatives ways of being these philosophies might suggest to you.

Question 43

The aim of this chapter has been to make us more aware "of the peculiarities and limitations of our own ways of thinking and,especially,of how that thinking has been shaped and perhaps even distorted by the particular features of our tradition".These peculiarities and limitations are traced back to differences in culture,race and ethnicity.Write an essay looking at how the non-dominant traditions explored in this chapter challenge three or more of these "limited" assumptions made by Western philosophers regarding two or more of the big questions addressed in this text,including the meaning of life,the Good Life,the nature of God,reality,self and freedom.
Be specific: how do the non-dominant traditions explored in this chapter challenge assumptions that philosophers have made regarding these questions?
Could the western philosopher(s)answer any of these challenges,either by defending his assumptions,or by revising them,in light of the non-Western views developed in this chapter?
That is,is it possible to revise Western philosophy to eliminate its cultural,racial and ethnic biases?How?Again,be specific.

Question 44

Hinduism,Buddhism and Jainism are three Indian religious and philosophical traditions.
Write an essay on these three sets of traditions,focusing on their ontologies (their conceptions of what is fundamentally real),their concepts of the self,and their notions of liberation and how to live well.Look for similarities and differences between them.
Draw out two insights that one or more of these traditions could bring to Western philosophy.

Question 45

Confucianism and Daoism are two of the oldest philosophies in the world.What are the essential insights of these two philosophies regarding the tao (the way),the jen (virtue),li (ritual),he (harmony)and yi (appropriateness)?
Focus in particular on each tradition's conception of what it means to live together-both in terms of intimate,interpersonal experience,and the social order in general (including leadership).
On what points do these traditions intersect and on what points do they diverge?
Discuss two lessons that Western philosophers could draw from these two traditions concerning the nature of social existence.

Question 46

Describe the Persian philosopher/theologian Mulla Sadra's understanding of God's relationship to the world.