World Civilization - Case Study Example

World Civilization  From Ancient times to 1500 several great historical processes transformed life on earth. two of these, make a distinction between the two, and explain why these forces have contributed to both the enormous advances in civilization and to the uncertainties of the age inequality throughout the world at the same time.  Various historical processes have made enormous impact on the civilization of the world and among them one of the most important is the invention of paper money in China. According to certain sources China was a confined society in its initial days; always try to make its own identification via the use of its own resources, without the influence of any other country. This individuality comes as a very successful process in China. They have invented metal money by 1200 BCE and it comes into the system within 600 years. Paper was a remarkable invention by Chinese people. Paper money issued in China at a very early age i.e. in 200 CE. (McNeil, 2004, pp.99-100). Initially various heavy metals were used to make coins, but due to their inconvenience various other luxury commodities were used to serve the purpose of transaction. But the process was time consuming as well as hazardous. So the government wants to generate some medium of exchange that can be accepted by all. Within 1024 while the people of west cannot think about some standard medium of exchange, the Chinese government has printed paper money. (Pomeranz, Topik, 1999 pp 14-15). The first paper money was introduced in the system by S’ung dynasty. Initially a very limited amount of paper money was introduced and circulated in the small area. The emperor who made the paper money most popular was Kublai Khan. (History of Chinese Invention- the invention of paper money. n.d.)       Another major historical aspect of that time can be considered as a broader emphasis that is given to the educational system. Within 300 years i.e. from 1200 to 1500 various universities have built on various places of Christendom. Initially it opened six centers for mass education which includes universities like Oxford. Within a few years a huge number of universities were opened at various places of Europe. Each university consisted with a number of faculties though a tendency was seen that each university specializes on a particular stream then it moves to other branches. The Bologna University started with law in 1158, opened a new branch on medicine in 1360, after specializing over law. Same is true for the University of Paris, where various branches have been opened in various times. First it gives major emphasis to arts and after that various subject like law and medicine comes into the system. ( Jarrett. Pp 46)       These two events have tremendous aspect on the world history. From the economic point of view the invention of paper money has a great impact. In ancient days paper money did not seem very successful, but in now a day almost every developed as well as developing country uses paper money as their main medium of exchange. Education can be treated as the base of any modern civilization. From the social point of view the establishment of various modern institutions opens up the door of knowledge, which is the prime factor behind any kind of invention.   Are the ideas and influences of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle still the ultimate basis of Western society? Why or why not?  Socrates was one of the finest philosophers the world could ever have He was the first person to show an interest in natural science but later he changes his opinion and work with the crucial problems of basic human nature behavior and finally morality. (Reich. Pp 79). His ultimate believe that though the body is mortal, the soul is immortal. For this reason only he showed the courage to accept death. His well wishers gave him the chance to save his life but he refuse to do so. (Sharma. 1990. Pp 225). Plato has developed the theory of forms where he mainly distinguished between two types of world, one world is the place where we are living and the other one is ‘the world of forms’. According to him the other world is eternal and it would not change over time. In his famous book with the help of certain example he made a clear distinction between these two types of world. Sometimes illusions can be presented as reality but here Plato has made a clear distinction between illusion and reality as well as the comparison between a superior world and not so superior world. (Solomon. Higgins. 1999 pp 37). Being a disciple of Plato Aristotle did not follow all the works of him, rather he wants to establish his own idea. His main aim was to give emphasis to real life experience as the foundation of the truth. Aristotle can be though of as an inventor of various sciences. Being the teacher of the great emperor Alexander, he got the full freedom of his own work. (Sharma. 1990. Pp 227).       Science has its own limitation. Some crucial questions are there in the earth, for which science is not the ultimate answer. For this reasons people has to consider what is known as philosophy, which deals with the moral issues of life regarding the nature of a person, the existence of God, regarding the life after death etc. The idea of famous philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle has a great impact on western society. Various other schools of thoughts have done various works in this aspect but the root was originated in the works of these great philosophers. (Hayden. September 12, 2003).  How did the founding of Islam compare and contrast with that of the other major monotheistic religions?  Religion can be classified in various ways. One major form of classification is on the basis of the number of gods as well as goddesses people trust. Monotheism implies the trust on a single god who is very much powerful, can solve all human problems and he is the source of all knowledge. (Andersen. Taylor. 2005. Pp 451). Among the three monotheistic religions Islam and Judaism follows strict monotheism. Christianity also follows monotheism but at a lesser extent. Islam mainly follows the motive of Old Testament that brings the notion of monotheism of the Middle East. Judaism is the initial grade of monotheism consisting the method of teaching of Mohammed. The belief of Judaism and Islam seems to be quite simple if compared with Christianity. In Christianity only one can come across the thought that are rationally developed. (Lane. Redissi. 2004. Pp 57). Followers of monotheism constitute almost 50% rather greater than 50% of the world total headcount. Though there are various differences the main points that bind these religions together is the existence of common god, and their scriptures. Though all three religions claim to believe in the same notion of god, now a day some Christians do not believe the notion. Christians faces various difficulties to tackle various Muslim questions. According to some of them Muslims should not be trusted at all as they do not follow any rules and regulation in their life. Some of them also made a comment like Islam is religion that is intolerable. The fight against terrorism must be followed by all monotheist country specially those which are dominated by Muslim population. (Klausen pp 148)       Given all these cases if one member of any monotheist religion changes it religion and become a part of other religion, the idea can be viewed as a changing religion but not changing god. According to Muslim people Abraham can be viewed as a first monotheist, and the founder of Muslim community. All three communal groups follow one single mother book. (Clark. 2007. Pp 260-261)  Describe and discuss the most significant economic and social aspects of medieval Japanese society.  A comprehensive study on the basis of growth and development from fourteenth to sixteenth century brings a situation of modernization of Japan. Modernization generally implies changing the view of the society, or one can say less dependence on agriculture, with a high growth rate. In very early day of this system the income of various social categories mainly depends on its share from the productive land. This system is true for a person who belongs to the servants’ category or a person belonging to the elite class. (Hall. Mass. Pp 246). A society that depends on the strength and power of warriors is termed as medieval society. Society was dominated by the warrior class. Though warriors did not receive the prestige of an emperor, they used to receive all the authorities. The relationship between the warrior and retainer was vertical. (Deal. 2007 Pp 109). There are mainly two forms of land system that comprises this period, one is the shoen system and other is the local proprietor system. Both systems has their own way to look towards the society, first one mainly considers the nobility and the second one gives more emphasis to the warriors. Most of the time the proprietor system was compared with the feudalism of Europe, various specialist have found almost same feudal structure in Japan. On the other hand Shone system generally linked with the cultural heritage of the nation. The latest interpretation regarding the medieval society is that it is the strength of Buddha, a single religious power that can have full control over the classes of the society. (Yamamura. Hall. 1990. Pp 124-125). While considering the cultural activity the medieval society can be viewed as one of the best of various societies. Creativity was supported by various factors e.g. huge growth rate which was the main cause behind the change in the social structure of Japan that has been noticed for the entire medieval era. The social system can be recognized as a situation of laissez faire that improves the creativity as well as the productivity of the economy. While looking the commercial aspect of this era it includes increase in the production of agricultural goods, fulfillment of local demand, improvement of the use of money, and finally the growth of the most important institution named market. The process of growth continued but not on a regular phase, rather the change from medieval to early modern phase shows some form of discontinuation. ( Totman . pp 117-118)                Resources: 1. Andersen. M, Taylor. H. (2005). Sociology: understanding a diverse society. Connecticut, US: Cengage Learning. 2. Clark. M. (2007). ISLAM FOR DUMMIES. India: Wiley. 3. Deal. W. (2007). Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4. Hall. J. Mass. P ( 1988). Medieval Japan: essays in institutional history. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 5. Hayden. G (September 12, 2003). Now there’s a thought. Available at http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=383619 Accessed on 27th July 27, 2009. 6. History of Chinese Invention- the invention of paper money.( n.d.) Available at http://www.computersmiths.com/chineseinvention/papermoney.htm Accessed on 27th July. 7. Jarrett. B ( 1968). Social theories of the Middle Ages 1200-1500. UK: Routledge. 8. Klausen. J (2005). The Islamic challenge: politics and religion in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 9. Lane.J. Redissi. H (2004). Religion and politics: Islam and Muslim civilisation. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 10. McNeil W. (2004). Visitors to ancient America: the evidence for European and Asian presence in America prior to Columbus. Jefferson: McFarland. 11. Pomeranz.K, Topik. S (1999). The world that trade created: society, culture, and the world economy, 1400-the present. New York: M.E. Sharpe. 12. Reich. J. (2005). Culture and values: a survey of the humanities. Connecticut, US: Cengage Learning. 13. Sharma. A. (1990). Among the luminaries in Assam: a study of Assamese biography. India: Mittal Publication. 14. Solomon. R. Higgins. K. (1999). A passion for wisdom: a very brief history of philosophy. US: Oxford University Press. 15. Tottman. C. (1981). Japan before Perry: a short history. California: University of California Press. 16. Yamamura. K. Hall. J (1990). The Cambridge History of Japan: Medieval Japan / edited by Kozo Yamamura. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More