SOCIAL SCIENCES

 

LET Reviewer Social Science Major

Anthropology for Teachers

 

Concept of Anthropology

 

A. Definition of Anthropology

Comes from the Greek words; anthropos (man) and logos (study).

Concerns explicitly and directly with all varieties of people throughout the world and it traces human evolution and cultural development from millions of years ago to present (Ember, 1993).

It looks into the attributes of a particular human population.

 

B. Two Major Disciplines of Anthropology

 

B.1 Physical Anthropology "concerns with human evolution and human variation (Paleontology or paleoanthropology)

 

B.2 Cultural Anthropology - deals with the study of culture consists’ of three areas as follows:

1.       Linguistics- focuses on historical and descriptive or structural linguistics. It looks into the emergence of language and variations of language over time.

2.       Archaeology-deals with cultural history

3.       Ethnology (cultural anthropology)-studies cultural variation

 

A. Schools of Thought in Cultural Anthropology

 

-       Early Evolutionism (Edward B. Taylor and Lewis Henry Morgan) - states that most societies were believed to pass through the same series of stages, to arrive ultimately at a common end

-       Historical Particularism - Franz Boas. the proponent, believed that it was premature to formulate universal law since there is a need to study the context of society in which they appeared.

-       Diffusionism (British, German and Austrian Anthropologists) spread the idea that most aspects of civilization had emerged in culture centers and later diffused outward.

-       Functionalism (Bronislaw Malinowski). It holds that all culture traits serve the needs of individuals in a society; the function of culture traits is the ability to satisfy some basic or derived need.

-       Structural-functionalist approach (Arthur Reginald Radcliffe-Brown) assumes that the various aspects of social behavior maintain a society's social structure- its total network of social relationships - rather than satisfying individual needs. It works in the following assumption: stability, harmony, equilibrium and evolution.

-       Psychological Approaches (Edward Sapir, Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead) seek to understand how psychological factors and processes may help us explain cultural practices.

-       Later Evolutionism (Leslie White) states that culture evolves as the amount of energy harnessed per capita per year is increased or as the efficiency of the instrumental means of putting the energy to work increased.                        

-       Structuralism- Claude Levi-Strauss sees culture as it is expressed in art, ritual, and the patterns of daily life, as a surface representation of the underlying patterns of the human mind.

-       Ethno science (ethnography) explains culture from the way people used to describe their activities.

-       Cultural Ecology seeks to understand the relationship between culture and social environments

-       Political economy centers on the impact of external political and economic processes, particularly as connected to colonialism and imperialism, on local events and cultures in the underdeveloped countries.

-       Sociobiology involves the application of biological evolutionary principles to the social behavior of animals, including humans.

-       Interpretive approaches consider cultures as texts to be analyzed for their meanings.

-       Feminist Anthropology includes women's issues in the study of culture and society.

-       Conflict Theory-advocates of this theory ask this question: "Who controls the scarce resources of a given society"? It assumes that society can be explained based on the following assumptions: economic determinism, dialectism and social action.

 

B. Types of Research in Cultural Anthropology

1.        Ethnography

2.        Non-historical Research

3.        Historical Research

4.        Cross-Cultural Research

 

II. Human Evolution

A. Beliefs about human beings

Divine theory

Systema Naturae by Cart Linneaus (carolus )

Jean Baptiste Lamarck- species could evolve

Erasmus Darwin - inheritance of acquired characteristics

Charles Lyeli-Principles of Geology

 

B. Theory of Natural Selection proposed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace

-       The theory of natural selection proposes that those organisms best adapted to a particular environment produce the most offspring overtime.

 

C. Gregor Mendel's experiments

-       Mendel's research in genetics and DNA and RNA led us to understand the mechanisms by which traits may be passed from one generation to the next.

 

D. Sources of Biological Variation

1. Genetic recombination- random assortment, segregation and crossing-over

2. Mutation - change in DNA sequence 

 

E. Factors in Human Variation

1. Genetic Drift

2. Gene Flow

3. Influence of Physical Environment

4. Influence of social and cultural environment

 

F. Humans are a product of the interaction of biological and cultural evolution.

 

G. Physical Variation among Humans

genetic variation

body build

facial construction

skin color

height     

Lactase deficiency

H. Problems about Human Variation

1. Racism

2. Gender Discrimination

 

I. Diagram on Human Evolution: Biological and Cultural

TIME (YEARS AGO)	GEOLOGIC EPOCH	FOSSIL RECORD	ARCHEOLOGICAL PERIODS	MAJOR CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS
5500 (3500 B.C.)			Bronze Age	Cities  and  States; Social Inequality; Full- time Craft specialist
10,000(8.000  B.C.)			Neolithic Mesolithic	Domestication of plants and animals; permanent villages   Broad spectrum food collecting; increasing sedimentary communities; many kinds of microliths
14,000 (12,000 B.C.)	Pleistocene	Earliest humans in New World	Upper Paleolithic	Cave paintings; female figurines; many kinds of blades tools
40,000		Modem humans Homo sapiens
200,000		Neanderthal Homo sapiens Earliest Homo sapiens (?)	Middle Paleolithic	Religious beliefs(?) burials; Moustenan tools
300,000		Homo Erectus
700,000 1,500,000 1.800,000	Pliocene	Earliest hominids Australopithe-cus	Homo Habilis Lower Paleolithic	Hunting/scavenging; seasonal campsites; Oldowan tools
2,000,000		Diversification of Apes Sivapithecus Dryopithecus Proconsu		Earliest stone tools
5,000,000	Miocene	Earliest apes (?) Propliopithe-cus e.g. Aegyptopithe-cus
22,500,000		Earliest anthropoids
29,000,000		Parapithecids e.g. Apldium
32,000.000	Oligocene	Ampipithecus tetonius   Earliest Primates Purgaforius
38,000,000	Eocene
50,000,000	Paleocene
53,500,000	Late Cretaceous
70,000.000

Ember: 1996

 

-       Homo erectus begun to evolve into Homo sapiens after about 500,000 years ago.

-       Pro-modem Homo sapiens have been found in Africa, Asia and Europe.

-       The oldest fossil remains of a modem looking human have been found in South Africa.

-       Two theories about the origins of modem humans:

1.       Single-origin theory- modem humans emerged in just one part of the Old World (the near east and recently South Africa.

2.       Continuous Evolution Theory-modem humans emerged gradually in various parts of the Old World

 

J. Broad spectrum collection (Mesolithic Period) was associated with the development of sedentary life

 

K. Domestication of Plants and Animals (Neolithic Revolution)

 

L. Population generally Increased after plant and animal domestication.

 

M. Growth of Cities and States

-       The key criterion for state is the presence of hierarchical and centralized decision-making affecting a substantial population.

-       Most states have duties with public buildings, full time craft and religious specialists, an official art style and a hierarchical social structure.

-       Earliest states: Southern Iraq (Sumer) in the Near East, in Mesopotamia, the valley of

-       Oaxaca and later in Teotehuaca

 

III. The Study of Culture

A. Definition

Culture is personality writ large (Ruth Benedict). It is a sort of group personality that forms an overall cultural orientation within which there is a considerable variation.

Anything shared by human beings.

Cultural configurations- the Idea that cultures possess internal coherence and consistency. Culture is not just the sum of individuals who adhere to them, because it also includes developed and elaborated traits with greater intensity and richness. This is our cultural heritage.             

Cultural Relativism is the attitude that a society's customs and ideas should be described objectively and understood in the context of that society's problems and opportunities.

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to regard ones culture as superior

 

B. The Ability of Human Beings to Produce and Acquire Culture Can be attributed to the

Following Biological Characteristics:

Large brain

Bipedal

Opposable thumb

Well developed vocal chords

Long period of dependency                                     

Reproduction is not seasonal; human beings can reproduce during fertile period

 

C. Theories About the Development of Personality

1. Theory of Sigmund Freud- Origin of Society Hypothesis- Oedipal Complex (incest and exogamy)

2. Malinowski – Matrilineal Family

3. Benedict and Mead emphasized the ways culture develops individual personality.

4. Kardiner - illustrated the presence of various personality types in a culture. Personalities differ because of the variations in cultural institutions.

5. M. Whiting and L. Child suggest that childrearing practices develop certain personality types.                        

 

D. National character - modal characteristics of a people.

 

E. Objections to National Character Studies

1.        Abnormal personality

 

F. Two ways by which culture can be internalized:

1.        Habituation-human beings learn certain techniques

2.        Education - skills are taught; directed Seaming process

 

G. Language and Culture

1. Communication is a function of language

2. Forms of communication

☯  verbal                                                             

☯  nonverbal   

3. Structural linguistics try to discover the rules of

☯  phonology (the patterning of sounds);

☯  morphology (the patterning of sound sequences and words), and

☯  syntax (the patterning of phrases and sentences) that predicts how most speakers of language talk.

4. Historical linguists study the origin of languages.

5. Sociolinguistics concerns about the ethnography of speaking- that is, with cultural and sub cultural patterns of speaking in different social contexts

social status and speech

sex differences in speech

 

H. Sex and Culture

Sex and Gender Differences

Gender Roles in productive and domestic activities; political leadership and warfare

Status of Men and Women

 

IV.   Economic Systems

A. Subsistence Economy

▪  Food Collection - hunting, fishing and gathering

▪  Agricultural economy

▪  Pastoralism

B. Patterns of Subsistence in the Philippines

C. The use of technology

D. Access to natural resources

E. Organization of labor

F. Market or commercial exchange economy

 

V.    Social Stratification

A. Definition

Social Stratification pertains to division in society due to access or right to certain advantages. The advantages may be in the form of economic resources, power and prestige

 

B. Type of Societies

1. Egalitarian societies are societies in which many positions of prestige in any given age-sex grade could be filled by those who are capable.

2. Rank societies are characterized by social groups having unequal access to prestige or status but not significantly unequal access to economic resources or power

3. Class societies are characterized by having unequal access to economic resources and power. Class society ranges from open class system to close class system.

 

VI.   Marriage and Family

A. Definition of Marriage

Marriage means a socially approved sexual and economic union between a woman and a man.

B. Types of Marriages

By Number

Monogamy

Polygamy- polyandry and polygyny and group marriage

Whom should one marry?

Endogenous marriage and exogenous marriage

Cousin marriages

Levirate and Sororate

C. Types of Family

By composition; Nuclear, Extended

By Residence: Patrilocal, Matrilocal, Bilocal Neolocal, Avunculocal

By Orientation: Patrilineal, Matrilineal, Bilateral

Unilineal Descent patrilineages, matrilineages, patricians, matridans

Kinship Terminology: consanguineal kin, affinal kin

By power: Patriarchal, Matriarchal,Egalitarian

 

D. Economic Consideration in Marriage

Bride price

Dowry

 

E. Incest Taboo - is the prohibition of sexual intercourse or marriage between mother and son, father and daughter, and brother and sister, Incest taboo is universal, however, the Incan and Hawaiian royal families allow incest.                        

 

F. Theories on the universality of incest taboo

1.        Childhood-Familiarity Theory-Children raised together are not sexually attracted to each other when they grow up.

2.        Freud's Psychoanalytic theory-suggest that the son may be attracted to the mother but the father might retaliate against the son. Hence such feelings must be renounce or repressed,

3.        Family disruption theory (Malinowski) sexual competition among family members may create so much tension and rivalry thus may result to disruption of the functions of the family.

4.        Cooperation Theory- incest taboo promotes cooperation among family members.

5.        Inbreeding theory-emphasizes tie damaging consequences of inbreeding

 

VII. Social Organization

A.  Types of Social Organization

1.        Simple social organization is one characterized by relatively few and homogenous social units and less elaborate cultural forms. The family or the household serves as the basic social unit around which all activities revolved.

2.        Complex Social Organization is one characterized by greater internal heterogeneity of social units and more elaborate cultural forms. Differentiation in the structure of social relations is clear-cut and it revolves around specialized institutions.

 

B. Some Examples of Associations

Membership Criteria	Recruitment
	Voluntary	Non-voluntary
Universally Ascribed		Age-Sets Most unisex associations
Variably Ascribed	Ethnic Associations Regional Associations	Conscripted army
Achieved	Occupational Associations Political Parties. Special Interest Groups

 

C. Political Organizations: band, tribe, chiefdom and state                         

 

D. Resolution of conflict: community action, informal adjudication without power, ritual reconciliation -apology, oaths and ordeals, codified laws and courts, feuding, raiding, large - scale confrontation

E. Filipino Indigenous ethnic communities may be grouped into five general types (Jocano, 1998):

1.       Pisan (campsite) - Agta term for small exogamous local groups consisting mostly of kinsmen    

2.       Puro (settlement) - Sulod term for semi-sedentary, amorphous aggregate of persons who live in a particular and named settlement (Swidden or Kaingin)

3.       Ili (village) - Bontoc in origin which corresponds to village type organization

4.       Magani (district) - Agusan Manobo, Sodat organization of dry crop farmers whose social organization corresponds rank organization

5.       Banwa (domain) - Manuvu term for self-contained villages

 

VIII. Religion and Magic

 

A. Definition of Religion

Religion is any set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power

 

B. Religion is universal for the following .reasons:

Need for intellectual understanding

Decrease guilt, anxiety or uncertainty

Need for community

C. Variations in religious beliefs

1.        Existence of impersonal supernatural forces (e.g. mana and taboo)

2.        Supernatural beings of nonhuman origins (gods and spirits)

3.        Supernatural beings of human origin (ghosts and ancestor spirits)

 

D. Ways of Communicating with the supernatural include prayer, doing things to the body and the mind, simulation, feast and sacrifices

 

E. Magic is the belief that actions can compel the supernatural to act in a particular and intended way. Sorcery and witchcraft are attempts to make the spirits work harm against people.

 

F. Religious/Magical practitioners include shamans, sorcerers or witches, mediums and priests

G. Religion and Political Movements

 

IX. The Arts                                                 *        ,

A. Body Decoration and Adornment: paint or objects such as feathers, jewelry, skins and clothing. Body decorations may be used to delineate social position, rank, sex, occupation, local and ethnic identity

 

B. Visual Art

Artistic Differences in Egalitarian and Stratified Societies

Egalitarian Society	Stratified Society
Repetition of simple elements Much empty or "irrelevant" space Symmetrical design Unenclosed figures	Integration of unlike elements Little empty space Asymmetrical design Enclosed figures

 

C. Music

D. Folklore

X. Culture Changes

A. Discovery and Invention

B. Diffusion

C. Acculturation

D. Revolution

E. Types of Culture Change

Commercialization

Religious Change

Economic Change

 

Social Philosophy                                

 

PART I: CONTENT UPDATE

 

Philosophy

-       From two Greek words: Philein which means "to love", and Sophia which means "wisdom". According to Manuel Velasquez, philosophy is "the pursuit of wisdom about what it means to be a human being, what the fundamental nature of God and reality is. what the sources and limits of our knowledge are, and what is good and right In our lives and in our societies,

-       Traditionally defined as the sciences of all things studied from the viewpoint of their ultimate causes under the light of human reason alone. (According to Bertram/ Russel, philosophy is the no man's land between theology and science.)

 

Three Traditional Divisions:

1.        Epistemology - literally means "the study of knowledge". It deals with questions of knowledge (including the structure, reliability, extent, and kinds of knowledge); truth, validity, and logic; and a variety of linguistic concerns, (e.g. the question of whether truth is relative)    

2.        Metaphysics ~ addresses questions of reality (including the meaning and nature of being); the nature of mind, self, and human freedom; and some topics that overlap with religion, such as the existence of God, the destiny of the universe, and the immortality of the soul. (E.g. question of whether human behavior is free or determined)

3.        Ethics - study of values and moral principles and how they relate to human conduct to our social and political institutions, (e.g. question of whether human beings have the moral obligation to love and serve others, or obligation only to themselves)

 

* social philosophy falls under this division,

 

Social Philosophy – is the study of society and its processes and activities with particular emphasis on the basic principles underlying social structures and functions. It is the study of the rightness or wrongness of societal orders, institutions, structures, systems, functions, and processes.

 

(Thomas Hobbes first used the term "social philosophy". He is also widely considered as the father of social philosophy.)

 

Prerequisite to an understanding of social philosophy are the following six basic factors or concerns:

First:     An understanding of nature of associative life (the person existing in correlation with society).

Second: Associative life requiring a set of values towards which all social processes and activities are directed.

Third:    The means to the set of values essential in the associative life

Fourth:  The law.

Fifth:     The obligation of the individuals to the state and the state to the individuals.

Sixth:    The ideal of social and individual justice.              

 

To sum up, the study of social philosophy revolves around these six lectors: associations, values, power, rights, obligations and justice.

 

SOCIAL PHILSOPHIES

 

A. Classical Realism

Realism is the philosophy that regards the universe as composed of beings existing independently but related and forming a hierarchical structure called cosmos or totality.

 

Classical Realism distinguishes a person from other living substances as endowed with two natures: animal and rational. Animal nature with its various appetites and sensual desires is perfected by the practice of the habits of the "golden mean" between the two extremes of excess and deficiency. These habits enable a person to develop the moral virtues of temperance and courage. These moral virtues, in turn, enable a person to perfect the rational nature by achieving the intellectual virtues of wisdom, prudence, and art.

However, full human nature is not only achieved by the development of virtues atone.

Full human nature enables a person to achieve the ultimate goal of happiness by transcending self-realization with the acceptance that one is not self-sufficient when isolated from others. Aristotle emphasized that a person is a part in relation to the whole which is society, and that anyone who is not able to live in society or who does not need it is either a beast or a god, but not a human being. Society, therefore, is the external support of a person's self-realization. It follows, therefore, that the state, which is a form of organized society, has the moral purpose of maintaining proper order and exercising justice for the good of the whole or the common good.

 

B. Positivism

Positivism as a philosophy is based primarily on science and scientific discoveries. Auguste Comte came up with the term when he developed his philosophical idea regarding the laws of societal growth. He maintains that there are three ascending levels of explanation of natural phenomena:

Theological level - explains natural phenomena by involving spiritual or anthromorphic beings.

Metaphysical level- depersonalizes these beings into forces and essences

Positive level - relies mainly on sciences and scientific descriptions.

Comte contends that as the new society develops in the positive level (or positivist society); performing one's duties to society and of serving the interests of humanity will prevail over the concept of society as existing to serve the interests of individuals. In other words, he maintains that the development of industrial society based on sciences and industry, when properly organized, will be accompanied by a moral regeneration involving the substitution of concern with the welfare of humanity for concern with the individual's private interests.         

Intellectual Phase	Material Phase	Type of Social Unit	Type of Order	Prevailing Sentiment
Theological	Military	Family	Domestic	Attachment
Metaphysical	Legalistic	State	Collective	Veneration (Awe or respect)
Positive	Industrial	Race (Humanity)	Universal	Benevolence

* Comte framed the term sociology.

 

C. Pragmatism

Pragmatism is the acknowledged contribution of America to philosophy. Three American thinkers figured prominently in the development of pragmatism:

-       Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced as "purse")

-       William James

-       John Dewey

 

Dewey defined pragmatism as the "theory that the processes and the materials of knowledge are determined by practical or purposive consideration". According to Peirce the pragmatists' view is supported by the practices of experimental sciences specifically the laboratory method in which the hypotheses are ideas or proposed solutions to felt problems. These are tested and either rejected or confirmed. Truth, therefore, is that which works and is successful in solving problems.

 

The pragmatists' focus on consequences and how they are controlled through intelligence is the foundation of their concepts of person and society. A person is a social animal because association rather than isolation is the Law that governs everything that exists.

 

Almost every other kind of achievable value is acquired because of social process in which each value individual valuer is when he is normally fitted to his sphere. In essence, for pragmatism society is not just a conglomeration of individuals but an organic process upon which individuals depend and by which they live. As the soil is to plants and trees, so society is to the individual which nurtures human life in its individual forms and makes possible of all the flowerings of personality.                                                           

 

The pragmatists also claim that human society is much more commonly the context in which concepts are formed.

 

The ends of associative life such as survival, habits of action and thought, and, choice of consequences are served by numerous social groups To the pragmatists, society is pluralistic, not an entity in itself, but a collection of interacting primary groups. These smaller groups however produce consequences on persons other than those who directly participate in these primary groups.

 

Pragmatism views a person as a problem solver In an environment of pluralism of groups, interests, and consequences.

 

D. Naturalism

Naturalism is a philosophy that denies anything as having supernaturality. It contends, especially its earlier versions, that the common context in which concepts are formed is the physical universe (unlike pragmatism which maintains that the human society is the common context where ideas are formed). A human being is a transitory product of physical processes. Thus, human beings and society are dependent on the natural order. Society therefore is received as less organic. It is an aspect or portion of nature, not so much an organism that has rhythms and patterns. The individual is therefore considered as nature's offspring, not a child of society or a segment whose very being depends upon the social organism. Although dependent upon nature, he stands on his own feet, more or less, as far as his relations to society are concerned. There are what might be called certain necessities which make it expedient for him to relate himself somewhat effectively socially; but these are not necessities arising from the operation of society as an organism, so much as they are accidents or exigencies to be avoided by working out some kind of social organization to correct them.

 

Thomas Hobbes viewed the individual and his native state as at war with himself. He is competitive, he grasps for honor and dignity, he is troublesome, and he is hungry for power. Human beings left to them selves without some kind of control will kill themselves in the chaos and anarchy of selfish struggle. The only way that man can be saved from himself sociologically is for individual man to surrender his freedom to some superior social power or organization to which he must give absolute obedience as to a moral god.

 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's naturalism rooted man in nature rather than in society. He contends that the individual is a child of nature so much so that he proposed in his "Emile" to keep Emile away from society until adolescence. Through his Social Contract, he reveals how the problem of social organization is complicated by the importance of maintaining the human being's freedom. The individual, he maintains, is not a human being unless he is free, if he is in bondage, then he is a human being. However, unrestricted freedom is neither in harmony with his welfare nor with the welfare of the society. Apparently some social organization is required, one that preserves the freedom of the individual.     

 

It seems that for naturalism social values are synthetic values, which result from agreements in which human beings bind themselves together. Such are inferior goods, not so much preferred as individual goods, which result indirectly as a consequence of the desire to avoid the greater evils which accompany anarchy. They are not organic values which are determined in part by the very nature of society and which would never be possessed by humans separately, even if they did not need to be saved from conflict and chaos by some kind of social groupings.

 

E. Liberalism

Liberalism is a philosophy or movement that has as its aim the development of individual freedom and adheres to the idea that the society is one in which individuals are left free to pursue their own interests and fulfillment as each chooses. As Mill argued, the only restraints to which adult individuals should be subjected are those necessary to keep an individual from harming others. However, because the concepts of liberty or freedom change in different historical periods its specific programs also change. The final aim of liberalism, though, remains fixed, as does its characteristic belief not only in essential human goodness but also in human rationality. Liberalism assumes that people, having a rational intellect, have the ability to recognize problems and solve them and thus can achieve systematic improvement in the human condition. Often opposed to liberalism is the doctrine of conservatism, which simply states, supports the maintenance of the status quo. Liberalism, which seeks what it considers to be improvement or progress, necessarily desires to change the existing order.

 

It is in the works of John Locke that the soul of philosophical liberalism is found. Locke claims that freedom and equality of all human beings are governed by a (aw of nature that necessitates everyone to respect the freedom of self-determination in others and to treat others as equals. Reason defines the rights and duties that constitute and sustain everyone's freedom.

 

However, people find it necessary to give up their natural freedom in order to form a society. They enter into a societal contract where they give up their power of self preservation in exchange for the collective and stronger action of society and government. Through this social compact people agree to live in the bonds of civil society. The contract creates one body that acts by the consent of the majority, and by agreeing to the contract, individuals place themselves under the obligation to submit to the determinations of the majority. Thus, the existence of society and the authority of government arise out of people's freely given consent as emphasized by Locke, and not out of people's needs as asserted by Hobbes.

 

Contemporary Liberalism has retained the fundamental commitment to individual liberty but has added to it an awareness of the extent to which economic relations can indirectly limit an individual's liberty. The choice of a poor person is very much restricted compared to a rich man. Contemporary liberalism has tended to incorporate the view that individuals can be constrained to provide economic support for the poor through welfare programs. It has also tended to incorporate the view that individuals should be given some protection against the economic power of the wealthy through laws that protect the worker.

 

One of the representatives of contemporary liberalism is John Rawls. Rawls also acknowledges that social relationships have a deep and profound effect on the individual's sense of fulfillment. A society's institutions are what primarily determine what we can do and what our lives as individuals will be like,

 

Rawls claims that the most important question about society is whether it is just or not. According to Rawls, the laws and institutions of a society must embody justice and be based on these two principles of justice: first, that everyone in society must have political rights and duties, and second, that the only justifiable economic inequalities are those required to make everyone better off by serving as incentives. If this will not be the case, then it must be reformed.

 

F. Idealism

Idealism grew out as a reaction to naturalism. According to naturalism, truth or reality exists in Ideas or in the spirit or in the mind. Material objects are merely representations of the idea. While idealism emphasizes that the will governs one's conduct, naturalism says that impulse, instincts, and experience govern one's conduct. While idealism judges behavior in terms of motives, naturalism judges behavior on the basis of results. Naturalism would say that the end justifies the means. Idealism would say that the knowledge is obtained by speculation and reasoning, naturalism regards scientific observation.   Naturalism regards scientific knowledge as final.  

 

The idealist notion of society is not an aggregation or collection of individuals; it is an organism in which individuals participate. Individual selfhood is not something which can grow in isolation; it is given birth through the social process and comes into actual self-realization only in relation with society as its medium of nature and development. This is not to say that the individual is subordinate to society. With the society providing the matrix for the development of the individual, the individual progresses and slowly proceed in the process of self-realization and at the same time, society develops in a process of realizing the ultimately good society.

 

G. Communism

Karl Marx believed that the human being, apart from some obvious biological factors, has no essential human nature — that is, something that it is true of every human being at all times everywhere. However, he believes that human beings are social beings, that to speak of human nature is really to speak about the totality of social relations. Accordingly, whatever any of us does is a social act. which presupposes the existence of other people standing in certain relations to us. In short, everything is socially (earned. He further claims that it is not the consciousness of individuals that defines their beings, but it is their social being that determines their consciousness.

 

Marx also claimed that the history of the world should be viewed as a history of class struggles. He believed that the universal laws operating in history are economic in nature. Moreover, he saw a causal connection between the economic structure and everything in society such that the mode of production of material life determines the general character of the social, political and spiritual processes of life.

 

Marx claims that eventually, capitalism will become increasing unstable economically. The class struggle between the bourgeoisie (ownership class) and proletariat (working class) will increase. The poor will be poorer, and increasing in number. The upshot will be a social revolution. The workers will initiate the new communist phase of history.

 

H. Communitariansm

Communitarianism is the view that the actual community in which we live should be at the center of our analysis of society and government. Communitarians emphasize the social nature of human beings. They argue that our very identity - who we are ~ depends on our relationships to others in our communities. We are embedded in our community and its cultural practices. Thus, we cannot understand our selves apart from our community and its cultural practices.

 

According to communitarians, the state is natural. It is, like the family and the tribe, the natural outgrowth of the human beings' natural tendency to live together. They also believe that the human being can only fully develop within the state. Thus, it is obvious that communitarians do not claim that the state is an artificial construct. They also do not claim that the individual is prior to the development of the state. But they do claim that the state and its cultural practices are the source of the identity of all human beings. That is, it is in the state that human beings acquire the cultures and traditions that they use to define themselves.

 

I. Fascism

The term fascism was first used by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1919. The term comes from the Italian word fascio, which means "union".

 

Fascism is a totalitarian philosophy of government that seeks to regenerate the social, economic, and cultural life of a country by basing it on a heightened sense of national belonging or ethnic identity, It rejects liberal ideas such as freedom and individual rights, and often presses for the destruction of elections, legislatures, and other elements of democracy.

 

Fascism is characterized by the following:

Emphasis on the glorification of the state and the total subordination for the individual to it. The state is defined as an organic into whom individuals must be absorbed for them and the state's benefit. The 'total state" is absolute in its methods and unlimited by (aw in its control and direction of its citizens.

Social Darwinism - The doctrine of survival of the fittest and the necessity of the struggle for life is applied by fascists to the life of a nation-state. Peaceful, complacent nations are seen as doomed to fail before more dynamic ones, making struggle and aggressive militarism a leading, characteristic of the fascist state. Imperialism is the logical outcome of this dogma.

Elitism - salvation from rule by the mob and the destruction of the existing social order can be affected only by an authoritarian leader who embodies the highest ideals of the nation. This concept of leader as hero or superman is closely linked with fascism's rejection of reason and intelligence and its emphasis on vision, creativeness, and the will

 

J. Stoicism

Stoicism is a philosophy that flourished in Greek and Roman antiquity. The goal of all inquiry is to provide man with a mode of conduct characterized by tranquility of mind and certainty of moral growth. They also believed that some matters were within a person's power to control and others were not. Within a person's power to control is the will to act or not to act, to do or to avoid. Not within a person's power is the nature of things and the laws that govern them. People should therefore obey the rules of nature and respect the natural order of things. Stoicism also preached the equality of all people since all of them are rational beings.

 

The stoics developed the idea of cosmopolitanism, the idea that all persons are citizens of the same human community.  Human relations for them have the greatest significance, for human beings shared a common element. That is, since Logos (God) is in everything, then the Logos (reason). Is also the same saying the reason is common to both God and person

 

K. Existentialism

Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine that focuses on the existing individual person.

It is concerned with the authentic concerns of concrete existing individuals as they face choices and decisions in daily life. It  emphasizes the freedom of all persons to make choices in a universe where there are no absolute values outside man himself. Soren Kierkegaard, who argued that human existence was marked off from all other kinds ofn man's power to choose, founded it. The decision that man makes will make him the kind of person that he will and will make him distinct totally from every other person. Thus, every value is always dependent upon the free choices of every man.

 

I. Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism - theory of what is good and a theory of what is right

1.       Theory of what is right   

Utilitarianism's theory of what is right is known as consequentalism. It claims that what is a morally right option on any circumstance is that option, which brings about the most good, or the best consequences,                          

2. Theory of what is good

Utilitarian agree that what is good is utility - human well-being or welfare. However, they disagree as to how well-being or welfare is defined.

 

EASTERN SOCIAL PHILOSOPHIES

A. Buddhism

.                                                          

Buddhism originates from the experience of the misery of life. Life, for the Buddhist, is caught in a labyrinth of changes so much so that there is no peace to be found in this world. There is an endless cycle of change, of birth and death and therefore, the only way for man to attain peace is the state of "nirvana," or the fading out of suffering. Thus Buddhism has a morality that is characterized as egocentric and Individualistic and gives very little positive value to society. Buddhism teaches the Eightfold Way (The right view, the right aspiration, the right speech, the right action, the right livelihood/the right effort, the right concentration, the right contemplation) and also the Four Noble Truths. The four noble truths are the following:

The universal fact of pain

The origin of suffering

The cessation of suffering

The path, which leads to the cessation of suffering

 

B. Confucianism

 

Confucianism aims for the restoration of political order and social harmony and such will be possible if only people would observe the following formula:

 

-       Chun-chun, chen-chen; fu-fu, izu'izu

-       Ruler ruler, minister minister;

-       Father father, son son.

 

This advocates how:

A ruler should behave as a ruler should behave

A minister should behave as a minister should behave

A father should behave as a father should

A son should behave as a son should

 

Also, according to this philosophy the way to attain virtues is through natural means: (a) being true to one's nature, and (2) applying those principles in relationship. The objective is central harmony. Confucianism is founded on the experience of the all-embracing harmony between man and nature and is highly conservative. Confucius teaches that man is the ruler since ft constitutes a social morality. Confucianism outlawed speculation and emphasized practical ethics. Man's obligation is to preserve right human relationships.

 

Founded by Kung Fu Tzu, which means the Grand Master, also called "Ch'iu" (hill), Confucianism strongly emphasizes the individual's place in society. It is interested in reforming social life to rid government of its repressive tendencies.

 

Confucius propagated the idea of democracy. According to him, rulers must serve the people's interests. He contends that the rulers and officials should make the people affluent and then educate them. He also provides primarily moral reasons for caring for the masses. The majority of the masses is simple and thus will be loyal as long as they are treated with authoritative humanity and live in material prosperity. That is, as long as the government works to promote their interests, the masses will be peaceful and do their work.

 

C. Taoism

Taoism is a philosophical system strongly emphasizing man's place in nature. In contrast to Confucianism, it is not concerned with society, except as something to move away from.

 

Lao Tzu taught that the Tao is most fully revealed in tranquility neither through action nor religious living. Virtue is attained by quiet submission to the power of the Tao. The Tao cannot be defined.

 

Taoism stresses man's passive role in nature. Founded on the experience of the dynamic force immanent in the universe, which gives order and life and meaning to the totality of reality it adhered to the vision of the human being's harmony with nature. However, it viewed man as essentially passive called upon to harmonize himself with the natural rhythms of things.

 

According to Chuang Tzu, humankind is composed of two types: one is the ordinary mass of people; and the other, the Perfect Man. The masses are the concrete manifestation of humanity. The Perfect Man is its ideal form.

 

The social man is a microcosm, a miniaturized version of the universe that contains all the elements necessary to make up Heaven and Earth. The body is made up of all the physical elements. The mind is composed of human nature, the spirit, and virtue. Its environment and the classes of people around itself limit the human. Man's anguish is caused by unfulfilled desires. Therefore, desire causes man's sinfulness. Each person thinks, acts, and behaves as if his own mind were the standard. THE reality of human and social existence is characterized by limitations given by the environment, dependency on external objects and events and anguish. There are four limits of human existence:   

Man's insignificant size

Bondage

Death

Delusion

 

D. Islam

 

The word Islam means submission or surrender — to the will of God, and the word Muslim means "given to God." Islam is a community, a way of life, a culture and a civilization. Central to its teaching is the belief that there is only one all-powerful, all-knowing God (Allah), and this God created the universe. Islam also emphasizes that all Muslims are equal before God thus providing a basis for a collective sense of loyalty to God that transcends class, race, nationality, and even differences in religious practice. Also, unlike most Christian sects, Islam clings to the idea of faith plus good works.

 

Islam is centered on the Five Pillars of Truth:  profession of faith (shahada), prayer (salat), alms giving (zakat), fasting (sawm), and pilgrimage (hajj).

 

Islam gives importance to social life. It considers it a duty to attend to social problems and to struggle for the benefit for all human beings. Being indifferent to such problem is considered in Islam to be a grave sin

 

Islam believes that no society can survive without rules and social regulations. It also believes that the goal of law Is not only to bring about social order and discipline, but to maintain social justice because without justice the order would not be durable and the masses of the people would not tolerate injustice and oppression for ever, and in a society not governed by justice most people would not have the opportunity for desired growth and development and hence, the goal of man's creation and social life would not be realized.

 

Also, from the Islamic viewpoint, social laws should be such as to prepare the ground and context for the spiritual growth and eternal felicity of the people. At the very least they should not be inconsistent with spiritual development, for, in the view of Islam, the life of this world is but a passing phase of the entire human life, which despite its short duration, has a fundamental role in human destiny.          

 

E. Hinduism

The word Hindu was derived from the Sanskrit word sindhu ("river"), the Persians called the Hindus by that name, identifying them as the people of the land of the Indus. The Hindus define their community as "those who believe in the Vedas" or "those who follow the way (dharma) of the four classes (varnas) and stages of life (ashramas)”.

 

The fundamental principles of Hinduism:

A. text: Vedas

B. philosophy:

Time is degenerative- going from the golden age through two intermediate periods of decreasing goodness, to the present age>~ and then another cycle again

Human life is cyclic: after death, the soul leaves the body and is reborn in the body of another person, animal, vegetable, or mineral

Three classes of society {ashramas): Brahman (priest), Kshatriya (warrior), Vaisya (general populace). Later, a fourth class was added, the Shudras after the Indo-Aryans settled into the Punjab and began to move to down into the Ganges Valley.

Three stages of life (ashramas): brahmachari (chaste student), grthastha (the householder), vanaprastha (forest-dweller). Later, a fourth ashrama was added -* the saanyasi (renouncer)

Three debts: study of the Veads, a son. and a sacrifice

Three goals of the human beings (purusharthas): artha (material success). dharma (righteous social behavior), kama (sensual pleasures). Later, when a fourth ashrama was added, a counterpart goal was also added – moksha (released from the entire process of samsara)

 

PHILOSOPHY

 

PART I: CONTENT UPDATE

 

Nature of Philosophy

 

Nominal meaning: love of wisdom. (It was derived from the Greek terms Philo, which means love, and Sophia, which means wisdom.)

 

Real meaning: The science and art of all things naturally knowable to man's unaided powers in so far as these things are studied in their deepest causes and reasons The human being's attempt to think speculatively, reflectively, and systematically about the universe and the human relationship to the universe. It is the human being's search for the ultimate explanations of the realities of life.

 

Major branches of Philosophy

 

Metaphysics - deals with the nature of being and reality

Fundamental concepts: Substance, Essence, Truth, Space, Time, Causation, Nature of God, Origin & purpose of the universe, Nature and purpose of Man's existence, Body- Mind relation and the Problem of Freedom.

 

Epistemology- Episteme (knowledge) Logos (science) -deals with human knowledge and the Criteria for truth.

Fundamental concepts: What is Knowledge? Where does it come from?

How do we Acquire knowledge of right and wrong?, What is truth? Can man's knowledge be true?

 

Axiology- the area of Philosophy that specifically deals with the problem of human values

Fundamental concepts: What are Values? What are the important values to be desired in living? Are these values rooted in reality? How can these values be realized in our daily experience?

 

Logic-systematic treatment of relationship of ideas

Fundamental concepts: Terms. Propositions, Syllogisms, Fallacies, Validity of Arguments, Soundness of arguments and correct thinking, Inductive and deductive thinking

 

Other branches of Philosophy

 

Cosmology- theories of the nature and origin of the universe

Fundamental concepts; Evolutionism, Creationism, Space, time, motion and causality

 

Philosophy of Man/Philosophy of human person- deals with the nature and purpose of man.

Fundamental concepts: Body-Soul relation, Freedom and Determinism, intellect and will

 

Social and Political Philosophy - deals with the nature of society and socialization process.

Fundamental Concepts: Society, State, Governance, Laws and Culture, Social Justice

 

Theodicy- the study of the nature, essence and existence of God using human reason

Fundamental concepts: Deism, Agnosticism, Theism, Attributes of God

 

Aesthetics- the study of the nature and appreciation of beauty

Fundamental concept: Order, Truth, Designs, Functionality, Proportion

 

Ethics the study of the morality of Human Acts

Fundamental concepts: Voluntariness. Good life, Freedom of the will, Concupiscence, Moral responsibility, Ethical standards

 

Epistemology

 

Criteria of truth

1. Native realism (James Me Cosh, Thomas Reid) - believes that reality is precisely what as it appear to be. Adheres to the belief that "seeing is believing"

2. Feelings - the belief that what one feels is the truth, that the best criterion of truth is a hunch.

3, Custom and tradition - this is used by many as a criterion of truth in matters pertaining to morals, politics, dress etc.

4. Time - is regarded as an excellent test if not the final test of truth.

5. Intuition - "truth that comes from one knows not where". It is not a test of truth but a source of truth

6. Revelation – “Truth which comes from God". A source of truth and not a test of it

7. Instinct - What is instinctive must by virtue of that fact be true since nature deem it so. But most knowledge is beyond the bounds of instinct. It is not therefore a test of truth

8. Majority, Plurality, Consensus Gentium - The number of people who believes in the truth determines its truthfulness, but truth is not necessarily dependent on how many believes it to be true

9. Authority - certain individuals who have mastered a field of study may be a criterion of truth but authority gives only opinions which could be true or which could be false

10. Correspondence - a belief that when an idea agrees with its object, it is proof of its truth. However, it is a definition of truth not a criterion

11. Pragmatism - If an idea works then it is true, but not all truths works. It cannot be the ultimate criterion of truth

12. Consistency - means the absence of contradiction

13. Coherence- a systematic consistent explanation of all the facts of experience. Its technical name is reason, this is believe to be the ultimate criterion of truth

 

Philosophies, Theories and Movement in the Social Sciences Education

 

• The present Philosophy of social sciences education is an admixture of idealist and realist Philosophy. It has elements of essentialism, perennialism, social traditionalism, social experimentalism, progressivism, logical positivism and existentialism.

• It focuses on the social function of education, on individual's development and his relationship to the social structure.           

• It is concerned fundamentally with social change, the progressive structuring of the social order, with insight into the traditions, arousing interest in and sympathy toward social service, and developing efficiency in adapting the individual to society.

 

1. Idealism

1.1 Nature

-       Idealism is a philosophy that proclaims the spiritual nature of men and the universe, its basic viewpoint stresses the human spirit, soul, or mind as the most important element in life.

 

-       It holds that the good, true and beautiful are permanently part of the structure of the related coherent, orderly, and unchanging universe.

 

-       All of reality is reducible to one fundamental substance - Spirit. Matter is not real, only the mind is real       

 

1.2 Aim of Idealist Education

-       The aim of idealistic education is to contribute to the development of mind and self. The school should emphasize intellectual abilities, moral judgments, aesthetics, self-realization, individual freedom, individual responsibility and self-control.

 

1.3 Curriculum

-       The curriculum of Idealism is a body of intellectual subject-matter, which is ideational and conceptual on subjects, which are essential for the realization of mental and moral development

 

-       Subject matter should be made constant for all. Mathematics, History and Literature rank high in relevance since they are not only cognitive but value-laden                                                                  

 

1.4 Methodology

-       Idealists encourage accumulation of knowledge and thinking and must apply criteria for moral evaluation- Suggested methods are questioning and discussion, lecture and the project, whether done singly or in group. Although learning is a product of the learner's own activity, the teaming process is made more efficient by the stimulation, which comes from the teacher and school environment. The learner is immature and is seeking the perspective into his own personality.

 

1.5 Role of Teacher

-       The idealist teacher should be conversant with a variety of methods and should use the particular method that is most effective in securing the desired results. Teachers are revered persons central to the educational process. They must be excellent mentally and morally in personal conduct and convictions. They must exercise creative skills in providing opportunities for pupils - mind to analyze, discover, synthesize and create. They should see his role in assisting the learner to realize the fullness of his own personality.

 

1.6 Implication to Social Sciences Education

-       Idealism is often considered a conservative philosophy of education because much of its thrust is to preserve cultural traditions.                  

 

-       This is because of the concern for perennial and ultimate truths and the notion that education is largely a matter of passing on to the young the nation's cultural heritage.

 

-       There is great concern for morality and character development  

 

-       Idealistic education emphasizes the cognitive side, intellectualism or elitist, to the detriment of the physical and affective side of development.

 

-       Character development in idealistic philosophy was pictured as:

o    The first rule to be learned by all students is order.      

o    Students must conform to rules and regulations and repress everything that interferes with the function of the school.

 

-       Pupils must have their lessons ready on time, rise and sit at a given signal, learn habits of silence and cleanliness.     

 

Realism

 

2.1 Nature

-       Realism may be defined as any philosophical position that asserts the objective existence of the world and beings in it and relations between these beings independent of human knowledge and desires. The knowability of these objects as they are in themselves and the need for conformity to the objective reality in man's conduct.

-       Realism holds that reality, knowledge and value exist independent of the human mind. For the realist, matter is real.  

-       The most important part of realism is the thesis of independence. Sticks, stones, trees exist whether or not there is a human mind to perceive them.

-       Realists refer to those universal elements of man that are unchanging regardless of time, place and circumstance.

-       Realists generally maintain a materialistic concept of human nature biased toward social control and social order.

-       They tend to see the universe in terms of an independent reality with its internal and systematic order; therefore, human beings must adopt and adjust to this reality, and dreams and desires have to be subsumed under its demand.

 

2.2 Aim

-       The aim of a realist education is to provide the students with the essential knowledge that he will need to survive in the natural world.

 

2.3 Curriculum

-       The curriculum is called the subject-matter approach, which is composed of two basic components, the body of knowledge, and the appropriate pedagogy to fit the readiness of the learner. The liberal arts curriculum and the math science disciplines consist of a number of related concepts that constitute the structure of the discipline.

 

2.4 Methodology

-       The teacher is expected to be skilled in both the subject matter that he teaches and the method of teaching it to students.

-       Formal schooling means, transmission of knowledge from experts to the young and immature.

-       The school's task is primarily an intellectual one

-       The administrator's role is to see to it that the teachers are not distracted by recreational and social functions from performing their intellectual task of cultivating and stimulating the teaming of students.

-       In the elementary level, emphasis is on the development of skills for reading, writing, arithmetic, and study habits.

-       In the secondary and collegiate level, the body of knowledge regarded as containing the wisdom of the human race with have to be transmitted in an authoritarian manner.

-       Students will be required to recall, explain, compare, interpret, and make inferences. Evaluation is essential, making use of objective measures.

-       Motivation will be in the form of rewards to reinforce what has been learned.

 

2.5 Role of Teachers

 

-       The teacher is a person who possesses a body of knowledge and who is capable of transmitting it to students.

-       Teaching should not be indoctrinating. Learning should be interactive.

-       The teacher utilizes pupil interest by relating subject matter to student experiences.

-       The teacher maintains discipline by reward and controls the pupil by activity.

 

2.6 Implication to Social Sciences Education

 

-       The universal elements in man make up the elements in the education of man. Education implies teaching, teaching implies knowledge, knowledge is truth, and truth is the same everywhere. Thus education should be the same everywhere

-       Realists are concerned with the necessity of student measuring up to the standard curriculum or external criteria of excellence.

-       They believe that the" superior" students should be given the arts and sciences while the "slower" students should be given a narrow technical- vocational training

-       Realism favors a fact-based approach to knowledge. This had led to the tradition and problem of "testing" including the IQ as passport to a college education. The Teachers' board as a minimum requirement for entry into the profession.

The realist believed that hard work and discipline are considered "good" and the student’s heads should be filled with "factual truth" so that they do not come to a "bad end”

 

3. Essentialism

 

3.1 Nature

-       Essentialism, a conservative educational theory rooted in idealism and realism, arose in response to progressive education. The essentialists were concerned with a revival of efforts in the direction of teaching the fundamental tools of learning as the most indispensable type of education.

 

3.2 Aims

-       The essentialist have as their ultimate aim " to fit the man to perform justly, skillfully and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war"'

-       The indispensable cultural objectives of humanity, the essentials, are goals that must be achieve -sometimes incidentally- but more often by direct instruction. Informal learning helps, but this should only be supplementary and secondary.

-       The essentialist believed that the essential skills, knowledge and attitude needed by the individual in making has adjustment to the realities of life should be systematically planned so that these recognized essentials will be recognized.

-       The essentialists emphasize the need for a curriculum that transmits significant race experiences and the need to present this racial experience through organized subject matter courses.

-       Thus, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, history, geography, hygiene, elementary science, drawing, language, art .manual training, and domestic arts - all traditional subjects of the elementary school- are given a new justification and emphasis as basic essential in the training of children.

-       Among the common themes found in the essentialist point of view are:

1.       The elementary school curriculum should aim to cultivate basic tool skills that contribute to literacy and mastery of arithmetical computation.

2.       The secondary curriculum should cultivate competencies in History, Mathematics, Science, English, and foreign languages. Mastering all these subjects and skills prepare the student to function as a member of a civilized society

3.       Schooling requires discipline and a respect for legitimate authority; and

4.       Learning requires hard work and disciplined attention

 

3.4 Methodology

 

-       The essentialist method emphasizes habituation more than experience, guidance more than incidentalism, discipline more than freedom, effort more than interest, and self-examination more than expression.                

-       Essentialists do not believe In building up generalization by the slow method of induction, but rather in properly guiding pupils in a few hours or days in the acquisition of general laws and principles then using them in the solution of immediate and pressing problems.

-       The essentialists are concerned with the most effective method of forming habits and developing skills; thus, drill has a definite place in the classroom.

-       The essentialists emphasize the necessity of teaching pupils how to think systematically and effectively.

-       They believe that effective thinking cannot take place by looking at the world en masse, or by picking up knowledge piecemeal.

-       Methods of systematic analysis and systematic synthesis must be used; the essential elements of knowledge must be separated from the worthless chaff, and these essentials must be organized into meaningful wholes, with close attention to the interrelationships of each of these entities.     

-       The essentialists recognize that interest is a strong motivating force of learning. Learning however, that is not immediately appealing and interesting to the child should not be totally eliminated from the child's education.

-       The more valuable and more permanent interests may grow out of efforts that are at first disagreeable and monotonous.

 

3.5 Role of Teachers

-       It is the duty of the teacher to help the learner grow into these higher interests rather than limit all school activities to those ephemeral things that appeal only to natural and childish interest. During the immature years of childhood and youth there is a need for competent, sympathetic and firm teachers to help them see the truth and to help them adjust themselves to inexorable facts.

-       In this view, teachers should be restored to instructional authority.

-       They must be well prepared and held accountable for the children's failure to learn. Instruction should be geared to organized learning.

-       The method of instruction should center on regular assignments, homework, recitation, and frequent testing and evaluation.

 

3.6 Implication to Social Sciences Education

-       Essentialists are particularly concerned with the fundamentals of education, the skill and knowledge without which person cannot be either individually or socially efficient.  

-       They emphasize the authority of the teacher and the value of a subject curriculum              .

-       The essentialist prescribed the following rubrics for their educational program:

1.       A fixed curriculum;

2.       Certain minimum "essentials" literature, mathematics, history, etc;

3.       Preconceived educational values ;

4.       Education as Individual adoption to an absolute knowledge which exist independently of individual.

-       The essentialists believe that the intellectual disciplines are the necessary foundation of modem life

-       The school has the responsibility to Channel the accumulated experiences of humankind into organized coherent and differentiated disciplines.

-       Mastering these basic disciplines will enable the students to use them in solving personal, social and civic problems

Perennialism

 

4.1 Nature

-       Perennialism is an educational theory that Is greatly influenced by the principles of realism. It has a conservative/ traditional view of human nature and education.

-       Perenniaiists contend that truth is universal and unchanging, and. therefore, a good education is also universal and constant.

4.2 Aim

-       The perennialists have for their aim the education of the rational person. The central aim of education should be to develop the power of thought.

-       They view the universal aim of education as the search for and dissemination of truth. They look up to the school as an institution designed to develop human intelligence.

4.3 Curriculum

-       The perennialist view education as a recurring process based on eternal truths; thus, the school's curriculum should emphasize the recurrent themes of human life

-       It should contain cognitive subjects that cultivate rationality and the study of moral, aesthetics, and religious principles to develop the attitudinal dimension.

-       The perrenialist prefers a subject matter curriculum, which includes history, language, mathematics, logic, literature, the humanities, and science.

 

4.4 Methodology

-       As for the methods of teaching, the curriculum of a perenniallst education would be subject-centered, drawing heavily upon the disciplines of literature, mathematics, language, history, and the humanities.

-       The perenniaiists suggest that the best means to attaining this enduring knowledge is through the study of great books of Western Civilization

-       The method of study would be the reading and discussion of these great works which, in turn, discipline the mind.

 

4.5 Role of Teachers

-       The teacher, accordingly, must be one who has mastered discipline, who is a master teacher in terms of guiding truth, and whose character is beyond reproach.

-       The teacher is to be viewed as authority and his expertise not to be questioned.

-       The role of the school becomes one of training intellectual elite who will one day take charge of passing this on to a new generation of learners.

 

4.6 Implication to Social Sciences Education

-       Perennialism represents a conservative theoretical view centered in the authority of tradition and the classics. Among its major educational principles are:

1.       Truth is universal and does not depend on the Circumstances of place, time or person;

2.       A good education involves a search for and an understanding of the truth;

3.       Truth can be found in the great work of civilization; and

4.       Education is the liberal exercise that develops the intellect.

 

5. Sociological Movement

Sociological movement focused on the contribution of education to the preservation and progress of society; this is called the social function of education. Social educationists were concerned with the individual's development and his relationship to the social structure.

 

5.1 Social traditionalism.

Aim

-       This aimed at giving all pupils an insight into their traditions, arousing interest in and sympathy toward social service, and developing efficiency in adapting the individual to society.

-       Tradition is a record of man's accomplishment and the accumulation of human experience. Each generation acquires and transmits traditions to preserve its continuity.

-       The school is seen as the agency that prepares an individual for all phases of social life.

-       One of the purposes of education is the formation of common

-       Habits of social life and the education of the child away from crime, drugs, unemployment, diseases and other social ills.         

 

Types

-       Social education, in its broadest sense, covered all types of education that would prepare the individual for adjustment to society.

-       In its narrowest sense, social education referred to the development of social communication skills, etiquette, and harmonious human relationships.

-       The latter included training in the physical, vocational, civic, domestic, vocational, moral, and religious, all essential in the development of social efficiency.

 

Content

-       The school curriculum was supposed to teach for real social living.

-       School activities were drawn from varied activities in life.

-       The lower school level was expected to teach the essentials of social living and the rudiments of etiquette.

-       Drills in arithmetic calculation, oral and written language, hygiene, good manners, and art appreciation were important.

-       The high schools had to give experience in science and math, language and history but emphasis should be on health, moral conduct, home and leisure and the vocations.

-       In college, work travel and study replaced the traditional academic subjects.

-       The results of social education brought about extra-curricular activities in the school program. Extra-curricular activities, when properly controlled and directed, were of value in providing experience in various phases in life.

-       Athletics, dramatics, public speaking activities, musical activities, and assemblies were all sources of training for the various aspects of social life.

 

Method

-       Social communication, social cooperation, and social science were the methods used in teaching the child to adjust to life.

-       The teacher worked with the social interests of the child in mind to develop social consciousness.

-       Student's participations in school activities and school government were effective methods of teaching leadership and responsibility.

-       Students were taught cooperation rather than competition; to face the class rather than the teacher, and to deal with small groups for cooperative effort.

 

5.2 Social Experimentalism

Aim

-       The social experimentalists believe that the school prepares for a progressive structuring of the social order since social tradition was not concerned with social change.

-       The school should direct the pupil in learning to meet the needs of a changing society, not only for immediate needs, but also for future needs under changing social conditions

-       The experimentalists emphasized the training for intelligence in all phases of human activity. Students should learn sources of facts and realities of social conditions and problems and learn to verify, weigh alternatives, and take sides on controversial issues. Students' emotions had to be trained to intelligence for beneficial social results.                        

 

Content

-       The social sciences came to the foreground among the experimentalists because of the emphasis put on the teaching of controversial issues; the social, economic and political activities of the local community were used as materials for teaching.

-       Extra -curricular activities and field trips were dominant strategies of teaching since they were pupil-planned, pupil dominated and centered. Their purpose was to prepare students for social planning.

 

6. Progressivism.

-       The educational theory of progressivism is in contrast to the traditional views of essentialism and perennialism.     

-       This movement is based largely in the philosophy of pragmatism or as Dewey puts it instrumentalism.

-       It stressed the view that all learning should center on the child's interests and needs.

-       Progressive education is based on a philosophy based on experience, the interaction of the person with his environment.

-       The end product of education was growth- an on-going experience which led to the direction and control of subsequent experience.

-       Progressive education must use the past experiences to direct future experiences.

 

Aim

-       The aim of progressive education is to meet the need of a growing child.

-       The school should be a pleasant place for learning.

-       It objects to extreme reliance on bookish methods of instruction, memorization of factual data, the use of fear as a form of discipline and the four -walled philosophy of education that isolated the school from the realities of life .

 

Content

-       Progressive education was not interested in a prepared, prescribed curriculum to transmit knowledge to students

-       Curriculum must come from the child so that learning would be active, exciting, and varied.

-       The contents of the subject are done by the teacher and the students as a group project or a cooperative effort. The teacher served as facilitator.

-       Progressive education is characterized by the following contributions to education:

1.       Emphasis on the child as the learner, rather than the subject matter

2.       Stress on activities and experiences, rather than on textbook reliance and memorization

3.       Cooperative learning, rather than competitive lesson learning

4.       Absence of fear and punishment for disciplinary purposes

 

7. Reconstructionism.

-       Reconstructionism is more concerned with social change rather than the individuality of the child.

-       It believes that schools should originate policies and progress, which would bring about reform of the social order. Teachers should use their power to lead the young in the program of social reform.

-       Educational philosophies must be culturally based and man can re-shape his culture so that it promotes optimum possibilities for development.

-       Society has to reconstruct its values, and education has a major role to play in bridging the gap between the values of culture and technology.

-       It is the task of the school to encourage the critical examination of the cultural heritage and find the elements that are to be discarded and those that have to be modified.

 

Aim

-       The aim of Reconstructionism is to awaken the student's consciousness about social problems and to actively engage them in problem solving.

-       Teachers and schools should initiate a critical examination of their own culture and should identify controversies and inconsistencies and try to solve real life problems.

-       The Curriculum should include learning to live in a global milieu.

-       Reconstructionism proposes educational policies related to national and international problems as a means of reducing world conflict.

-       The school becomes the center of discussions of controversies

 

Method

-       The methodology employed is problem oriented.

-       Students and teachers participate in discussion of issues and in a definite program of social, educational, political, and economic change as a means to total cultural renewal so that they will learn to live in a global village.

 

1. Philosophical Analysis.

-       Philosophical analysis is a method of examining the language used in making statements about knowledge, education and schooling and of seeking to classify it by establishing its meaning with the formulation of educational goals and policies.

-       The aim is to reduce statements about education to empirical terms. The function of philosophy is to formulate the rules that are the bases of language. For education should be attuned to the logical complexities of language.

-       The analysts prefer to look at what we mean by education in the first place and what advantages may accrue from the clarified concepts of education.

 

2. Existentialism

 

-       Existentialism is a way of viewing and thinking about life in the world so that priority is given to individualism and subjectivity.

-       The existentialists believe that the human being is the creator of his own essence; he creates his own values through freedom of choice or individual preference.

-       The most important kind of knowledge is about the realities of human life and the choices that each person has to make.

-       Education is the process of developing awareness about the freedom of choice and the meaning and responsibility for one's choice.

 

Emerging Themes of Contemporary Educational Philosophy

Contemporary philosophical themes have direct bearing not only to the social sciences education but to education as a whole. These are the following:     

1. Man as embodied spirit - This concept rejects the definition of man as a rational animal or a composite of body and soul. The problem with this definition is that it is dualistic and separates the single reality that is man into two realities; matter and spirit. Rationality is emphasized to the detriment of animality. Yet it is animality that defines man.

Phenomenologist sees man as an embodied subjectivity - unique core or center, source, depth, wellspring of initiative and meaning. It involves the rational, the affective, and the emotional - The total man.

Since education is the process of developing man-the embodied subjectivity, Development must be seen now as the total development of man. Education is not anymore seen as a conglomeration of disciplines with their own individual tasks of cultivating a specific part of man. Education should not look down upon material development as merely a steppingstone to rational or spiritual development but an essential part of it.

 

2. Man as a being in the world. Each embodied spirit is in his own world, which form a network of meanings, in and on and around which man organizes his life it is different from environment for this is only proper to animals. When we speak of man we speak of his world not environment for it is only man that gives meaning to an environment through intentionality of consciousness.

Social Sciences Education likes to dwell on cumulative justice or injustice yet contemporary man is more aware of a complex world of social justice or injustice and of unjust structures. We should therefore address in the social sciences an awareness of unjust structures, of internal change that need to be situated, of the need to humanize the world we live in by our work.

 

3. Man as Being - with: the interhuman and the socius. The worid of man is not just a world of things but also the worid of fellowmen. True education if it is to be different from propaganda is such an unfolding to bring out in the other, the student, a certain disposition of him to see for himself the true, the good and the beautiful. Society is not something that one enters into by contract to achieve some common end, as Rousseau and other social contract theorists put it The social is within each man: man does not live in society, society lives in man. It is borne out of the historicity of man. Man carves a meaning from his past in view of some project in the future thus man is a cultural being. Thus social consciousness must have a bearing in the philosophy of education for education cannot just be based simply on ultimate ends, on absolute, eternal truths as the perreniatists put it. Neither can we be simply content with a general formulation of educational objective as preparing the student to become good citizen in a democracy, since the universal truth exists in the particular. Thus any Philosophy of education must be predicated on a clearly formulated conception of a way of life in a definite society as Isaac Berkson says.

4. Man as a person and his crowning activity is love, which presupposes justice. The final aim of education, formal or informal is becoming a person. The individuality of man is one that he has become freely and consciously in time, in the worid. This task consists in integration, in becoming whole and in the fundamental option to love. Thus we can no longer conceive of educational objectives in terms of personal development or self-realization with no end beyond itself. Education must include social aims for self-realization is no longer possible apart from socialization. Our educational policies must aim at specific personal and social values: of justice, love, and honesty. Total development is not just the education of the mind but also the heart and we can educate the heart only by being exemplars of what we teach. The bearer of moral values is the person himself.

 

Other themes of Contemporary Philosophy

 

The task of man is man himself. All other tasks, responsibilities and obligations are simply to support man become the person he has the potential to become. Man is an embodied spirit and thus he is obligated to develop the total man. His having a body makes him an individual with material needs and desires. He is a self who relates with other selves in order to satisfy these material needs, in the quest for things that will satisfy his needs, he develops social relationships for he lives through-the-other and he is not only a self but a self –in community—a person who transcends materiality. Thus he develops interhuman relationships, the I-thou or the relationship of a neighbor. This relationship is not limited to the sharing of material things but the sharing of persons In a genuine dialogue.

 

Being as opposed to seeming. True interhuman relationship must transcend seemingness. It must go beyond the mask that we create to make us acceptable to others. We must be true to our being by relating to others with outmost sincerity and genuine presentation of who really we are. Our relationship must be characterized by openness and genuine acceptance of our nature and must be devoid of pretensions. It is only when we are true to each other that we are able to accept each other in an interhuman realm.

 

Person making, present. A man must be open and willing to freely give himself in an interhuman relation. He must b© "there" to the other. The "thereness" may not be physical. It may be empathy or sympathy with the other, or simply the willingness to be one with the other - a commitment of unity and mutual support.

 

Unfolding as opposed to imposition. Our relationship with our fellowmen must be characterized by mutual unfolding of oneself. A free personal relation of one's true being. A mutual actualization of one's true potentials. The interhuman relations should never and cannot be imposed because imposition is a mark of Individuality and selfishness. We should not force the other to reveal himself to us or to become what we want them to become for they are the end in themselves and not the means. They are persons not things. The decision to reveal oneself must come from the person and not be imposed by others for interhuman relations are free interactions between and among persons who voluntarily choose to be with the other. What we could do is to provide the necessary climate for his unfolding.

 

Genuine Dialogue. This is the turning to the partner that takes place in all truth that is turning of being. Genuine dialogue is the mutual sharing between persons. This happens when one person beyond the world of seeming centers into communication with the other being.

 

Summary of Specific Points of the Different Themes Presented

 

1 A human being is a social being and an inter-human being. He cannot live by himself for he depends on others for the things he needs in order to survive. He is not self sufficient thus he relates with the material world and with his fellowmen in his pursuit of the material things that will satisfy the needs of his body.

2. But a human being is not only a body. He Is an embodied spirit and therefore his relationship is not limited only to the physical, bodily or social realm but also to the realm of the inter-human.

 

3. For a human being is primarily a person who becomes actuated through relations. Togetherness is a value that involves the existence .of a human being not just a being-through-others but more so as a being-for-others.

 

4. A human being exists through the other by using the products that are fruit of the labors of others. However, he also works for others as manifested in the service oriented work like the teaching profession.

 

5. Thus, human beings relate to each one not only for material things but for the sharing of persons that ultimately actualizes his potentials. The interhuman relationship is achieved by transcending seemingness and entering into a genuine dialogue with the other through an I-thou relationship. This relationship is founded on the true nature of person, the willingness to make himself present and the unfolding of the true self in the mutual sharing of persons. It is through this relationship that he fulfills his nature and helps others fulfill theirs in a community of persons journeying towards their actualization.

 

6. Togetherness as a focal point of values: human existence has a historical character, we need others to enter into the human world of meaning and to make it our own, being together is a fundamental value which gives authentic fulfillment in our life.

 

7. Our existence is an existence for one another. We exist for others, we strive to be significant to others, and our existence is meaningful only If others accept it as meaningful,

8. The family system is the locus of interaction between the individual and the society. If development is to be a human development st must foster the integration of the family. Participative decision making process and a feedback mechanism is imperative.

9. According to Habermas, economic development cannot be divorced from moral development

10. Social formation or transformation cannot be brought about by class conflicts but by bi-dimensional leaning process. Economic liberation is only a step to total liberation

11. Peace and order situation is built on freedom not on constraint; it is built on human values which, is essential to moral quests and to politics. Truth, love, freedom and its practice.

12. Thus, there is a need for equal and equitable distribution of wealth-Social Justice.

13 Social Justice was traditionally equated with legal justice- but what is legal may not necessarily be just, then justice was equated with the reasonable and understood now in the context of passion.

14 Social Justice as a virtue means the habit whereby a man renders to each one his due by a constant and perpetual will

15 As a value, Social Justice is properly the object of man's intentional; feeling and is linked intimately with other values of truth, love and the dignity of person.

16. Social Justice is legal justice guided by the spirit of love and the search for truth and should be side by side with the value of a person.

17. Social Justice must become more important than commutative justice

 

Emerging Social Values Relevant to Education

1. Personalization- The primacy of the human person. Man is a person and his crowning activity is love, which presupposes justice. The stress is towards the personalistic character of education.

2. Socialization - Man exists through the other and for others. The task of man is man himself and he becomes actuated through the others. Personalization and socialization are but two sides of a single process in education, and in life.

3. Existential Dialogue – presupposes an encounter, an invitation to authentic being existential presence, and existential union to create a community of persons.

 

4. Authentic Being- Being as opposed to seeming, ah unfolding as opposed to imposition. Education must bring about the true being of an individual person.

5. The Human World- The world of man is a world of meaning. Man is a being in the world. Education must help man gives meaning to his world and the world of others, ft must be in context of the students' world

6. Convergence of worlds and synergy-man is a subjectivity incarnating itself in a converging world that defines his essence. The phenomenology of the we-experience Is a reality that education must stress.

7. Community- as a union of persons living an authentic existence with love, truth and justice. Schools must become communities where total human development is possible.

8. Vigilance-critical, moral, political vigilance

 

Implications to Education of the Themes Presented

1. Education must be based on the supremacy of the human person, thus its aims must be the total development of man in the context of his world.

2. Education must be a "we experience" where existential dialogues of authentic being, convergence of worlds and synergy are possible.

3. Education should not only be viewed as an investment of human capital or consumption but a meaningful becoming borne out of reasonable and responsible exercise of freedom.

4. Education is for personalization and socialization not only for life but for a meaningful

life.

5. The teaching profession must really be promoted in the context of the embodied spirit. The flight of teachers in terms of economic, political, social and academic aspects must be addressed. Make teachers motivated motivators.           ;

6. The affective and the emotional aspects must be developed together with the rational aspect of man. The student must be viewed as a totality and subject fields are simply part of this totality.

 

World History

 

PART I: CONTENT UPDATE

I. NATURE, CHARACTERISTICS AND VALUE OF HISTORY

A.   History is the story of man through the ages, his failures as well as his achievements

B.   Nature of History

A.                  It attempts to assess, interpret and give recognition to the achievements of people

B.                   It is constant controversy because historians view events from different perspectives

C.                   Historical interpretations vary because events are considered in terms of its occurrence in time and place.

C.   Characteristics of History as a Discipline

Content-oriented

Process oriented

Value oriented

D.   Value of History

Best expressed in this saying "Knowing the past makes it easier to understand the present and less difficult to visualize the future".

E.   Elements of History

Place (Geography) - location, topography, etc. affect economic development, scientific advancement, political and social systems are belief system evolved by men         

Time - people's achievement and failures are judged in the context of the period in which they live in.

Man - the dynamic factor in History. The chief cause of the human actions is due to the nature of human being itself.

 

II. PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD:

Primitive Times.

A.   Paleolithic Age

B.   Neolithic Age

C.   Metal Age

 

III. HISTORIC PERIOD:

Traces the development of civilization.

 

Ancient Period

 

ASIA and AFRICA = cradles of civilization

 

1.   Early civilizations developed in the river valleys

A.       Mesopotamian civilization (or Fertile Crescent) - along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

B.       Egyptian civilization - along the banks of the Nile River in Africa

C.       Indian civilization - in the valleys along the Indus River

D.       Chinese civilization - along the yellow river (or Huang Ho River)

 

2   Early religions originated in Asia

A.       Hinduism-India                                                     -

B.       Zoroastrianism - Iran (formerly Persia)

C.       Judaism - Israel (formerly Palestine)

D.       Christianity - Israel (formerly Palestine)

E.        Islamism - Saudi Arabia

F.        Buddhism - India

 

3.   Important achievements or contributions of Ancient world to civilization

a.   Oriental/Eastern world

1)   Mesopotamia or Fertile Crescent -- comprised of different groups

Sumerians - invention of wheels; irrigation system; cuneiform writing

Babylonians - unification of city states in the Fertile Crescent under Hammurabi and formulation of the Code of Hammurabi

Assyrians - organized or highly centralized government

Chaldeans - under Nebuchadnezzar, rebuilt the City of Babylon; built the Hanging Gardens; made Hebrew captive in what was known as the Babylonian Captivity

Hebrews - settlers in Palestine (presently Israel) from the tribe of Abraham who spread the monotheistic idea (worship of one God Yahweh); Moses, a descendant of Abraham was given the Mosaic Law (Ten Commandments) by God

Phoenicians - settlers of Phoenicia (presently Lebanon) who were known as ancient world's great maritime traders who gave us the alphabet of 22 letters (known as Phonetic alphabet)

Persians - established the first world empire whose territory is presently known as Iran; adopted the teaching of Zoroaster

2) Egypt

Built the great pyramids; invented a form of writing known as hieroglyphics; known for mummification; devised a calendar of 365 days

 

3)   India

Earliest inhabitants were Dravidians who had an organized system of settlements in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Aryan invasion and their settlement along the Indus River valley later gave them identity as Hindus.

 

Hinduism evolved from the merging of Dravidian and Aryan manner of worship, main features of which are reincarnation and a rigid social class known as Caste System.

 

4)  China

Name derived from Chin dynasty founded by Shih Huang Ti who was also responsible for the construction of the Great Walls. China is also credited for the invention of printing press; for requiring civil service exams for government officials; invented gun powder; produced silk and was known for its great philosophers, Confucius (golden rule); Lao Tzu (Taoism) and Mencius.

 

b. Western World

1)  Greece

A.       Hellas - early name and its civilization was termed Hellenic

B.       Athens and Sparta - famous city states (polis)

C.       Homer - famous author of (Iliad and Odyssey)

D.       Solon, Cleisthenes and Pericles - famous Athenian reformers who laid the foundation of a democratic system of government

E.        Famous / Significant events:

-       Persian war - Athens led the Greeks in repulsing Persia

-       Petoponnesian War" was fought between rival Greek states Athens and Sparta. Sparta prevailed

-       Macedonian invasion - invasion of "barbaric" Macedonians led by Philip II who eventually became Master of Greece. His son Alexander the Great succeeded him.

F.        Golden Age of Greece - 5th to 4th Century BC) - attained by Athens after the Persian War. Famous personalities: Pericles, statesman, Demosthenes, orator, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, philosophers; Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes (dramatists); Herodotus (Father of History), Thycydides and Xenophon - historians; Colonium, architect of the famous Parthenon

G.       Alexander the Great - Successor of Philip of Macedonia, tutored by Aristotle and extended Greek empire to the East. He was responsible in blending Hellenic culture with the East and such combination was referred to as Hellenistic culture. After his death, the empire broke up into Egypt, Syria and Macedonia and by 150 BC the Romans conquered Greece.

 

2) Rome

A.                  Romulus - legendary founder of Rome in 753 BC

B.                   Etruscans - established a strong monarchy in the 6th century but their autocratic rule led to their downfall when the Romans overthrew them

C.                   Romany established a Republic

D.                  Two classes of people: Patricians and Plebeians

E.                   Senate - the ruling body in the Republic but dominated by Patricians (upper class)

F.                   Twelve Tables -a legislation which gave Plebeians (lower class) equal participation in government

G.                  Punic Wars-fought by Rome against Carthage and resulted in Rome's acquisition of Spain a group of continued the

H.                  First Triumvirate (Julius Caesar, Pompey, Cassius) military leaders responsible for the expansion of Rome

I.                     Second Triumvirate (Anthony, Lepidus, Octavius) work started by the First Triumvirate

J.                    Octavius (later known as Augustus Caesar) - was responsible for further expansion of Rome; bestowed the title "Prince?" (First citizen); crowned the first emperor of the Roman Empire under whose reign. PAX ROMANA prevailed

K.                  Weak successors later split the empire into two: Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire (later known as Byzantine Empire.

L.                   Fall of Rome (476 A.D.) was due to the attack of Teutonic Germanic tribes. Only the Western Empire fell. Eastern Roman Empire gained strength and later on flourished as the Byzantine Empire.

 

Medieval Period

1.   Dark Ages - ushered in the Middle Ages. Barbarians from Germany dominated the Western Roman Empire after Its fall thus the grandeur of Rome was lost.

 

2.   Franks - barbaric tribe that settled in Gaul (presently France). Their conversion to Christianity inspired them to restore Europe into a civilized world again. Charles Martel defended Europe from being dominated by the Moslems, Under Charlemagne; France expanded its territory at the same time spreading the Christian faith. In recognition of his work for the Church, he was crowned by the Pope and was given the title Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

 

3.   Supremacy of the Christian Church

a.        Pope, the head of the Church was looked up to by rulers of kingdoms

 

b.        Church was responsible in reviving education because monasteries had kept literary works and works of arts

c.        The Church through its officials received material favors from monarchs and noblemen such that the Church became wealthy.

 

4.   Feudalism

social, economic and political system

characterized by strong lord and vassal relationship where the lord gave protection to the vassal and the vassal rendered services to the lord (act of fealty)

Chivalry - in reference to the trait expected of a Knight where he had to manifest refinement in manners and courage and commitment in the defense of his lord.

Manorial system - where economic activities revolve around agriculture to generate income for the lord.

5   Crusades

A series of military expeditions by the Christians of Western Europe during the 11th and 13th century to take back the Holy Land (Jerusalem) from the Muslims.

 

6.   Guild System

 

Modem Period

1.   Renaissance - this movement to revive the study of Graeco-Roman classics ushered in the modern times. Humanism of the Greeks and Romans was revived such that liberalism characterized this period.

2.   Age of Revolutions

a.   Intellectual Revolution

•   started with the age of enlightenment or age of reason

b. Scientific Revolution

•   where discovery and inventions took place This ushered in the Age of Discovery and exploration of territories.

c.   Industrial Revolution

•    marked by change in economic life.  Hard labor was replaced by machineries. Industrial Revolution started in England and it is still in progress today. Commercial Revolution was an offshoot of Industrial Revolution.

d.   Political Revolution

•   This revolution is aimed at changing government. This was an offshoot of the spread of liberal ideas. Two Famous revolutions; French Revolution (1789-1799); American Revolution (1775-1783).

e.   Religious Revolution

•   Reformation - a move started by Wycliffe and Hus and pursued by Martin Luther aimed at reforming some practices of the Christian Church.

•   Counter-reformation - a movement undertaken by the Catholic Church to reform its own ranks.

GLOBAL WARS

 

World War I - immediate cause was the assassination of Archduke Frances Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914. Warring groups: Triple Entete (Allied Powers) composed of England, France and Russia; Triple Alliance (Central Powers) composed of Germany, Austria and Turkey. United States declared neutrality but joined the Allied Powers when Germany torpedoed the British ship "Lusitanian" where several Americans were on board.

 

World War II (1939-1945) - war of ideology (Democracy vs. Totalitarianism). Immediate cause was invasion of Poland by Hitler on September 1, 1939. Warring groups were: Allied Powers (England, France and Russia) and Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan). Axis powers advocated Totalitarianism (Hitler's Nazism; Mussolini's Fascism and Hirohito's Totalitarianism). United States entered the war in 1941 when Japan bombed its biggest military base in the Pacific on December 8, 1941. US entry turned the tide of the war in favor of the Allied Powers to where US sided. Germany and Italy readily surrendered in early 1945- War finally ended after US decided to drop atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 when Japan refused to peacefully surrender.

 

Postwar Period - characterized by cold war between US (democracy) and USSR (communism). Cold War is a state of diplomatic tension or war of nerves without resulting to actual fighting. Struggles for supremacy between US and USSR were manifested in Korean War (North and South Korea). Benin Crisis (East and West Germany); Vietnam War (North and South Vietnam); Space race; Arms Race.

 

In 1949 Mainland China came under communist rule when Mao TseTung successfully entrenched himself in power, President Chang Kai-Shek was forced to go in exile in Taiwan (Formosa) and continued to administer the nationalist government there. This conflict between Mainland China and Taiwan raised the issue of "One China or Two China policy".

 

League of Nation was replaced by United Nations in October 24, 1945.

 

1991 saw the disintegration of USSR when Mikhail Gorbachev advocated the "glasnost and "perestroika". East and West Germany also united.

 

As the world moved towards the 21st century, globalization was pursued. The five areas emphasized are:

1.       Globalization of markets

2.       Globalization of communication

3.       Globalization of culture

4.       Globalization of ideology

5.       Political globalization

 

September 11, 2001 - the world was shaken when the World Trade Center in New York City US was destroyed where thousand of people died. Suspected brain of such terrorist attack was Osama Bin Laden who to this day is still being hunted.

 

Asian Studies

 

PART I: CONTENT UPDATE

I. Asia: Geographical features and its development

 

Geographical Features

World's largest continent (17,139,000 sq. miles – nearly1/3 or the earth’s land).

Geographically it is compact and unified

Boundaries: Ural mountains from Europe; Red Sea and Suez Canal from Africa

It is a continent of physical contrast Mt. Everest, world's highest mountain (29,028 ft); Dead Sea (1,292 ft. below sea level) as the lowest

Term Asia was derived from an early Aegean term ASER which meant "sunrise". ASIA was first used by Pindar, a Greek poet.

 

Regional Divisions of Asia

South Asia - centered on the Indian subcontinent. It includes India, Pakistan. Ceylon, Afghanistan, Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal, Bhutan and Indian protectorate, Sikkim

Southeast Asia -- a relatively recent term that came into usage during World War II. It covers Burma (Myanmar), Thailand. Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Philippines

East Asia - China and Taiwan (Formosa), Korea, Japan. This region is more often referred to as Far East by the Westerners because it is the part of Asia

Southwest Asia - known to Westerners as the Near East for these are countries nearest to Europe. More recently, Westerners refer to this region as Middle East for it is midway between Western Europe and East Asia. These include Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. People's Republic of South Yemen, Kuwait and the Tracial States.

 

B.  Asia in World History

Asia is the biggest continent

It has very important economic potentials (varied resources)

It also has demographic potentials - more than half of the world's population is in Asia where there is low death rate. high birth rate and longer life expectancy

Asia was the seat of the world's civilization

Asia's nationalism is a powerful force which is shaping the future of Asia and the world

Asia is the home of religions

 

C.  Pre-historic Asia

1.   Earliest man

-       Asia is said to be the place which has yielded the greatest number of fossils of simian species. Ramapithecus fossils were discovered in Pakistan and in the Yunnan Province in China. Ramapithecus fossils is said to be the closest to man.

-       Earliest man's capacity for production was Shown through the development of tools. Technology divides the evolutionary period of culture into:

∙         Stone Age

∙         Bronze Age

∙         Iron Age

-       Activities engaged in during Stone Age: food gathering, hunting. Mastery of fire was a great step in man's emancipation from the environment

2.   Peopling of the Pacific was the greatest feat of colonization. Migration took place in Southeast Asia, Australia and its island neighbors in the great Oceans (Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia)

 

D.   Birth of Civilization

Bronze Age (3,000 BC - 1800 BC) saw the birth of civilization

Early civilization started in the river valleys

Tigris-Euphrates                   -               Mesopotamia

Nile                                         -               Egypt

Indus                                      -               India

Yellow River                          -               China

Characteristics / Indicators of Civilization

existence of political system

division of labor / occupation became specialized

system of writing

organized trade

existence of class structure

monumental architecture

representational art

Development of religions

a.             Hinduism                               -               India

b.             Buddhism                              -               India

c.             Christianity                            -               Israel

d.             Islamism                                 -               Saudi Arabia

e.             Judaism                                  -               Israel

f.              Zoroastrianism                      -               Persia (presently Iran)

g.             Shintoism                               -               Japan

 

E. Warrior Groups Responsible for the Unification of the Peoples of Asia

1.   HUNS (from Neolithic Period to about 1200 A.D.) also known as Hsiung Nus -

 

Horse riding people, semi-nomadic who attempted to move towards the fertile lands of China. They were based in Mongolia then extended to Manchuria, Central Asia and even reached as far as the Slavic territories to Germany and Spain in the 5th century.

 

Greatest leader was Attila who upon reaching Rome was persuaded by Pope Leo the Great to give up his plans to take Rome.  

 

2. MONGOLS

Based in Central Asia (near Lake Baal), they lived in small groups of few families. Basic social and political units were patriarchal dans: spiritual life was focused on loyalty to cian. Polygamy necessitated the acquisition of wives outside of the clan and in most cases, wives were obtained through seizure.

 

Genghis Khan (or Chinggis Khan) was formerly known as Temujen. He acquired the name Genghis or Chinggis (meaning "universal ruler") after successful conquest were made by him. His empire extended as far as Middle East and Europe. They were noted for espionage and psychological warfare

 

3. OTTOMAN TURKS – 11^TH Century

Original home near Gobi dessert, Siberia and Turkestan. "Ottoman" was derived from the third caliph Osman. They moved westward into Europe. Great leader was Sulaiman.

Contribution of the Warrior Groups:

1.   Advanced the knowledge of metallurgy

2.   Evolved different political systems

3.   Fostered international trading

 

F. Development of Empires

1.   Persian Empire (West Asia)

Recognized as the first biggest empire, especially during the time of Cyrus, Captivity of Babylon, the capital of the Chaldean empire in 539 BC signified the ascendancy of this Aryan race over the older cultures. The empire included the Iranian Plateau, the Fertile Crescent, Anatolia, Sogdania, Egypt (conquered by Cambyses). Darius moved westward through the Balkans only to be repulsed by the Greeks in the famous Battle of Marathon. Eastward, Persian reached as far as Punjab in India.

-       Persian empire was known for its organized political system where the empire was divided into political units known as satrapes ruled by satraps. This satrapes could be the equivalent of present day provinces.

-       Zoroastrianism was advocated most especially during the time of Darius, when he declared that sovereignty was granted to him by Ahura Mazda because he advocated this god's teaching which was to act righteously and justly to all men.

-       Lengua franca was Aramaic, serving as language of official communication

-       Persia developed a system of communication by providing road network where messengers of the Great King rode back and forth from satrapes

 

2.   Indian Empire (South Asia)

-       Indus valley civilization (Harappa and Mojendro Daro) was disintegrating in 1500 BC when Aryans entered north-west of India. Aryans or Indo- Aryans were descendants of Indo-Europeans (from North Iranian plateau)

-       Empire building was credited to the Mauryan Dynasty (321-183 B.C.), although to some historians, the Nanda dynasty laid the foundation of empire building but this was cut short by Chandragupta Maurya who usurped the throne and in him the imperial idea materialized.

-       Political system was similar to that of Persia where the empire was divided into provinces for administrative purposes.

-       Hinduism evolved - which was a religion that blended the aborigines (Dravidians) manner of worship and the Aryans religious beliefs and practices.

-       Brahmannical theories influenced the characterization of Kingship

-       Caste system was institutionalized where Indian society was divided into Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra.

-       In 6th century BC, opposition to the rigidity of the Caste system led to the development of Buddhism and Jainism. Buddhist propagated a new concept of Dharma which emphasized tolerance and non-violence.

-       During the reign of Asoka (3rd century BC) Buddhism was accepted because he himself had become a zealous follower. He used the Buddhist religious principles for secular purposes such that his reforms were focused on humanity in internal administration and the abandonment of aggressive war. He termed his territorial expansion as conquest of Righteousness.

 

G. Development of Trade

-       Commerce between Europe and Asia began as early as the first century A.D.     

-       Trade / Commerce was conducted through land routes and sea routes

-       Trade centers between 200 AD to 1500 AD were:

1.       Mediterranean - West Asian Trade Complex

2.       Central Asia Trade Complex

3.       Strait of Malacca - Indo China Trade Complex

4.       Indian Ocean Trade Complex

-       Effects of the expansion of Trade

1.       Spread of sericulture or silk culture (The Chinese were called "Seres" or "Serices" by the Romans. These two terms may have originated from the Chinese word for silk)

 

By the 3rd century A.D. Korea and Japan acquired the knowledge of sericulture and by the 6th century Byzantium teamed the secret of sericulture

2.       Buddhism spread to China and to the rest of Southeast Asia and Far East

3.       Christianity and Islamism found their way to China and other parts of  Asia

4.       By 7th century centers of power were:

Tang Dynasty                         -               China     

Islam                                       -               West Asia             

Byzantine (Turkey)               -               West Asia

 

5.       Trade played an important role in defining Asia and Asian civilization to the Western word:    

Earliest reference to Asia was made by Herodotus who wrote about the "nomad synethians who dwelt in Asia"

Western world perceived Asia as the source of silk, spices and various exotic products

Asia and Europe were linked. Goods were exchanged and migration of people took place             

Asian religions were spread to different parts of the world

Culture was enriched

II. Asia's Transition

A.   Age of Exploration and Discovery in Europe

1.       European countries set out to explore lands for economic and military reasons.

2.       Territories greatly affected were the Americas, Africa and Asia.

B.   Imperialism in Asia

Most countries in Asia came under colonial rule particularly those in Southeast Asia, except Thailand

China was under "sphere of influence."

Korea (hermit Kingdom) and Japan went out into isolation to avoid the influences of western countries but eventually were opened to allow Western countries to trade with them.

C.   Asia's involvement with the West dragged her into 2 global wars. In World War II Japan actively led the war in the Pacific on the side of the Axis Powers. Japan occupied most of the territories in Southeast Asia.

D.  After World War ft, colonies occupied by Japan came again under Western rule but were eventually given independence. Korea was divided; so with Vietnam due to ideology (Democracy advocated by USA and Communism by USSR)

E.   Experiences from colonial rule changed the outlook of most people in Asia.

 

III. Great Contribution of Asia to Civilization

A.   Architecture and Engineering:

-       Great Walls - China (initial construction by Shin Huang Ti)

-       Taj Mahal - India (constructed by Shah Jahan)

-       Hanging Garden - Babylon (by Nebuchadnezzar)

-       Pyramid - Egypt (in Ancient Times, Egypt was considered part of the Orient)

B.   Form of Writing:

-       Hieroglyphics-Egypt

-       Cuneiform-Mesopotamia

-       Sanskrit - India

C.   Religions - all major religions and many other minor religions of the world originated in Asia

D.  Empire building

E.  Great Philosophers: Confucius, Lao Tzu, Mencuis