T&TI Concepts 2nd Quarter

Analects,

Division of Epistemic Labor in Ancient Babylon

Priests and healers had two separate jobs, but they cooperated. Priests (asipu) were “exorcists” and diagnosed issues with a supernatural cause. They performed prayers and rituals. Physicians (asu) performed surgeries, administered drugs, treated wounds, and were not interested in diagnosing.

Qin Dynasty Impact on Medicinal Knowledge

Qin tried to burn books that were not about him. This often erased medicinal knowledge.

Qi

A life force or energy that flows through body channels. Qi can become blocked, depleted, or excessive. Acupuncture, moxibustion, and Qi Gong are all practices that attempt to restore Qi.

Yin and Yang

Represents duality. Need to be balanced. Yin represents femininity, coolness, passivity, rest, and introversion. Yang is more masculine and represents warmth, activity, and being outside.

Five Elements

Wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Each represents an organ. For example, the heart represents fire and consciousness, and the kidney represents water and vitality.

The Way

Confucius teaches us Dao, our way through life successfully.

6 Themes of Confucious

Happiness, revivalism, ethics, caring, ritual, education

Happiness in this world/life

Confucius believed that happiness is possible to attain in this life, not only in the afterlife. He argues that we should first try to understand this life. We should attempt to make this life better and everyone around us life’s better.

Revitalism

Dao can be found by looking at the past (Zhou Dynasty). MLK applied this same technique to the Civil Rights Movement by reminding us of true social democracy.

Normative Ethics

Tells us what to do. Rules and laws.

Role/duty based ethics

Prescribing the rules by which we should behave. The golden rule is an example.

Virtue Ethics

Rely on the models of good behavior. What kind of person do I want to be? The Analects follows this model.

Ren

Means “good” and “human” in Ancient Chinese.

Junzi

Means “gentleman.” Model humans exhibit virtue. The model human is benevolent, righteous, dutiful, trustworthy, caring, and courageous.

Differential Caring

Uprightness, covering for families, we should have more loyalty to our parents than to others. We first learn morality in the home, then extend it outwards.