歐洲文化復習終結(jié)版

1、1 Four contending schools of ThoughtIn the 4th century B.C, there were four contending schools of philosophers arguing with each other. They were as follows:1 Cynics : the Cynics got their names because Diogenes, one of their leaders, decided to live likea dog and the word“ Cynic ” means “dogin Gree

2、k. Diogenes lived by begging; he rejected all conventions and advocated self-sufficient and extreme simplicity in life. He proclaimed his brotherhood, not only with the whole human race, but also with animals. And he has no patient with the rich and powerful.The first and most directCynic influencei

3、s upon thefoundingofStoicism. Within politicalphilosophy, theCynics canbe seenasoriginators of anarchism.The impact ofCynicism isalso feltinChristian, Medieval, and Renaissance though. Finally, the mark of the Cynic is found throughout the texts of literature and philosophy.2. The Sceptics : the Sce

4、ptics followed Pyrrhon, who held that not all knowledge was attainable. He and his followers doubted the truth of what others accepted as true.The spirit of doubt influence many later philosophers and sictists, which encourage them to be creativity, and pushes the flourish of the diversity3. The Epi

5、cureans : the Epicureans were dispels of Epicurus. He was a materialist who believed pleasure to be the highest goal in life. But by pleasure, he meant, not sensual enjoyment, but freedom from pain and emotional upheaval. This he thought could be attained by the practice of virtue.His teaching was m

6、isunderstood by later people and the word ” Epicurean ” has come to mean indulgence in luxurious living.4. The Stoics : the most important thing for the Stoics was not “ pleasure ”, but “duty ”. This developed into the theory that one should endure hardship and misfortune with courage. The represent

7、ative was Zeno. He was a materialist, asserting the existence of the real world. He believed no such thing as chance, and that the course of nature is rigidly determined by natural law. In the life of an individual man, virtue is the sole good and it resides in the will.The Stoic philosophy had its

8、biggest impact on law, ethics and political science throughout the world and history. It also contributed many significant theories on knowledge, logic and natural philosophy.2 ChristianityIt originated in the 1st century, and firmed its roots in the second century, was widespread in the third centu

9、ry, and became the official religion of Roman Empire in the 392AD. In the fifth century, Christianity was quite popular and Christian church was widespread in the late middle ages. The middle age is called“ the Age of Faith” . Untilnow, Christianity is still popular in the west world.It was founded

10、by Jesus. He taught that man should believe in god and love each other as god' s cheilnd.r After he died, st peter and stPaul began to preach in the Mediterranean region. Saint Paul transformed a Jewish sect into a new religion built on the personalism and universalism implicit into teachings of

11、 Jesus for humanity. Its teaching is that Christians should believe that every man is sin.They are all God' s children and should share brotherly love. God havebecome human and the savior of humanity and Jesus is the Son of God. He was sent to the earth to suffer to save all the people. He will

12、send information to people which are called the Gospel. People can communicate with god through Jesus or reading bible.Christianity has its own appeal.1The Christian message of a divine savior, a concerned father , andbrotherly love attracts many people.2 Christianity offers people what the Roman Em

13、pire could not: an intensely personal relationship with god, an intimate connection with a higher world, and membership in a community of the faithful,3 It stresses the intellect and self-reliance. The poor , the oppressed, and the slaves were attracted to the personality, death, and resurrection of

14、 Jesus, his love for all, and his concern for the suffering humanity.It has 5 main impacts:1. Christianity established the basic value of the west world. 2.1t lay the foundation of the western system of education and politic, especially the democracy politics. 3it transmit the traditional culture an

15、d helped cultivated new civilization 4it helps each of the western regions communicate and interact with each other.5. Christianity hasa great effect on Western culture in literature, music, architecture, painting and scripture, which contributes to the development of western cultural revival and la

16、ys the foundation of Renaissance in Europe.3. FeudalismFeudalism in Europe was mainly a system of land holding-a system of holding land in exchange for military service. The word“ feudalismwas derived from the Latin “ feudum ”, a grant of land.It flourished between the ninth and fifteenth centuries

17、and Crusades helped to break down it. It was also a system of government- a form of local and decentralized government.Feudalism was a complicated system of government. The King granted the right to govern large sections of land as fiefs to great lords, these lords known as vessels in turn promised

18、to fight for the King.And they themselves further granted parts of their fiefs to lesser vassals.The centre of medieval life under feudalism was the manor. They werefounded on the fiefs of lords. Everything needed to live was supplied on the manors. It was self-sufficient. By the 12 th century, they

19、 came to be called castles. At the centre of the manor stood the church, which was very popular and had a great and powerful influence on the feudal society.Almost all nobles were knights in the medieval days. But no one was born a knight-knighthoodhad to be earned and the training waslong and hard.

20、 As a knight, he was pledged to protect the week, to fight for the church, to be loyal to his lord and to respect women of noble birth, this was known as code of chivalry.CarolingianCharlegne was the most important figure in this period. He kept order throughout his realm and encouraged interest in

21、the Christian religion and ancient learning. The result of his efforts was called Renaissan ce”.Alfred the Great, ruler of Wessex, contributed greatly to the medievalEuropean culture. He introduced teachers and scholars, found new monasteries, promoted translations into the vernacular from Latin wor

22、ks and inspired the compilation of Anglo- Saxon Chronicles.Feudalism played a major role in the reorganization of medieval Europe. It affected political, social, religious, and economical aspects of the middle Ages. During this period, experimental science came into being and art and architecture fl

23、ourished. Old English, instead of Latin language became popular in Europe. From European feudalism emerged different forms of constitutional government. But it brought about the class structures that persisted despite the rise of the burgesses (burghers, bourgeoisie) until well into the 20th century

24、.4. RenaissanceIt refers to the period between 14th and 17 th century. The renaissancemeans revival, revival of interest in an ancient Greek and Roman culture. In essence, it was a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars attempted to get rid of conservatism in feudalis

25、t Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie.There are three characteristics of Renaissance. They are humanism, Secularity and Individualism.Humanism refers to people' s thoughts centers on human beings andtheir values, capacities, and worth instead of

26、god. People were taught not only knowledge but also how to communicate one ' s knowledge and how to use it. In academic area, the most famous and influential humanist were Sir Thomas and William Shakespeare.People pursued secularity at that time. They paid more attention on the secular happiness

27、 and became more rational and pragmatic rather than relied on the church for comfort.Individualism is another feature of renaissance. People began to pay attention on self-consciousness and self-independence and sought personal development and personal interests.The renaissance started in Florence a

28、nd Venice in Italy. And spread to Germany, France, England and Spain in the late 15th century.It was a period during which art, architecture, and literature flourished. There are three great artists in high renaissance they are Leonardo da Vinci, whose masterpiece is the Last Supper , Michelangelo B

29、uonanrroti with his Statue of David, and Raphael Santi with his the Alba Madonna. Shakespeare was the most famous figure of English renaissance. He has many famous works such as 4 tragedies.The Renaissance created a culture which freed man to discover andenjoy the world in a way not possible under t

30、he medieval church' scontrol. The renaissance marks the birth of modernity. And it brings a new view of human nature. It also boosts the flourish of the literature, art architecture, which has left many precious cultural heritages to us.5. ReformationIt was a 16th century religious movement as w

31、ell as a social-political movement. It swept over the whole Europe and was aimed atandThe's practice ofHe' s. He wasbibleopposing the absolute authority of the Roman Catholic Church replacing it with the authority of the Bible.Martin Luther was the important leader of the reformation. starti

32、ng point was Luther' s attack in 1517 on the churchselling indulgences. The followers were called Protestants. translated the Bible that he thought was the supreme authority and man was the only bound to the God' s words not the clergyalso a fighter for democracy and nationalism, a humanist

33、who helped build an educational system and his German translation of helped fixed the standard of the modern German.Another influential figure was the English king, Henry 8, who established the Church of England with the king rather than the Pope as the head.The reformation has church and shatteredg

34、reat influences. its control overIt challenged the medieval man. It contributed to the shaping of modernity by fighting against political authority, which promoted political liberty and the idea of equality. Thus it contributed to pave the way for capitalism.It has challenged the medieval culture ed

35、ucation. They gave way toimagination, creation and free thinking. Scientific discoveries and inventions paved the way for scientificrevolution andprovided thechances for the communication between different countries.The Protestantism came into being. Their thoughts of individualism:self assurance, i

36、ndividual ethics have great impact on the later modern politics and business.Calvinism stressed on hard work and thrift, which accelerated the production and trade.6. EnlightenmentIt was an intellectual movement started from France, which attracted widespread support among the ruling and intellectua

37、l classes of Europe and North America in the second half of the 18th century.Its characters are that the European writers used critical reasons to free minds from prejudice, authority and oppression from church or state. It is called the age of reason.The enlightenment involved in many fields:1 In t

38、he political area, the thinkers regarded government as the political expression of law and the law originated from nature.2 As regard to religion, the enlightenment was secular . They advocated the deism which illustrated everything worked according to natural laws.3 In art and literature, the neo-c

39、lassicism is the outcome of it. It stressed on harmony, proportion, balance, and restraint.4 in economic thought, the rationalists favored laissez-faire policy.Through the enlightenment, there were many outstanding English literatures such as Jonathan swift with his GulliverTravels,'DasnielDefoe

40、 with his Robinson Crusoe.Enlightenment has great effect on people' s thinking of reason, andphilosophers sought to analyze nature, government, religion, and economy through reasons alone, which promoted the later development of philosophy. and for the common people, reasonable and critical thin

41、king led them to seek secular life.It also boosts the flourish of the literature, art, music, which have left many precious cultural heritages to us.The political philosophy was based on a new modern concept, whose purpose was to enhanced the human happiness and protect individual freedom.7 Romantic

42、ismRomanticism was a movement in literature, philosophy, music and art which developed in Europe in the late 18th and early 19 th centuries. Itemphasized individual values and aspiration above the society.The central message of the romantics was that the imagination of the individual should determin

43、e the form and content of an artistic creation. It emphasized human diversity and uniqueness. For them, feelings were the essence of being human and they saw spontaneous, unbounded feelings as the avenue to truth. They worshiped nature, thought nature was alive and suffered with god' spresence;

44、they viewed God as an inspiring spiritual force.In painting period, they stated that in the use of the color, there waslavishness, a brilliant and fluidity, along with which was the technique to be free in contours and outlines.In music, they allowed freedom of form and stress strong feeling, imagin

45、ation, the love of nature and used national folk-rhythms and turns of melody.Literature took the full force of Romanticism. It brought forth a full flowering of literary talents. For example, William Wordsworth, one of the three “ Lakers ” published aluvmoe of poems named Lyrical Ballads and George

46、Gordon Byron, Don Juan was his masterpiece.As a reaction to the industrial revolution, Romanticism looked to the Middle Ages and to direct contact with nature for aspiration. It gave impetus to the national liberation movement in the 19th century. Theromantics shed light on a side of human nature th

47、at the philosopher had often overlooked or undervalued and greatly enriched European cultural life. Because it valued a nation ' psast, it contributed to nationalism and conservatism. However , the excessive zeal of the romantic ' s attack on reason undermined the rational foundations of the

48、 West.8 DarwinismDarwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or evolution, including ideas of Charles Darwin in the 2 nd half of the 19 th century.Charles Darwin made a great contribution. In the Origin of Species and the Decent of Man, he used empirical

49、 evidence to show that the wide variety of animal species was due to a process of development over many millennia, and he supplied a convincing theory that explained how evolution operates.In addition, he adopted the Malthusian idea that the population reproduces faster than the food supply, causing

50、 a struggle for existence.The principle of natural selection, which contains four major arguments and was constructed from three apparently independent generalizations about the properties of organisms, determined which members of the species have a better chance of survivalHe also marshaled the evi

51、dence that man is related to all animal life in his work the Decent of Man.Those who transferred Darwin ' sscientific theories to social and economic issues were called Social Darwinists. They used the terms “ struggle for existence “and “ survival of the fittest ”to buttress economic individual

52、ism and political conservation. This also happened in other fields such as biology. Thus the concept ofSocial Darwinismcame into being.Darwinism ultimately helped to end the practice of relying on the Bible as an authority in questions of science, completing a trend initialed earlier by Galileo. It

53、contributed to the waning of religious belief and to a growing secular designed by God and a soul that rises to heaven.9 RealismIn art and literature, realism is used to identify a literary movement inEurope and the United States in the last half of the 19th century andthe early years of the 20th ce

54、ntury. It originated in France and arose toprotest against romanticism. The fundamental difference between them was the former depicted what people really are, while the later depicted what they should be like.Realism centered in the novel and lay emphasis on fidelity to actual experience. It had detailed descriptions of people and environment. Its language was simp