-ISMs in AP World
History
By: Chloe Corpuz
Religious Philosophies
 Confucianism (China: around late 500s B.C)
 The teachings of Confucius, who maintained that if people could be
taught to emphasize personal virtue, a solid political life would
naturally result.
 Confucius traveled through many parts of China preaching his
ideas of political virtue and good government.
 He stressed respect for one’s social superiors, while those
superiors should behave modestly.
 Confucianism was primarily a system of ethics and emphasized
loyalty towards the community.
 Believed that social rank should not be based solely on birth but by
talent and intelligence instead.
 Daoism (China: around 600s B.C.)
 A more religious philosophy which appealed to many in the upper
classes; emphasized humility and frugal living.
 Embraced traditional Chinese beliefs in nature’s harmony and
added nature’s mystery.
 Laozi furthered the religion insisting that nature contains a divine
force that directs all life.
 Confucianism and Daoism were able to coexist because they
tolerated each other and one philosophy did not disturb the other.
Religious Philosophies (cont.)
 Legalism (China: around late 300s B.C.E.)
 Prided on pragmatism; favored an authoritarian state that ruled by force;
believed human nature was evil and required restraint and discipline
 Believed army should control the state and people should labor
 Legalism never captured the widespread approval that Confucianism did.
 Hinduism (India: around 1500 B.C.E.)
 The belief in one supreme source known as the Brahma and the life goal to
merge with the Brahma, which would be accomplished in one’s future life if
they followed the dharma
 Believed in social mobility after death, but must quietly accept their social
statuses during life on earth
 A cycle of life, death, and rebirth continued until one reached moshka, the
highest state of being
Religious Philosophies (cont.)
 Judaism (Hebrews: around 1000 B.C.E.)
 Awareness of a unique relationship with God by worshipping him
and following his Commandments, in return for our salvation
 Consists of belief in an afterlife, a set of traditions and doctrines,
philosophy, and personal salvation.
 God created the world and humans for them to enjoy and exercise
free will.
 First widespread monotheistic religion, followed by Christianity and
Islam.
 Calvinism (Jean Calvin, Protestants: 1530s C.E.)
 The teachings of Jean Calvin, a French theologian of the 16th
Century
 Stressed the doctrine of predestination
 Spread from Switzerland to Northern Europe and North America
 Also promoted wider access to government and broader popular
education
Religious Philosophies (cont.)
 Shintoism (Japan: 700 C.E.)
 The worship of numerous gods and spirits of nature, including the all-
important god of rice and political rulers
 Offers food and prayers made to gods and nature spirits
 This was a simple religion and was rather different in rituals and
doctrine from the great world religions and philosophies during the
classical civilizations
 Shi’ism (Islam)
 Practiced by the Shi’a; political and theological division within Islam;
followers of Ali
 Believed that Mohammad’s son-in-law, Ali, was the rightful heir to the
Islamic empire
 Contrasted with the Sunnis, who don’t believe that he is part of the
hereditary line chosen to rule
 Dominated the Safavids
 Sufism (Islam)
 Islamic mystics; stressed a personal relationship with Allah in contrast
to other religions that emphasize a particular form of ritual
 Allowed and encouraged people to revere Allah in their own way
 Tolerated others who placed Allah in the framework of other beliefs
 Succeeded in converting large numbers of people to Islam
Philosophical Beliefs
 Rationalism (Greece and Rome)
 The principle or habit of accepting reason as the supreme authority in
matter of opinion, belief, or conduct
 Greek philosopher Socrates encouraged his students to question
conventional wisdom and focused on “improvement of the soul”.
 Socrates’ pupil Plato suggested that human reason could approach an
understanding of three perfect forms: True, Good, and Beautiful.
 Stoicism (Greece and Rome)
 An ethical system that emphasized an inner moral independence, to be
cultivated by strict discipline of the body and by personal bravery
 Later combined under Christianity. However is was not a religious
consideration.
 Practiced by Stoics during the Hellenistic period
Movements
 Evangelicalism & Utilitarianism(India & England: 1770s C.E.)
 A movement of the Evangelicals and Utilitarians, groups who took part in
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the social reforms in India
Wanted to put an end to the slave trade
Introduced British institutions and ways of thinking in India
Believed common principles needed to be followed if each social class
were to live decently
Believed Western education was the key to revitalizing an ancient but
decadent Indian civilization
Pushed for the introduction of English-language education for the children
of the Indian elite
 Realism (Latin America: 1870s)
 Interest in or concern for the actual or real, as distinguished from the
abstract, speculative, etc.
 Emerged in the arts and literature that was more in line with the scientific
approach of positivism and the modernization of the new nations
 Took place during the Industrial Age
Movements (cont.)
 Zionism (Eastern Europe: 1860s and 1870s)
 Jewish Zionists (nationalists) argued that a Jewish homeland in Palestine was
desirable and just
 Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour declaration that stated the right for a home in
Palestine for Jewish people without displacing its current residence.
 Britain gained control of Palestine in 1920 and the Jews and the Palestines had to
divide the land accordingly.
 By the beginning of WWII, nearly 500,000 Jews had emigrated to Palestine.
 Hellenism (Greece)
 The culture, ideals, and pattern of life of Classical Greece
 Greek art and culture merged with other Middle Eastern forms
 During the Hellenistic period, trade flourished and important scientific centers were
established.
 Impressionism
 A style of painting developed in the last third of the 19th century, characterized chiefly
by short brush strokes of bright colors in immediate juxtaposition to represent the effect
of light on objects.
 Impressionists argued that realism in art was now unnecessary because of
photographs.
 They concentrated on the essentials of natural and other settings.
Political Movements
 Republicanism
 The ideology of governing a nation as a republic, with an emphasis on liberty and
rule by the people.
 Communism
 A type of totalitarianism in which one person controls everything and wants to
destroy tradition and social distinction
 Joseph Stalin was leader of the Communist party when Lenin died
 Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Latin America and Vietnam all had
some form of communism at one point
 Secularism
 A system of political or social philosophy that rejects all forms of worship
 Capitalism (Britain)
 When governments remove themselves from regulation and individuals own their
own properties and make their own production
 Also known as a free market system, Adam Smith believed that private ownership
was the best way to achieve economic prosperity and fairness.
 Socialism (Western Europe: 1848-1860)
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Founded by Karl Marx
Urged an attack on private property in the name of equality
Wanted state control of means of production
End to capitalist exploitation of the working man
Forms of Government
 Absolutism (Western Europe-France: 17th century)
 The principle or the exercise of complete and unrestricted power in
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government. The monarch has complete power over the nation.
In France, the monarchs passed laws as they saw fit and appointed a
growing bureaucracy.
King Louis XIV reduced internal tariffs and set tariffs only on imported
goods.
Spain, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary also adapted an absolute monarchy.
A strong military was a key goal for absolutists.
 Authoritarianism (Japan & Latin America)
 Favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, esp. that of the
government, at the expense of personal freedom
 Getulio Vargas (Japan) established a constitution in 1937 Estado Novo, that
imposed an authoritarian regime wihin the context of nationalism and
economic reforms, limited immigration, and eliminating parties and groups
that resisted or opposed the government.
 Latin American soldiers established a new bureaucratic authoritarian
regime. They placed national interest over selfish interests by imposing
dictatorships.