How Society Was Developed - Essay Example

College Every human being must have a society to line in. These societies have rules and regulations that must be followed. When one does a mistake, there are punishments that are enforced on that person. These punishments are given accordingly on the mistake that one does. This makes are always there in the society but there ways in which they can be solved. Everyone in the society live according to the social norms that have been established by the ancient leaders. These norms ensure that everyone in the society live in peace. The norms can vary from one society to the other. When we were born, we found the society following the laws and it is our mandate to follow these laws. Therefore, we can ask ourselves how the society was formed from the ancient times until we are not following the suit. Most of our ancient leaders like Plato and Confucius can help us understand how the societies were developed. Some other leaders also like Moses and Hammurabi can help us in explaining how the laws were made until people in the society will adhere to them. Views from these prominent leaders therefore, will help us understand how the society was developed. Since the society cannot progress without some stated laws, the leaders’ views will also help us in determining how the laws were used to govern people in the society. According to Plato and Confucius, there were many factors that helped in creation of the society. These two well-known scholars had similar opinions on how the society was formed. On the other hand, the two leaders also had different opinions on the same issue on creation of the society. Similarities in their opinions were because they both had same occupation, teachers, in their lifetime. The differences might have been caused by the different backgrounds in which each of the leaders was brought up in (Wolf, 2005). Confucius is one the well-known Chinese philosophers in history. He was both an educator and a philosopher (Wolf, 2005). Through his education, he was able to influence many people and students in the East Asia. His teachings were very influential more especially to his students. He taught for most of his lifetime. His family was very poor and his father died when he was just 3 years old. He also lost his mother when he was seventeen. Due to her poor background, he was not able to support himself in terms of education. He was forced to have private education. These challenges made him work harder in order to achieve his goals in education. He familiarized himself with reading, writing, music and art. Later, his life changed when he was employed as a teacher. On the other, Plato was born into a well-established family. His parents were related to the sixth century kings. He did have to struggle in life Confucius. He spent most of his time teaching in his academy. He taught the youth on matters concerning society ethics and government control. However, these two philosophers have some views on the way the societies were developed during the World Civilization of 1500 (Wolf, 2005). They have similar belief on how societies were developed in the ancient times. They both believed that, for a society to be developed, superior leaders must come together. These two leaders must possess superior wisdom and virtue. Plato and Confucius challenges Hammurabi’s idea of using law to develop a society. They claim that these laws create greed in the society instead of creating harmony. They believe in harmony and peace in the society. They argue that moral truth is practiced by everyone in the society. They discourage the self-government form of society because their main focus is on the individuality. Both Confucius and Plato believed that intelligence and virtue are the most important factors that can be used in developing the society. From Confucius point of view, he argues that anyone who has gone to school and has gained some knowledge has the chance of ruling the society. From Plato’s view, he said that not everyone who was educated was able to rule the society. He did not relate leadership with the level of education. He claims that, one can be educated but lack leadership qualities (Wolf, 2005). Confucius’s emphasis is on the whole human being’s behavior. He also focuses on the relationship that individual have in the society (Wolf, 2005). He says these relationships help in development of the society. This is because with good relations, people are in a position to understand each other. This will act as one of the factors that promote society development. In his teachings, he said that civilization depended on the human behavior and the humanity. Through the good behavior, people in the society will be able to be honest and have good characters. This is where the society development will be realized. He also believed that a good person can be produced through education. This means everyone who will be able to attend his classes with have chances in developing the society. Confucius also valued families that are not governed by the human relationship. He did not like families that are governed by law. He said a good society is developed when a god leader is chosen to lead the society. The leader chosen should have some qualities that are that they respect human beings. The leader should have some knowledge and wisdom in order to ensure that the society is ruled in an orderly manner. These leaders can only achieve this by controlling their families first. They must ensure that their families are in order before they are given chances of being the society leaders. They can also improve their leadership through further education. Confucius believed that if the leader has peaceful family, then the society will also be in harmony. Plato did not believe leaders can use knowledge to develop the society. He had less faith on the humans as compared to Confucius. He believed that people were deceived by the little greed that they possess. These people needed to be controlled by law. He said the society can be developed if the leaders are fully educated (Wolf, 2005). Hammurabi and Moses, in Law as a Mirror of Civilization, had different views on how the society was developed. According to the, they believed that the society was developed through the use of harsh laws. Hammurabi was from Babylon while Moses was the Jewish leader. These two leaders made some laws that were to help in developing the society during the civilization time. The laws were very harsh and they had both the similarities and differences. These laws were believed to shape the face of the society and to ensure good morals (Wolf, 2005). The society’s traditions and power were reflected by the law. These laws were reflected in both Babylon and Hebrew. Babylon was led by Hammurabi while Hebrew was led by Moses. These two leaders were respected in their society (Wolf, 2005). Reading the laws in the Old Testament and those of Hammurabi makes us understand how society was developed in these two regions. Laws were the foundation of the society development. From these laws, we are able to identify the differences between laws of Hammurabi and the one in the Old Testament. For example, Babylonians were allowed to worshipped gods but Hebrews worshipped only one God they called Yahweh (Wolf, 2005). In both the Hammurabi and the laws of Moses, marriage rules were approach in the same way. It was important to control sexual relationship among the members of the society. Marriage was seen by both societies as legal contract that was used in production of children (Wolf, 2005). It was a mandate for both parties involved in marriage to protect their rights without interfering at each other’s. Marriage was one of the factors that constitute in society development and it highly respected by everyone. Babylonian divorced law protected women at greater extend that the Moses divorce laws. In Babylonian law, in case a woman was divorced, she was supposed to be given money by her husband. In the case of Moses law, the divorced woman was not protected strongly. In Hebrew, a man could divorce the wife because of minor reasons like the in the case a woman is found with some indecency. Here the husband could divorce his woman. In both societies, it was essential to protect and care for the children. Children were seen as the important factors for society development. They were the future generation that must not tampered with (Wolf, 2005). In both societies, Hebrew and Babylonian, infidelity was prohibited and it was punishable by law. In Babylonian law, a woman found sleep another man was stabbed. This was the same to the way Hebrews handled the infidelity issue. In Moses laws, a woman found sleeping with another man was supposed to be killed. Others things that were violated in these societies were homosexuality, nakedness, incest and sleeping with close family relatives (Wolf, 2005). According to Babylonian and Hebrew laws, the society was developed through harsh laws. Those who go against the laws were punished harshly. This ensured the occurrence of the illegal actions was minimized. The punishments also ensured the society was moral. From the above prominent leaders, we are able to identify the possible ways in which the society was formed. According to Plato and Confucius, society was formed through educating the society members. They suggest that leadership qualities were shaped by the knowledge gained from education. For the case of Hammurabi and Moses, society development was achieved through harsh laws that were used to govern each member on the society. Reference Wolf, K. (2005). Personalities and problems: Interpretive essays in world civilizations. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Wolf, K. (1994). Personalities and problems: Interpretive essays in world civilizations. New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More