Module Contact: Prof Catherine Rowett, PPL Copyright of the University of East Anglia Version 1

Transcription

1 UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies Main Series UG Examination FOUNDATIONAL TEXTS OF THE GREAT CIVILISATIONS Time allowed: 2 Hours Answer ONE question (there is only one question). Notes are not permitted in this examination. Do not turn over until you are told to do so by the Invigilator.

2 Page 2 Spend up to two hours writing about ONE of the two passages (A or B) given below, explaining what it is and the nature of the text from which it is taken. You may wish to reflect on the genre, the narrative content, the ideas and values that it conveys, or its significance for your understanding of what has traditionally counted as human wisdom in various cultures. You may also wish to compare it with other texts that you have studied in this module, or other texts studied in other modules, and to bring out similarities and differences. If possible, explain what you think we learn from these texts about how philosophy can be done, and whether there is any philosophy going on in the passage you are discussing. Note: You may, if you wish, choose to compare the TWO passages given below, or compare one of them with another reading from the set passages. There are no right answers and no required information or observations that you must include. You are invited to say whatever you think is interesting, and to explore whatever related texts you would like to mention. Marks are given for the quality of your own interpretative judgement and ideas. If you include factual information, it would be better that it be correct, but this is not the main aim of the task. Either A (from the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4) The Lord said: 1. I taught this eternal way to Vivasvat; Vivasvat showed it to Manu; Manu told it to Ikshvaku. 2. And it was this way, passed on from teacher to teacher in an unbroken line, that the royal seers knew. Over a long period of time here on earth that track was obliterated, Incinerator of the Foe. 3. It is this very same ancient way that I have shown you now, for you are devoted, and my friend, and this is the most secret teaching. Arjuna said: 4. You were born recently, Vivasvat was born a long time ago, so what should I understand by the saying that you taught it in the beginning?

3 Page 3 The Lord said: 5. I have passed through many births, and so have you, Arjuna. I know them all, you do not, Incinerator of the Foe. 6. Although I am unborn and have a self that is eternal, although I am lord of beings, by controlling my own material nature I come into being by means of my own incomprehensible power. 7. Whenever there is a falling away from the true law and an upsurge of unlawfulness, then, Bharata, I emit myself. 8. I come into being age after age, to protect the virtuous and to destroy evildoers, to establish a firm basis for the true law. 9. Whoever knows my divine birth and action as they really are is not born again on leaving the body. He comes to me, Arjuna. 10. There are many, free of passion, fear, and anger, at one with me, taking refuge in me, who, refined in the heat of knowledge, have come to my state of being. 11. I favour them according to the manner in which they approach me. Men, Partha, universally follow my path. 12. Desiring the attainment that comes from ritual acts, men here sacrifice to the gods; for in the human world the attainment born of sacrificial action comes quickly. 13. The four estates were created by me, divided according to constituents and actions. Although I alone am the one who did this, know that I am an eternal non-actor. 14. Actions do not taint me. I have no desire for the results of action. Whoever understands that I am like this is not bound by actions. 15. Men of old who desired release knew this and acted. Therefore you should act as they once acted. 16. What is action, what is non-action? Even inspired seers are confused about this. Such action I shall explain to you, and understanding it you shall be freed from evil. TURN OVER

4 Page You should know what constituted action, wrong action and non-action. The way of action runs deep. 18. He who sees action in non-action, non-action in action, is wise among men; performing all actions he is disciplined. 19. The wise call him a man of learning whose every activity is free from desire and specific intention; his actions are consumed in the fire of knowledge. Or B (from Augustine s Confessions Book XI) XI x (12) See how full of old errors are those who say to us: What was God doing before he made the heaven and earth? If he was unoccupied, they say, and doing nothing, why does he not always remain the same for ever, just as before creation he abstained from work? For if in God any new development took place and any new intention, so as to make a creation when he had never made it before, how then can there be a true eternity in which a will, not there previously, came into existence? For God s will is not a creature, but is prior to the created order, since nothing would be created unless the creator s will preceded it. Therefore God s will belongs to his very substance. If in the substance of God anything has come into being which was not present before, that substance cannot truly be called eternal. But if it was God s everlasting will that the created order exist, why is not creation also everlasting? XI xi (13) People who say this do not yet understand you, O wisdom of God, light of minds. They do not yet understand how things were made which came to be through you and in you. They attempt to taste eternity when their heart is still flitting about in the realm where things change and have a past and future; it is still vain. Who can lay hold on the heart and give it fixity, so that for some little moment it may be stable, and for a fraction of time may grasp the splendour of a constant eternity? Then it may compare eternity with temporal successiveness, which never has any constancy, and will see there is no comparison possible. It will see that a long time is long only because constituted of many successive movements, which cannot be simultaneously extended.

5 Page 5 But no time is wholly present. It will see that all past time is driven backwards by the future, and all future time is the consequent of the past, and all past and future are created and set on their course by that which is always present. Who will lay hold on the human heart to make it still, so that it can see how eternity, in which there is neither future nor past, stands still and dictates future and past times? Can my hand have the strength for this? Can the hand of my mouth by mere speech achieve so great a thing? END OF PAPER

6 Foundational Texts of the Great Civilisations Feedback The breakdown of marks was as follows: Classification Number of candidates % Fail 0 0 Non-submission 1 It was clear from the responses that many students showed evidence of having attended lectures and seminars, as they adhered to the advice that had been given. Most scripts were a pleasure to read and many offered insightful comments and analysis on both the extracts and the texts in general. Those students who did very well approached the extract in terms of the themes identified in the module. Marks were awarded generously for evidence of critical analysis. Purely expository work did less well. It was important to use the extract given and not to write just in the abstract about the themes or works studies, but it was not sufficient just to summarise what was there in the extract, but also to show how it could be analysed in terms of the module themes and questions, as specified in the assessment criteria in the module outline. It is obvious that most students have worked very hard and have enjoyed the texts.