Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Cultural Diffusion, Religious Influences, and the Laws of Manu

As the evolution of justice and human rights rolls along like a snowball going downhill, it is important to recognize the role of cultural diffusion in the process. For those that may not remember, cultural diffusion is the process by which cultural elements are transferred from one culture to another through migration and interaction, and adopted in some form by another contemporary or future culture. Examples of this today would be things like the prominence of yoga for Americans-a cultural practice developed in Asia, then diffused into the United States and Europe.

The presence of cultural diffusion is evident in all three sets of laws studied thus far: Hammurabi's Code, the Mosaic Law, and the Laws of Manu. Each one possesses some aspects of the laws of previous societies. We see the lex talonius concept run from Hammurabi to Mosaic law, then the religious influences and concepts present in the Mosaic law filter (in some ways) to the Laws of Manu. In each of these law codes, it becomes evident that those creating a justice system rely upon previous institutions for guidance, then adopt those laws they see as most relevant to their own society for their law code. Sprinkle in some new ideas and concepts unique to their society, and the "snowball" continues to roll down that hill. New laws are initiated, and history is forever altered.

Important also in today's discussion is the influence of religion we see in both the Mosaic law and the Laws of Manu. Both invoke a higher power and the concept of morality into the law code so that people not only do things for the purpose of avoiding punishment by those in power, but also to receive some higher reward after death. Thus initiates two different ways in which to implement justice: punishment and reward. In both cases, people are encourage to act appropriately, but with religion's influence, not only will people act appropriately, they are quite likely to pass on those values to their children. As such, we can see why the majority of people in the world cite "The Bible" as the source of "an eye for an eye."

Most importantly, with each successive society we study, you should see the presence of a variety of other laws and cultures filter into their concepts of justice. As we get closer to the modern era, what we're seeing is the gradual accumulation of laws, customs, and cultures meld together to form the next society. The United States today, in regard to its laws, is in many ways simply a collection of the historical experiences of its predecessors. We see, even today, elements of all three law codes we've studied thus far, and as we continue through history examining laws and concepts of justice, it will become obvious that throughout time, this concept of justice continues to evolve in a manner that leads us to our modern world.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had two points i really wanted to say during class, before contradiction hear me out. (Willie maybe you should read this before trying to shut me down) For the marriage laws it appeared to me that the women was protected more then one would think. As I said on my homework, women could be easily divorced in the Hebrew part, however women in babylon could actually try to sustain their relationship. If women couldn't make babies then they would allow their husband to mate with a slave women. Also, they made rules so the husband would not cheat on her, for instance if a husband is caught cheating then he is burned with that girl he did his actions with. Even when women were getting divorces, the man had to pay her equivalent or maybe a little bit more then she gave him for their pre-marriage gift i believe it was. Therefore it was trying to protect the women besides dumping her on the streets. (Want you to know thats what i was aiming for on the homework, Mr. Moran, don't get confused and think i mixed up the two i was talk about Babylon for that part [the wife rights part]) Also, the man had plenty of laws or rules to protect him. The laws consisted of making sure he was respected before and after death such as if a women is caught mating with a son after his death then both would be burned. Also if the women is caught cheating with another man she would die. For me at least, I know this is a somewhat of a different point, but I think they were fairly reasonable besides the large differences in divorce rules. My second comment was callie said if someone was to punch you and your first take was to just tell someone or be the bigger man and walk away (in this time period, in Babylon she said laws were to prevent that which is agreed.) However I do believe that in the society we are raised in today, someone would turn back and punch you back. I think it is not in the nature of parker kids to react this way, because well, our parents told us not to react this way and our school enviroment told us to be the bigger man. However in the real world, one would certianly be punched back, one would not walk away. I think that America now is a very agressive type of people. Those situations are like bar fights or what ever, people have the resources to not have them think as striaght as possible at easier access and that plays a decent role. However i think there is a difference in our school community and the outside world, we are more violent then one would think. Thank you

-The famous blog posting master,
Coleslaw

gbaby said...

Cultural diffusion is an amzing thing.Talking about it in class made me aware of how it was extremely evident in the readings. It also showed me how all the sets of laws we read about were influenced by each other, and other things like religion and the concept of morality and justice.

The greater point im trying to get at is how Cultural Diffusion is every where, especially in such a diverse and urban city like chicago. I think living in the US we are very lucky to have the opportunity to be able to witness and learn about so many cultures and customs without leaving the country. We have a large array of different restaurants all over ranging from chinese to greek and large communities overflowing with foreign languages and customs.

Realizing how prevalent cultural diffusion is in chicago and in the US in general has allowed me to also realize that being an American is alot more than knowing your states and the national anthem it is more about acknowlodging that the US is a country that has been shaped around immigrants and cultures from all over the world, and how we are all part of so many cultures besides our own (by part of our heritage).

Anonymous said...

cole, i agree that women are protected in the idea of cheating and divorce. that is a sort of obvious concept.
i want to continue on the idea of "spectrums" that we talked about in class, the idea of absolutism being on opposite side of relativism, and objectivism in the middle of the spectrum. similarly, in my opinion, hammurabi's code is on one side because it seems to solely be based on law. the opposite side sits mosaic law, which stresses being a good and moral person. in the middle of this ancient list of laws spectrum sits the laws of manu, which has one section dealing with law, like hammurabi's code, and another secion dealing with how one should act, like the mosiac law.
so to kind of compare apples and oranges, hammurabi's code is like absolutism. it suggests that there is one supreme law. to shift to the polar opposite side of both hammurabi and absolutism, we have mosiac law and relativism. however, it would be unfair to claim that they are alike. mosiac law promotes morality, while relativism promotes being independent, and creating our own morals. those two aren't really the same, but not opposites. that is where my combonation of lists of laws and ethics stalls. they are not similar nor different. but in the middle sits objectivism and laws of manu. they are similar in the sense that they are combonitation of the opposites. laws of manu state laws on crimes and morals. objectivism combines universal law and individual morals. so again, they are similar, but still different.
the previous statements are my attempts to equate two topics that are different.
-willie trieger

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with gbaby... Cultural diffusion is a topic that is present in everything that we experience today. I thought it was one of the best things that we've talked about in class so far this year.

A few interesting examples I thought was the fact that where I live has so many different cultures in it. For example, I live off of North Ave. where the shopping and resturants are being put up constantly making it a very developing neighborhood. Big chain stores like Marc Jacobs are being put up however, a few blocks down, all of a sudden, it turns to a Hispanic dominated community. It's odd to see that switch so quickly but it's everywhere, even on the Armitage that we all know, there is a part that is not the high fashion shopping that everyone thinks of.

Things like laws are brought down from society to society also. Looking at all of these different types of codes and laws and then looking at the US Constitution, you can even see similarities within the two. Almost everything in America today, whether it be laws or clothing, is an idea from a past culture/society and I think that's really quite interesting.

peace
maddie

cmower said...

When I was doing the assignment due today I came across cultural diffusion and realized that a lot of the human rights has to do with that. The reason why there is cultural diffusion is because there are some similarities in all of the rights that we have learned about. The Hammurabi Code was the first one of all in 1800 BC, then came the others such as the Mosaic Laws, Laws of Manu, and the Twelve Tables. All of them having some type of similarity. Dating back to what we learned about cultural diffusion, I remembered and realized that these rights probably had something to do with cultural diffusion. They had some laws the same, but then added new ones that maybe they thought would be more appropriate for their culture. I conclude with saying that cultural diffusion was probably one of the most important factors when these laws and rights were being made.

Anonymous said...

Once again a crude analogy but bear with me I personally view cultural diffusion as an Itunes for society consider the society to be the album and you are the customer you merely pick the parts you like and leave the others behind. Except for the tracks that are album only,(jeff).
But otherwise Ithink cultural diffusion is truly important to the betterment of man kind. not to sound like a beauty queen or something

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