1.
ASIAN RELGIONS
AND
PHILOSOPHIES

2.
Why are there many
religions and
philosophies in Asia?

3.
Why does religion
matter to people?

4.
What is the value of
religion to you?

5.
Nowadays, people tend to interchangeably use
religion and philosophy. By etymology, religion
comes from the latin word religionem which
means "respect for what is sacred, reverence for
the gods," "obligation, the bond between man
and the gods” while philosophy comes from
two words “philo” which means love and
“Sophia” which means wisdom.
Are they the same? NO. People tend to treat
them similarly because of their very striking
similarities. How are they similar?

6.
Both religion and philosophy wrestle
with problems like: What is good? What
does it mean to live a good life? What is
the nature of reality? Why are we here
and what should we be doing? How
should we treat each other? What is
really most important in life?

7.
Religion : is a belief in a supreme
power and worship of it as the
creator and controller of the universe
without reasoning whereas
philosophy is a pursuit of wisdom by
intellectual search and logical
reasoning.

8.
Religion insists on the performance
of rituals, commandments and
hierarchies of leadership whereas
philosophy does not emphasize the
ritualistic aspect of life because it is a
way of thinking/of rationalization of
truth.

9.
Another difference is the fact that
philosophy tends to emphasize just
the use of reason and critical
thinking whereas religions may make
use of reason, but at the very least
they also rely on faith, or even use
faith to the exclusion of reason.

10.
Finally, most religions tend to include some sort of
belief in what can only be described as the
“miraculous” — events which either defy normal
explanation or which are, in principal, outside the
boundaries of what should occur in our universe.
Miracles may not play a very large role in every
religion, but they are a common feature which
you don’t find in philosophy. Nietzsche wasn’t
born of a virgin, no angels appeared to announce
the conception of Sartre, and Hume didn’t make
the lame walk again.

11.
 In short, they key differentiating factors
between religion and philosophy are:
 Supreme power
 Reasoning vs. faith
 Rituals
 miracles

12.
Can you name two or more religions? philosophies?
RELGIONS:
Zoroastrianism
Judaism
Jainism
Buddhism
Hinduism
Islam
Shintoism
Sikhism
Christianity

13.
Can you name two or more religions? philosophies?
PHILOSOPHIES:
Confucianism
Taoism
Legalism

14.
Is it possible that a philosophy
can also become one’s religion?
Why?

15.
Assignment:
Students must construct (in their AH notebook)
DAILY SYNTHESIS following the format below.
Let them prepare the synthesis form for the
following day (such as below).
Information Zoroastrianism
Judiasm Jianism
FOUNDER
PLACE OF ORIGIN
HOLY BOOKS
Countries now
found
Religious beliefs
and rituals
Note: This format applies only to religions (Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Jainism,
Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism, Sikhism and Christianity). For philosophies
namely Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism, omit holy books and replace religious beliefs
with philosophical beliefs.