Question

How are Early Tang and Late Tang eras different? Can we call the Tang era "cosmopolitan?" Why or why not? (250 words)

Socrates speaks of two sorts of accusers the old and the recent. Which does he think is the more dangerous? Why? Why does Socrates refer to himself as a gadfly? What do you think he means by this metaphor? (600-700 words)

Answer 1

Ans-1 In early tang era Li Yuan forced the Emperor Gong of the Sui Dynasty (581-618) to give up and by this time the Sui Empire was already been divided up amongst a host of violent warlords. he then proclaimed himself Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan had a long way to go before he could call himself Emperor of a unified China. Gaozu was the first one who started the very foundation of Tang rulers. The institutions that was established in the 7^th century goes on well to rule the china till the mid-8^th century, and was considered the golden era of the Tang Dynasty. By centralising imperial rule, standardising the administration, and keeping it cost effective, Emperor Gaozu set up a model that would provide lasting success for his descendants. When gaozu grew older, he had a whole new problem to contend with; sibling rivalry! His sons Crown Prince Jiancheng and Li Shimin were embroiled in a bitter debate over who should succeed him. While it seemed as though Jiancheng was going to come out on top, Li Shimin took matters into his own hands by staging a military coup and killing Jiancheng, along with another of his brothers. In 626, he forced his father to abdicate and took the throne as Emperor Taizong. The later tang era was known as period of 10 kingdoms, was a short-lived imperial dynasty which lasted from lasted from 923 to 937 which lasted only for 13 years. The government under tang dynasty was monarchy. The very difference is that the early tang era was known as golden era during which It flourished culturally for over a century until it get divided into 10 kingdoms and dynasties due to conflicts. Yes tang era was cosmopolitan because during this period the commercial, religious, and cultural connections from Korea and Japan to the Persian Gulf was very strong and it was a time of unsurpassed literary creativity. Merchants from all over the Asia established in the capital, and entrepreneurs set off for the wider world.

Ans-2 Socrates considers his former accusers as more dangerous because former accusers are speaking against him from quite past time and they are prejudicing the jury members against him from the very time of their youth. The older accusers put 2 accusations against him that he does not believe in god and teaches on basis of physical examination and he teacher other how to make a weak argument the strong one by clever rhetoric. Socrates was referred to as a gadfly because he buzzes about Athens and questioned any dogmatic “truths” or beliefs by throwing a wrench in the logic of the argument. He appeared as a opposite figure who questions the beliefs by giving the logic about the things. He may well have had an oppositional disposition that was channelled out through his logical intellect. A gadfly is a horsefly that likes to bite the human and won’t go away. According to Plato, the people of Athens should fear about death and not Socrates because they are avoiding and giving up the services of Socrates. He refers to himself as gadfly because like a gadfly he stings the lazy horse that the Athens is and by his actions he is trying to provoke them to do some actions. He tries to sting them with the logic about absolute truth and not the one which people believed in. With the help of his method, he showed the people how insufficient and illogical their arguments and ideas were, and he hoped that this would spur them into action, and get them to improve their politics.