Neo-Confucianism emerged during the Tang Dynasty in China and became popular during the Song Dynasty. Neo-Confucianism was a synthesis of some aspects of Confucianism with the less “mystical” aspects of Buddhism and Taoism.

The Heian period of Japanese history lasted from 794 to 1185 CE It is a time period when Japan was most closely connected to and influenced by Chinese culture - Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism were all influential in Japan during this period, as was Chinese language and culture.

Boccaccio was an influential figure in the Italian Renaissance. He is one of the early leading figures associated with humanism. His most famous work is called The Decameron.

Peter Abelard is most notable for his contributions to scholasticism. Scholasticism was one of the most important philosophical and theological disciplines of the Middle Ages. It was primarily concerned with marrying the insights of Greco-Roman civilization with the Christian world.

During the Middle Ages, Europe underwent a gradual transition from a state of relative darkness and backwardness at the beginning of the period (called the Early Middle Ages or the Dark Ages), towards a state of cultural accomplishment and refinement at the end of the period (called the High Middle Ages). Still, it is worth noting that throughout this period, Europe’s cultural accomplishments lagged behind those of the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia.

While the code of Chivalry had deep roots in religious and social piety, it was designed as a code of conduct for soldiers. As a result, the code promoted "defending Christianity" from "the infidel" and showing "no mercy" to enemies. 

The Divine Right of Kings was used a justification of Monarchy for centuries in Europe after the widespread acceptance of Christianity.

Peace, prosperity, and growing Western influence caused the samurai class, increasingly tasked with bureaucracy rather than war fighting, to face an existential crisis; one of the ways samurai dealt with the changing world was by reaching into the past for inspiration.

Although much of the samurai class became disillusioned with life in the Shogunate, there was no tradition of voyaging outside of Japan to ply their martial trade on the Asian mainland.

Many segments of 18th century Japanese society regarded Christianity as threatening to Japanese social mores and political structures.

During the Shogunate, the emperor of Japan lacked political power; he lived a hermitic life sealed away from all but lofty court rituals by the Shogun.

In 18th century Japan there was no large-scale movement for a national, democratic government.

The humanist artists and scholars of the Renaissance era put a great deal of emphasis and importance upon education. Perhaps the best-known and most influential of these groundbreaking scholars were Francisco Petrarch (aka “the father of humanism”), Dante Alighieri (the author of “The Divine Comedy”), and Giovanni Boccaccio (the author of the “Decameron”). Together with the other humanist scholars of their age, these men saw education as the proper means through which young men became well-rounded, nobly accomplished, and civically responsible members of society. The educational traditions of the medieval era were seen as far too focused on religious dogma, often at the expense of rational objectivity. Out of these shared values evolved the “studia humantiatis,” or the educational blueprint used by most humanist scholars to teach their students. This “studia” has often been described as the first liberal arts program, because it emphasized the disciplined and in-depth study of such subjects as history and politics, rhetoric, grammar, poetry, ethics, philosophy, and poetry. It was believed that through the study of such topics, students would gain both wisdom and the eloquence to properly express such wisdom, so that they might, in the future, pass these teachings down to the next generation. Many of the lessons on these topics derived from re-discovered classical – especially ancient Greek and Roman – manuscripts.

Contrary to popular belief, the revival of and renewed appreciation for classical ideology was not a phenomenon that occurred only during the Renaissance. In fact, many eras throughout Western European history were witness to this craze for classicalism, including the preceding days of the ninth, twelfth, and fourteenth centuries, from Paris to Chartres and beyond. However, the renewed pursuit of classical sources and the revival of interest in the study of antiquity during the Renaissance was indeed quite unique, for a variety of interdependent reasons. From the beginning, Renaissance scholars decided to abandon the medieval method of study, which relied upon the collation, comparison, and summarizing of sources, in favor of much in-depth explorations. In keeping with this new approach, humanist students also focused less on religious matters, shunning the teachings of past theologians in favor of classical interpretations (such as those of Plato and Ptolemy) and choosing to study a wide variety of subjects. In order to facilitate such an aggressive educational campaign, humanists began in earnest to seek out undiscovered or under-utilized caches of classical manuscripts; their recovery efforts were much more successful than those of past generations. Renaissance scholarship was also notably dominated by secular individuals, rather than religious figures, which in turn helped to cultivate a more open, expansive, and even questioning educational culture. These humanistic learners often quite openly challenged traditional teachings, especially those of the Church and medieval theologians, subjecting such writings to strict standards of scholarship.