Confucius

Confucius (traditionally September 28 551 BCE–479 BCE) was a famous thinker and social philosopher of China, whose teachings have deeply influenced East Asia for centuries. Living in the Spring and Autumn period (a time when feudal states fought against each other), he was convinced of his ability to restore the world's order, and failed. After much travelling around China to promote his ideas among rulers, he eventually became involved in teaching disciples. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, and justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China after being chosen among other doctrines such as Legalism or Taoism during the Han dynasty. Used since then as the imperial orthodoxy, Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a vast and complete philosophical system known in the west as Confucianism.

Philosophy

Main article: Confucianism

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Although Confucianism is often followed in a religious manner by the Chinese, argument continues over whether to refer to it as a religion because it makes little reference to theological or spiritual matters (God(s), the afterlife, etc.).

Related Topics:
Theological - Spiritual - Afterlife

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Confucius's principles gained wide acceptance primarily because of their basis in common Chinese opinion. He championed strong familial loyalty, ancestor worship, and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives, and used the family as a basis for an ideal government. He expressed the well-known principle, "Do not to others what you do not want done to yourself" (the Golden Rule). He also looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly the politicians, to model themselves on earlier examples — although whether or not older rulers had governed by Confucian standards is dubious.

Related Topics:
Ancestor worship - Golden Rule

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Ethics

The Confucian theory of ethics is based on three important concepts:

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While Confucius grew up, lǐ (礼 ) referred to three aspects of life, that of sacrificing to the gods, social and political institutions, and daily behavior. It was believed that lǐ originated from the heavens. Confucius redefined lǐ, arguing that it flowed not from heaven but from humanity. He redefined lǐ to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society. Lǐ to Confucius became every action by a person aiming at meeting the person's surface desires. These can be either good or bad. Generally attempts to obtain short term pleasure are bad while those that in the long term try to make your life better are generally good.

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To Confucius, yì (义 ) was the origin of lǐ. Yì can best be translated as righteousness. While doing things because of lǐ, your own self-interest, was not necessarily bad, you would be a better, more righteous person if you base your life upon following yì. This means that rather than pursuing your own selfish interests you should do what is right and what is moral. Yì is based upon reciprocity. An example of living by yì is how you must mourn your father and mother for three years after their death. Since they took care of you for the first three years of your life you must reciprocate by living in mourning for three years.

Related Topics:
Righteousness - Self-interest - Reciprocity

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Just as lǐ flows out of yì, so yì flows out of rén (仁). Ren can best be translated as human heartedness. His moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. To live by rén was even better than living by the rules of yì. To live by rén one used another Confucian version of the Golden Rule: he argued that you must always treat your inferiors just as you would want your superiors to treat you. Virtue under Confucius is based upon harmony with others, very different from the Aristotelian view of virtue being personal excellence.

Related Topics:
Empathy - Virtue - Aristotelian

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An early version of the Golden Rule: “What one does not wish for oneself, one ought not to do to any one else; what one recognizes as desirable for oneself, one ought to be willing to grant to others.” (Confucius and Confucianism, Richard Wilhelm)

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Politics

Confucius' political thought is based upon his ethical thought. He argues that the best government is one that rules through "rites" and people's natural morality, rather than using bribery and force. He explained this in one of the most important analects: 1. "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good." (Translated by James Legge) This "sense of shame" is somewhat an internalization of duty, where the punishment precedes the evil action, instead of following it in the form of laws as in Legalism.

Related Topics:
James Legge - Duty - Legalism

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While he supported the idea of the all-powerful Emperor, probably because of the chaotic state of China at his time, his philosophies contained a number of elements to limit the power of the rulers. He argued for according language with truth—thus honesty was of the most paramount importance. Even in facial expression, one sought always to achieve this. In discussing the relationship between a son and his father (or a subject and his king), he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors; this demanded that the inferior must give advice to his superior if the superior was considered to be taking the wrong course of action in a given situation.

Related Topics:
Truth - Honesty - Facial expression

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This was built upon by his disciple Mencius to argue that if the king was not acting like a king, he would lose the Mandate of Heaven and be overthrown. Therefore, tyrannicide is justified because a tyrant is more a thief than a king (but attempted tyrannicide is not).

Related Topics:
Mencius - Mandate of Heaven - Tyrannicide - Tyrant

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