CONFUCIUS

I.            Biography & Texts

•      Confucius: 551-479 BCE

–   Kong Fu Zi - Pinyin

–   K’ung Fu-tzu - Wade-Giles

 

•      Texts

–   Book of Rites

–   Spring and Autumn Annals

–   Analects (Lun Yu)

II.            Historical Context

•      The Period of Warring States

–  The four centuries preceding the end of the Zhou Dynasty (c.1025- 255 BCE)

 

•      The Period of a Hundred Philosophers
 –  Confucius' aim was to develop a set of moral and political principles that would produce a stable political and social order in which people could flourish

III.            Social Philosophy & Ethics

 

•      Dao (Tao) – the way of the ancient sages who understood the natural order

 

•      Xiΰo – filial piety

–  Family

–  Hierarchical: superior/inferior

–  Cardinal Relationship

husband and wife

father and son

elder brother and younger brother

friend and friend

 ruler and subject

 

•      Li

–   System of customs and manners: PROPRIETY

•Social and aesthetic norms that guide people in their social relations

•Ceremonial code for the nobles

–   Proposed to extend beyond the court to include the entire social order

– This would support a system of relationships in accordance with Dao and create a healthy social structure

 

•      Levels of Human Perfection

–  Divine Sage, sheng ren (sheng jen)

–  Superior Man, junzi (chun-tzu) (literally “lord’s son” or “gentleman”; profound or superior person, a man of complete virtue)
    - an attainable moral ideal
    - created, not born

–  Small Man, xiao ren (hsiao-jen), (literally "small man", often rendered as "common man", "mean man", "lesser man")

 

•      Ren (jen)

–   human-heartedness, compassion, or benevolence

–   the most important virtue a person could possess; to embody benevolence is to achieve moral perfection

–   "Do not do to others what you would not like yourself" (XII,2; XV,23)

IV.       Political Philosophy

•      Tendency of people to follow models

•      Proper governance = Superior Men are appointed to positions of influence
        –   theory of rectifying names (zhengming)

•      Golden Age