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China – Classic Philosophy
Confucius – Still Relevant?
1960s – China Cultural Revolution
Confucius’ Tomb Destroyed
2008 Beijing Olympics
Torch Run at Confucius’ Birthplace
Opening Ceremony – “Harmony”
Shang & Chou Dynasties
• Yellow River basin – earliest cultures
• Shang dynasty (1,520 -1,000 BCE)
• Zhou dynasty (1,000 – 221 BCE)
- Warring States period ( 475 – 221 BCE) aka
Period of One Hundred Schools
• Stimulus to lively debate
• Biggest problems were social & ethical
• What does it take for people to get along
with each other?
• How best achieve “social harmony?”
• Spiritual
- Buddhism from India
- *Daoism (Taoism)
• Ethical
- *Confucianism
• Practical
- Legalists (used by Qin starting in 221 BCE)
• Daoism
- developed by Lao Zi
- Tao = The Way
- emphasis is spiritual, passivity & resignation
- central image of Taoist art: flowing water
- Follow one’s own nature, whether good or bad
• Legalism
- practical
- strong, central state with law & order
Confucianism
• Not religion per se, but secular morality
• Based on morality & ethics
• Drew from common Chinese tradition
- strong family loyalty, filial piety
- ancestor veneration
- respect of elders by children and husbands
by wives
- family is basis of ideal government
• Confucius venerated history
• Saw the present as a continuation of
history
• Veneration of ancestors
• Theory of “the mandate of heaven” from
Zhou dynasty until 1911 end of imperial
system
• Rulers need to demonstrate virtues
• No systemic theory
• Wanted disciples to master & internalize
older classics
• Superiority of personal exemplification
over explicit rules of behavior, “virtue
ethics”
• Best to have skilled judgment, not detailed
knowledge of the rules
• Encourage the virtuous & wise to enter
government service through
competitive exams
• Government civil service on classics &
Confucius lasted until 1905
• Five inherent, inner virtues
- righteousness
- inner integrity
- love of humanity
- altruism
- loyalty
• Acquire two external virtues
- Culture or education
- Sense of decorum or ritual
• Confucius teachings = Chinese example of
humanism
• Philosophical position emphasizing the value
and agency of human beings
• Affirms peoples’ ability to improve their lives
through the use of reason and ingenuity, as
opposed to submitting blindly to tradition or
authority or reverting to cruelty & brutality
• Confucius never addressed the central
question “Is human nature basically evil or
good?”
• Confucius: All are the same at birth, but
their upbringing makes them good or bad.
• Confucius’ main disciples: people are born
good
• Example: child about to fall into a well
• How then explain violence & brutality in
world?
(St. Augustine addresses same issue.)
• Essential problem is failure to educate
children
• EX: Seeds in the ground need water & care
• Ruler should rule by virtue, not laws &
force