Download New Philosophies in China WHAP/Napp Read and Annotate: “The

New Philosophies in China
WHAP/Napp
Read and Annotate:
“The strongest influence on the training of the new Chinese bureaucracy was
Confucius. He was a scholar of a kind more likely to be found in Athens than
perhaps in any other state along the Mediterranean. More a secular than a spiritual
thinker, he saw no urgent need for a religion, for he was relatively optimistic about
human nature. He came to the view that the good life was more important than any
afterlife. He mainly called for good conduct and good citizenship, self-knowledge
and self-cultivation.
Born in 551 BC in the heartland of China, in a minor principality near the Yellow
River, he belonged to a poor and moldy wing of the aristocracy. Initially he held
rural posts such as managing a horse stable and keeping records for a granary: the
kind of minor tasks that ambitious young people now recite in their curriculum
vitae in the hope of persuading future employers that they have not been idle.
Eventually Confucius became a full-time teacher, a profession which was not then
important. He was a radical in the vital sense that he espoused learning at a time
when its status was low, but otherwise he was conservative.
He believed that the nobility should govern, wisely and humanely. He believed in a
hierarchy rather than equality. He tended to believe in the old rather than the new;
and he thought that the ancestors had much to teach the present. He praised
courtesy and loyalty, humility and kindness.
…He died at the age of 73, having created no church or institution. But his ideas
lived on, being reinterpreted by different generations. Students had to learn his
precepts by heart if they hoped to enter the Chinese bureaucracy. That it was
probably the best bureaucracy in the world, century after century, was a tribute to
his ideals of conscientious service. No other secular thinker who is influential today
has exercised that influence for a total of 2,500 years. It is a measure of the power of
ideas as distinct from masonry that Confucius has outlived the Great Wall.” ~ A
Short History of the World
1- Why was Confucius a scholar more likely to be found in Athens?
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2- Why did Confucius see no urgent need for religion?
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3- What values did Confucius believe were most important in a society?
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4- Describe Confucius’ employment record.
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5- Who did Confucius believe should govern and why did he believe in
hierarchy rather than equality?
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6- How did Confucius profoundly impact much of Chinese history?
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Notes:
I. Disorder during the Zhou dynasty
A. By the time the Zhou dynasty took power in 1122 BCE, the Mandate of
Heaven was an accepted Chinese belief
B.
C.
II.
A.
But by 500 BCE, the age of warring states (403-221 BCE) had begun
Disorder led thinkers to develop new ideas
Legalism
Believed that the solution to China’s problems lay in laws
1. A system of rewards and strict punishments
2. A pessimistic view of human nature
a) People were selfish and shortsighted
b) Only the state and rulers could act in long-term interests of society
B. Promoted farmers and soldiers
1. Believed these classes performed essential functions…others useless
III. The Qin Dynasty
A. The dominant philosophy of the Qin dynasty (221 – 206 BCE) was Legalism
1. But the brutality of the dynasty discredited Legalism
2. No ruler afterwards openly supported it but played a role in future dynasties
IV. Confucius
A. Confucius (551 – 479 BCE): most influential philosopherdynastic period
B. Sought a political position but did not find one: Spent time as a teacher
C. Students collected his teachings in a book called the Analects
D. Not based on rewards and punishments but on moral examples
E. Ideas
1. Human society consisted of unequal relationships
2. To maintain order and thus social harmony, inferiors obey superiors
3. Superiors had to protect and provide for inferiors and set good examples
4. A superior acting with benevolence motivated inferiors to obey
5. Proper behavior would lead to harmony and stability
6. Confucius emphasized education as the key to moral betterment
F. The Han dynasty encouraged Confucianism
1. The examination system was established in which candidates for
government service had to pass a rigorous examination
2. The family was the model for political life
3. Filial piety or the honoring of one’s ancestors and parents
G. Women were also affected by their status as permanent inferiors
1. Trained to serve their husbands
H. Placed great importance on history for the ideal society lay in the past
1. But opened the possibility of government service to all men
I. Confucianism also marked elite Chinese culture by its secular character
V. Daoism
A. Daoism is often associated with Laozi
B. According to tradition, Laozi was a sixth-century BCE archivist
C. Credited with writing the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching)
D. Philosopher Zhuangzi (369-286 BCE) also important
E. Ideas
1. Radically different from Confucianism
2. Viewed education and moral striving as useless
3. In the face of disorder and chaoswithdrawal into the world of nature
4. Encouraged behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural
5. The central concept of Daoism is the Dao (translated as the way)
6. It is often said that the Dao is beyond words
7. Encouraged people to live in nature and to live naturally
8. But despite differences, Daoism complemented Confucianism
9. This attitude encouraged by the ancient Chinese concept of yin and yang
Complete the Graphic Organizer Below:
Philosophies of Dynastic China
Legalism:
Ideas and Impact
Confucianism:
Ideas and Impact
Daoism:
Ideas and Impact
Strayer Question:
 What different answers to the problem of disorder arose in classical China?

Why has Confucianism been defined as a "humanistic philosophy" rather
than a supernatural religion?
 How did the Daoist outlook differ from that of Confucianism?
1. Daoism and Confucianism
4. In Chinese tradition, the Mandate
(A) Agreed on the importance of
of Heaven refers to
education.
(A) Chinese ethnocentric
(B) Disagreed on the need for
tendencies
personal reflection.
(B) Eternal authority of a ruling
(C) Taught that active political
dynasty
involvement was essential to
(C) Divine blessing of the rule of
stable society.
an emperor
(D) Agreed on how to address the
(D) Belief in many gods
turmoil after the fall of the Zhou
(E) The goal of Buddhist
dynasty.
meditation
(E) Based their teachings on Chinese
traditions.
5. In which of the following periods
of Chinese history did Confucius
2. Which of the following qualifies
live?
as an example of Confucius’
(A) Qin dynasty
“Five Basic Relationships”?
(B) Late Zhou dynasty “Era of
(A) Ruler-subject
Warring States”
(B) Father-son
(C) Han dynasty
(C) Friend-friend
(D) Sui dynasty
(D) Husband-wife
(E) Shang dynasty
(E) All of the above
6. Daoist thought tends to
3. Which of the following choices
emphasize
contains belief systems that
(A) Respect for the emperor
originated in China?
(B) Harmony with nature
I.
Confucianism
(C) Authority of the father
II.
Legalism
(D) The struggle of the poor for
III.
Daoism
justice
IV.
Buddhism
(A) I, II, and IV
7. Daoist conceptions of nature
(B) I and II
emphasized
(C) II and III
(A) A single omnipresent God
(D) I, II, III, and IV
(B) Understanding through
(E) I, II, and III
science
(C) Harmony and balance
(D) Numerous minor gods that
intervened in human affairs
Write a thesis statement about China’s classical philosophies: