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Confucianism
Yin/Yang Opposites
Yin
Yang
Moon
Winter
Feminine
Interior
Low
Stillness
Even Numbers
Earth
Cold
Soft
Valleys
Still Water
Gardens
Introverts
Sun
Meaning of Yin and Yang
Yin and Yang
Confucius
• In reaction to the corruption within the state,
Confucius advocated modeling behavior off of
the past.
• His teachings took hold after his death and
were written down by his disciples in a book
entitled Analects.
• Maxim: A short, pithy statement expressing a
general truth or rule of conduct : i.e. the
maxim that actions speak louder than words
On Confucius
• Confucius
Analects
• The Analects (Lun-yü) is a collection of moral and
ethical principles enunciated by the Chinese thinker
Confucius (K’ung Fu-tzu) in conversations with his
disciples.
Primary principles:
- Humanity: Doing good to others; respect of the other
- Gentleman: Moral/ethical behavior; Confucius
claimed that birth did not necessarily denote a
person was a gentleman
- Ritual: this concept goes into both ancestor worship,
respect of family, and making actions have meaning
=> ceremony
Ren (Jen)
Ren (jen) – illustrates the word’s meaning by blending two
simpler pictographs for “person” and “two” => Ren means “to
think of the other.” It is translated in many ways: “sympathy,”
“empathy,” “benevolence,” “humaneness,” “kindness,”
“consideration,” “thoughtfulness”
Connects to Confucian concept of “humanity”: “one must be
considerate of the other person through actions and words”
Li
▪ Li – often translated as “ritual propriety” (i.e. “doing
what is appropriate”; or “doing what is proper to the
situation.”
▪ Knowing and using the proper words and actions for
social life.
▪ For each situation, there are appropriate words to
say, proper ways to dress, and correct things to do.
Sometimes propriety entails the control of one’s
desires.
Xiao
Xiao - filial piety - reverence for one’s parents in life, old age, and after death
Xiao encouraged one to be good to and take care
of one's parents in life, in sickness, and to
perform ritual sacrifices after their death. Filial
piety also meant one should behave with moral
conduct both within and without of the home.
Analects
• The Master said: When one rules by means of
virtue it is like the North Star – it dwells in its
place and the other stars pay reverence to it.
• Zixia asked about filiality. The Master said, “It
is the expression on the face that is difficult.
That the young should shoulder the hardest
chores or that the eldest are served food and
wine first at meals – whenever was that what
filiality meant?”
East v. West
From what we have
studied of Asian
philosophy so far, what
are three differences
between Eastern and
Western thought?
East v. West
• East: Confucianism views self-control as a sign
of strength – and practicality.
• West: With the focus on individualism, the
notion of li may seem oppressive and suggest
weakness.
• However, in both the East and the West,
every social situation has its hidden structure.
• Cool slideshow
Review of Key Ideas
• All of society is linked
• Ren, “love” or “benevolence,” is the rational
force at the heart of all order and virtue
• A healthy civilization is one that builds itself
from the bottom up. A successful empire
begins with the virtue and correct out to be
those who have proven themselves to be the
most virtuous and wise.
•There is an order to the universe and an order
to civilization.