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- DictionaryCon·fu·cian·ism/kənˈfyo͞oSHənˌiz(ə)m/
noun
- 1. a system of philosophical and ethical teachings founded by Confucius and developed by Mencius.
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Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy (humanistic or rationalistic), religion, theory of government, or way of life.
Confucius (孔子; pinyin: Kǒngzǐ; lit. ' Master Kong '; c. 551 – c. 479 BCE), born Kong Qiu (孔丘), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages, as well as the first teacher in China to advocate for mass education.
- The Confucius of History
- The Confucius of The Analects
- Theodicy
- Harmonious Order
- Moral Force
- Self-Cultivation
- The Confucius of Myth
- The Confucius of The State
- Key Interpreters of Confucius
- References and Further Reading
Sources for the historical recovery of Confucius’ life and thought are limited to texts that postdate his traditional lifetime (551-479 BCE) by a few decades at least and several centuries at most. Confucius’ appearances in Chinese texts are a sign of his popularity and utility among literate elites during the Warring States (403-221 BCE), Qin (221...
Above all else, the Analects depicts Confucius as someone who “transmits, but does not innovate” (7.1). What Confucius claimed to transmit was the Dao (Way) of the sages of Zhou antiquity; in the Analects, he is the erudite guardian of tradition who challenges his disciples to emulate the sages of the past and restore the moral integrity of the sta...
Those familiar with Enlightenment-influenced presentations of Confucius as an austere humanist who did not discuss the supernatural may be surprised to encounter the term “theodicy” as a framework for understanding Confucius’ philosophical concerns. Confucius’ record of silence on the subject of the divine is attested by the Analects (5.13, 7.21, 1...
The dependence of Tian upon human agents to put its will into practice helps account for Confucius’ insistence on moral, political, social, and even religious activism. In one passage (17.19), Confucius seems to believe that, just as Tian does not speak but yet accomplishes its will for the cosmos, so too can he remain “silent” (in the sense of bei...
The last quotation from the Analects introduces a term perhaps most famously associated with a very different early Chinese text, the Laozi (Lao-tzu) or Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) – de (te), “moral force.” Like Tian, de is heavily freighted with a long train of cultural and religious baggage, extending far back into the mists of early Chinese history...
In the Analects, two types of persons are opposed to one another – not in terms of basic potential (for, in 17.2, Confucius says all human beings are alike at birth), but in terms of developed potential. These are the junzi (literally, “lord’s son” or “gentleman”; Tu Wei-ming has originated the useful translation “profound person,” which will be us...
While the Analects is valuable, albeit not infallible, as a source for the reconstruction of Confucius’ thought, it is far from being the only text to which Chinese readers have turned in their quest for discovering his identity. During the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), numerous hagiographical accounts of Confucius’ origins and deeds were produced,...
Such mythmaking was very important to the emerging imperial Chinese state, however, as it struggled to impose cultural unity on a vast and fractious territory during the final few centuries BCE and beyond into the Common Era. After the initial persecution of Confucians during the short-lived Qin dynasty (221-202 BCE), the succeeding Han emperors an...
Detailed discussion of Confucius’ key interpreters is best reserved for an article on Confucian philosophy. Nonetheless, an outline of the most important commentators and their philosophical trajectories is worth including here. The two best known early interpreters of Confucius’ thought – besides the compilers of the Analects themselves, who worke...
Allan, Sarah. The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997.Allinson, Robert E. “The Golden Rule as the Core Value in Confucianism and Christianity: Ethical Similarities and Differences.” Asian Philosophy 2/2 (1992): 173-185.Ames, Roger T., and Henry Rosemont, Jr., trans. The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation.New York: Ballatine, 1998.Ames, Roger T. “The Focus-Field Self in Classical Confucianism,” in Self as Person in Asian Theory and Practice, ed. Roger T. Ames (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994), 187-212.Confucianism (Chinese: 儒家, Pinyin: rújiā, literally " The School of the Scholars "; or, less accurately, 孔教 kŏng jiào, "The Religion of Kong") is an East Asian school of ethical, philosophical, and (more contentiously) religious thought originally developed from the teachings of the early Chinese sage Confucius (551 - 479 B.C.E. ).
Apr 23, 2010 · Confucius was born to a once-aristocratic family in a small state called Lu, in northeastern China in 551 B.C., just before a period of political chaos known as the Warring States Period.
Nov 16, 2023 · Confucianism. Confucianism is the worldview on politics, education and ethics taught by Confucius and his followers in the fifth and sixth centuries B.C. Although Confucianism is not an organized ...
Confucianism, the way of life propagated by Confucius (6th–5th century BCE) and followed by the Chinese people for more than two millennia. Still the substance of learning, the source of values, and the social code of the Chinese, it has also influenced other countries, particularly Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
