The Confucian Project

1
The Confucian Project

• An Introduction

2
Confucius

• Kung Chiu
• Kung Fu--tzu
• 551-479 BCE
• Humble origins
• Never got (a substantial) government post
• Claimed he was NOT an innovator

3
The Problem

• Collapse of the Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (ca. 1027-256
  BCE)

4
The Problem

• Collapse of the Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (1122-221
  BCE)
• How do we make life/society more livable
  (humane)?

5
The Problem

• Collapse of the Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (1122-221
  BCE)
• How do we make life/society more livable
  (humane)?
• Force?

6
The Problem

• Collapse of the Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (1122-221
  BCE)
• How do we make life/society more livable
  (humane)?
• Force? (Realism)
• Love? (Mohism)

7
Confucian Project

• The Confucian Project is learning to be human
  it is not accepting fate. It is the recognition
  of primordial ties and the recognition that these
  ties can be transforming. -Tu Wei-Ming

8
The Confucian Project

• A Confucian who is bent on self-cultivation
  positions himself or herself squarely in the
  center of ever-shifting, never-ending
  cross-currents of human relationship and would
  not wish things otherwise . . .The point is not
  merely that human relationship are fulfilling . .
  . It is rather that apart from human
  relationships there is not a self. The self is a
  center of relationships. It is constructed
  through its interactions with others and is
  defined by the sum of its social roles. --Huston
  Smith

9
Key Concepts

• Ren (jen) human being two-- goodness,
  benevolence, love. A sense of the dignity of
  human life.

10
Key Concepts

• Ren
• Junzi/Chun-tzu the superior person, mature
  person, the person who accommodates the other,
  the perfect host/hostess, so self-assured that
  he/she can defer to others

11
Key Concepts

• Ren
• Junzi
• Li
• The way things should be done.

12
Key Concepts

• Ren
• Junzi
• Li
• The way things should be done.
• The Doctrine of the Mean, -- the middle way
  between extremes

13
Key Concepts

• Jen/ren
• Chun-tzu
• Li
• The way things should be done.
• Ritual
• Propriety
• The Doctrine of the Mean,
• The Five Constant Relationships

14
Five Constant Relationships

• Parent/Child
• Husband/Wife
• Elder Sibling/Younger Sibling
• Elder Friend/Junior Friend
• Ruler/Subject
• These all depend on the key concepts of
• The Rectification of Names
• Shu (Reciprocity)
• Xiao (filial piety)
• The Mandate of Heaven

15
Key Concepts

• Ren
• Junzi
• Li
• Te power, virtue, the power by which people rule
  and are ruled, virtuous power
• (Politically) Three essentials of government
• Economic sufficiency
• Military sufficiency
• Confidence of its people (this is the most
  important)

16
Key Concepts

• Jen/ren
• Chun-tzu
• Li
• Te
• Wen the arts of peace
• People indifferent to art are only half human
• Art has power to transform human nature
• It makes regard for others easy
• The nation with the highest, most noble culture

17
Is Confucianism a Religion?

• Cicero
• Religion as binding force
• Religion as re-reading/interpreting

18
Is Confucianism a Religion?

• Cicero
• Huston Smith
• way of life woven around ultimate concerns
• concern to align humanity with the
  transcendental ground of its existence

19
Is Confucianism a Religion?

• Heaven and earth seen as a continuum, but
  Confucius seemed to shift the emphasis to earth
• Heaven as a source of virtue
• Self-community//Heaven-earth

20
Key Cultural Impact

• East Asias social emphasis

21
Key Cultural Impact

• East Asias social emphasis
• Conspicuous Social Effectiveness

22
Key Cultural Impact

• East Asias social emphasis
• Conspicuous Social Effectiveness
• Almost seamless religious syncretism

23
Key Cultural Impact

• East Asias social emphasis
• Conspicuous Social Effectiveness
• Almost seamless religious syncretism
• Importance of the Family

24
Key Cultural Impact

• East Asias social emphasis
• Conspicuous Social Effectiveness
• Almost seamless religious syncretism
• Importance of the Family
• Respect for the elderly

25
Key Cultural Impact

• East Asias social emphasis
• Conspicuous Social Effectiveness
• Almost seamless religious syncretism
• Importance of the Family
• Respect for the elderly
• Preference for negotiation and mediation

26
Key Cultural Impact

• East Asias social emphasis
• Conspicuous Social Effectiveness
• Almost seamless religious syncretism
• Importance of the Family
• Respect for the elderly
• Preference for negotiation and mediation
• Learning/arts key to human transformation

27
In America's ideal of freedom, the public
interest depends on private character, on
integrity and tolerance toward others, and the
rule of conscience in our own lives.
Self-government relies, in the end, on the
governing of the self. That edifice of character
is built in families, supported by communities
with standards, and sustained in our national
life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the
Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied
faiths of our people. Americans move forward in
every generation by reaffirming all that is good
and true that came before ideals of justice and
conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and
forever.
--George W. Bush, U.S. Presidential Inaugural
address, 1/20/2005
28
(No Transcript)
29
junzi chun-tzu "gentleman" ren jen
"Goodness" Dao Tao "the Way" yi "rightness
zhong "role-specific duty" shu "sympathetic
understanding" xiao "filial piety"