Kongzi Continued

1
Kongzi ??Continued

• Analects (Lunyu ??) 1.12
• Harmonious ease in ritual/social propriety.
• 1.15
• Whatever the circumstances, appropriate moral
  response.
• Know past (and its exemplars and patterns) for
  sake of present and future actions.

2

• 2.3 The people shaped by how they are treated
• How might many laws and much coercion make them
  clever and shameless (at least from Kongzis
  perspective)?
• How might virtue and ritual propriety (li ?) on
  the part of the leaders help the people have a
  sense of shame and be self-rectifying?

3
How is Kongzi himself an exemplar and model of
self-formation through cultivation in 2.4?
4
What is Kongzis attitude toward spirits (shen)?

• 3.12
• 6.22
• 11.12
• And prayer?
• 7.35
• And death?
• 8.7, 8.13
• And heaven?
• 14.35-36, 17.19
• And fate?

5

• Is goodness caring for others and wisdom knowing
  others (12.22)?
• Why should you always examine and make sure to
  correct yourself first?
• How is it that Confucian ethics calls on us to be
  both other-oriented and self-focused at the same
  time?
• Is it consistent that we should care for others
  as primary to our own self-cultivation?
• Why does Kongzi consider the foundation to be the
  rectification of names in 13.3?

6

• Why should one not always respond to injury with
  kindness (14.34)? Is this different than the
  teaching of Socrates or Jesus?
• What does Kongzi mean by wuwei ?? (non-action)
  in 15.5? What does it suggest that Confucian and
  Daoist thinkers share basic terms such as dao,
  de, wuwei, etc.?
• What is the significance of shu (reciprocity or
  sympathetic understanding)?
• How is shu related to the negative formulation of
  the golden rule (15.24)?

7

• What does it mean when Kongzi says Human beings
  (ren) can broaden the way (dao), it is not the
  way that broadens human beings (15.29)?
• Why is human nature similar and practice what
  differentiates humans from one another?
• What does this suggest about equality and
  inequality?
• Why is one virtue not enough?
• Why does goodness and virtue require learning?

8
What is the relation between native substance or
human nature and the need for education,
learning, and cultivation?Is it better to be
naturally good or to be cultivated for Kongzi?