Confucianism

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Confucianism
IAS 2540 / UGD 2270 History of Traditional
Chinese Thought
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• Ju (Confucian) (an educated man)
• Confucius
• 72 disciples
• Mencius (Meng Tzu)( c.372-289B.C.) Hsun Tzu
• Native of a small state Tsou adjacent to
  Confucius native state of Lu.
• Mencius is usually considered as the second great
  figure in the development of Confucian thought.

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Mencius(c.372-289B.C.)
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• During the century between the death of Confucius
  and the birth of mencius, a few Confucian schools
  developed.
• One stressed filial piety (Hsiao) and spiritual
  and ethical concerns of the Confucian teachings
• Another school became deeply involved in the
  study of ritual (li)
• A third school stressed the practice of politics
  and
• A fourth school became noted for its purely
  philosophical and even metaphysical
  specialization.

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• Only 2 Chinese philosophers have the distinction
  of being know consistently to the west by a
  Latinized name (by Voltaire). The first is
  Confucius. The second is Mencius. for he
  (Mencius) is without doubt second only to
  Confucius in importance in the Confucian
  tradition, a fact officially recognized in China
  for over a thousand years. (D.C. Lau, Mencius,
  ix)

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The Theory of human Nature

• Mencius argued that all people are born by
  nature.
• Mencius believed that all people are good at
  birth, but they may be corrupted into developing
  bad practices habits of minds by the
  environment, unless they strive to preserve their
  innate goodness.

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• (Cf. Hsun Tzu in the next generation insisted on
  the opposite answer, that is, human nature is
  wicked or evil! Thus, Hsun Tzu is described
  as a tough-minded philosopher in contrast to
  Mencius as a tender- minded)

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• Mencius Heart of Compassion According to
  Mencius, suppose a man were, all of a sudden, to
  see a young child on the verge of falling into a
  well. He would certainly moved to compassion, not
  because he wanted to get in the good graces of
  the parents, nor because he wished to win the
  praise of his fellow villagers of friends, nor
  yet because he disliked the cry of the child.
  (II.A.6 tr. D.C. Lau)
• (Cf. Mencius theory of the oodness of human
  nature with the theory of Hsun Tzu that human
  nature is bad.)

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• To Mencius, everyone is born with the buds of
  benevolence or goodness (jen), righteousness
  (yi), respect (li), the knowing capacity,
  especially the capacity to distinguish good and
  bad (chih). To Mencius, the difference between a
  chun-tzu (gentleman) and a small man is that the
  former pursues morality with single-minded
  dedication while the latter pursues profit
  (VII.A.25 tr. D.C. Lau). To Mencius, when
  self-interest comes into conflict with morality,
  self-interest should give way. Life is what I
  want dutifulness (yi) also what I want. If I
  cannot have both, I would rather take dutifulness
  than life. (VI.A.10 tr. D.C. Lau)

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• Mencius political theory
• The state exits because it ought to exist, as it
  is the logical culmination of natural human
  relationships.
• (Mencius lived in times even more troubled than
  those of Confucius, the date of whose death
  conventionally considered to be the beginning of
  an era know as the Period of the Warring States.)

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Hsun Tzu (c.298-238 B.C.)
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• Hsun Tzu (c.298-238 B.C.)
• Unlike Confucius Mencius, Hsun Tzu spent most
  of his life as a regional administrator in the
  local government.
• Hsun Tzu was probably one of the first great
  Confucian philosophers who devotes much of his
  life to the practical affairs of government.

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• Hsun Tzu taught 2 bright young disciples who
  later left the Confucian school and became the
  founders of the Legalist school
• Han Fei
• Li Ssc (who helped the First Emperor of Chin
  united China through military conquest later.)

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• Therefore, Hsun Tzu is sometimes looked upon as a
  traitor to Confucianism or a kind of
  proto-Legalist.
• Hsun Tzu believed in the necessity for a strong
  and highly centralized government in which the
  position of the ruler would be elevated to
  heights unknown to that time.

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• On Human nature
• Hsun Tzu
• Our basic nature is lustful and animal, and that
  instead of freely expressing that nature, we must
  curb refine it (by education)
• (that is, just opposite to Mencius)

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• Hsun Tzus philosophy was a philosophy of
  culture the pursuit refinement of culture is a
  persons basic vocation and the core of that
  culture is li (ritual, respect ), the ritual
  ordinances governing behavior.

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• In the thought of Hsun Tzu, li became a
  comprehensive idea, involving ceremonies,
  rituals, the rules of social conduct, the norms
  of political behavior, the private standards by
  which one governs ones own emotions actions.
• In society, li sets reasonable limits to the
  satisfaction of desires.
• (We start with love/emotion, we stop at li
  ritual, retraint)

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• In upholding the teachings of the Confucian
  tradition, Mencius was vigorous in combating what
  he considered heretical views. In particular, he
  was untiring in his attacks on the schools of
  Yang Chu and Mo Tzu. In the case of Yang Chu it
  is the doctrine of egoism (Even if one could
  benefit the empire by pulling out one hair, he
  would not do it i.e. extreme selfishness),
  while in the case of Mo Tzu, it is that of love
  without discrimination. (There should be no
  gradation in love, i.e., the other extreme).