Confucius
Philosophy of Confucius and China
Ancient philosophy
Confucius
Full name Kong Qiu Kong Qiu.
Born on September 28th, 55 1 year BC.
Qufu in China
Died in 479 BC
Qufu in China
Founder of Confucianism/Tradition
My main interests are moral philosophy, social philosophy and ethics.
Confucian thought
Influenced by [the show]
China Thought in Zhou Dynasty
Affected [displayed]
Many eastern philosophers, Christian Wolff and robert cummings Neville.
This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.
Confucius (Chinese: Confucius; Pinyin: k ǒ ng f ū z ǐ; Wade giles: confucius), literature. "Master Kong", [1] (September 28th, 55 BC1year-479 BC) was a thinker and social philosopher in China. His theory and philosophy deeply influenced the thoughts and lives of China people, Koreans, Japanese people, Taiwan Province people and Vietnamese people.
His philosophy emphasizes the morality of individuals and governments, the correctness, justice and sincerity of social relations. These values gained a position beyond other theories in China, such as Legalism or Taoism in the Han Dynasty. Confucius' thought has developed into a philosophical system called Confucianism. . Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit, introduced it to Europe, and he was the first person to Latin the name "Confucius".
His teacher may find it in The Analects of Confucius, a collection of "short anthropological fragments" compiled many years after his death. Modern historians don't believe that any specific document can be said to be written by Confucius. [5] [6] But in recent 2000 years, he has always considered himself the editor or author of all the Five Classics [7] [8], such as The Book of Rites (editor) and Spring and Autumn Annals (author).
Content [hide]
1 personal life and family
2 teaching
Three names
4 philosophy
4. 1 code of ethics
4.2 Politics
5 Disciples and Legacy
6 Confucius' Commemorative Ceremony
7 influence in Asia and Europe
8 hometown
Nine offspring
10 See Synonyms at 0
1 1 reference
12 further reading
13 external link
Personal life and family
According to tradition, Confucius was born in 55 BC1year, during the Spring and Autumn Period, at the beginning of hundred schools of thought's philosophical movement. Confucius was born in or near Qufu City (now a part of Shandong Province) in Lu, China. Early reports said that he was born into a poor but noble family, which was in trouble. [9]
Historical Records, compiled about 400 years later, shows that the marriage of confident parents is not in line with the ceremony, so it is a kind of wild marriage, or "illegal marriage". [10] When they got married, his father was a very old man, past the age of marriage, but his mother was only in her twenties. When Confucius was three years old, his father died, and he was raised by his mother in poverty. His rising social status connects him with the growing taxi class, which is between the old aristocracy and the common people, and is composed of people who seek social status according to their talents and skills rather than heredity.
It is said that when I was a child, Confirmius liked to put vases for ceremonies on sacred tables. He married a young girl named Qi Quan (official) in 19, and she gave birth to their first child, Kong Li (Kong Li), when he was 20 years old. It is reported that Conficus worked as a shepherd, a coward, a clerk and a bookkeeper. [12] Confucius' mother died at the age of 23 and entered a three-year mourning period.
It is said that at the age of 53, Lu was promoted to Minister of Justice because he was found guilty. According to Records of the Historian, the neighboring State of Qi was worried that Lu would become too powerful. Qi decided to undermine the reform of Lu, and gave the Duke of Lu 65,438,000 fine horses and 80 beautiful dancers. The duke indulged in pleasure and didn't handle official business for three days. Deeply disappointed, Confucius decided to leave Lu to look for better opportunities, but leaving immediately would expose the duke's bad behavior, which would bring public shame to the rulers served by Confucius, so Confucius waited for the duke to make a smaller mistake. Soon, Qi Huangong forgot to give Confucius a piece of sacrificial meat due by custom, and Confucius took this opportunity to leave his post and Lu. [ 10][ 14]
According to tradition, after his resignation, Confucius began a long journey (or a series of trips) around the little kings in northeast and central China, including Wei (Wei), Song (Song), Chen (Chen) and Cai (Cai). In state courts, he made public his political beliefs, but did not see them realized.
According to Zuo Zhuan Chun Qiu, Confucius returned to China at the age of 68. The Analects of Confucius depicts him teaching his disciples in his later years and transmitting ancient wisdom through a set of texts called the Five Classics. [ 16][ 17]
He died at the age of 72 or 73 under the heavy burden of losing his son and favorite disciple. [20]
theory
In The Analects of Confucius, Confucius described himself as a "communicator who invented nothing". [7] He emphasized the importance of learning, [2 1][22] and it was the Chinese character "learning" that opened the text. In this respect, he is regarded as the greatest master in China. [23] He is far from trying to establish a systematic theory of life and society or a ritual formalism. He hopes that his disciples will think deeply for themselves and study the outside world unremittingly, [24] mainly through ancient scriptures, and by comparing the current moral problems with past political events (such as chronicles) or the emotional expressions of ordinary people and elite members in the past (preserved in the poems of The Book of Songs [25]). [26]
In the midst of division, chaos and endless wars between feudal countries, he hoped to restore the destiny of unifying the "world" (that is, China) and the people for the best peace and prosperity. [27] Because his ideal of personal and social perfection is based on the revival of early orderly society, Confucius is often regarded as a strong supporter of conservatism, but if you look closely at his suggestions, you will find that he often uses (perhaps distorts) the past systems and rituals to promote his own new political agenda: the revival of a unified royal country, whose rulers will inherit power according to their moral quality rather than their origins; [28][29] These are rulers who are loyal to the people and pursue personal and social perfection. [30] Such rulers will spread their virtues to the people, instead of imposing appropriate behaviors by laws and rules. [3 1]
One of the most profound teachings of Confucius may be that personal demonstration is better than clear rules of conduct. Because his moral teaching emphasizes self-cultivation, the imitation of moral model and the acquisition of skilled judgment, rather than the knowledge of rules, Confucius' ethics can be regarded as a virtue ethics. His teaching seldom relies on reasonable argumentation, and his ethical ideals and methods are conveyed indirectly through allusions, innuendos and even tautology. This is why his teachings need to be examined and put in a proper environment to be understood. [32][33] A good example can be found in this famous anecdote:
The stairs are burning. Zi retired from the DPRK and said, "Do you hurt the people?" Don't ask the horse.
When the stable was burned down, Confucius came back from the court and said, "Is anyone hurt?" He didn't ask about the horse.
The Analects of Confucius X. 1 1, tr. A. Wiley
This article conveys such a lesson: Confucius does not ask questions about horses, which proves that saints value people more than property; Readers of this lesson will think about whether their response will follow Confucius, and if not, they will pursue moral self-improvement. Confucius is an excellent model of mankind and the ultimate model, not a god or a set of universally applicable abstract principles. For these reasons, according to the views of many eastern and western critics, Confucius' theory can be regarded as a China example of humanism. [34]
Perhaps his most famous teaching is the golden rule stated in negative form, which is often called the silver rule:
Zi Gong asked, "Who has a saying that he can walk all his life?" . Confucius said, forgive, don't do to others what you don't want.
Confucius asked, "Is there a word that can guide a person's life?"
The master replied, "Never impose on others what you don't want to choose."
The Analects of Confucius XV 24, tr. David Hinton
Confucius' teaching was later turned into a set of very fine rules and practices by his many disciples and followers, who organized his teaching into The Analects. In the centuries after his death, Mencius [35] and Xunzi [36] both wrote important theories and expounded the basic ideas related to Confucius in different ways. With the passage of time, these works, together with The Analects of Confucius and other core texts, constitute a collection of philosophical works called Confucianism in the West. More than a thousand years later, scholar Zhu created a completely different interpretation of Confucianism, which is now called neo-Confucianism to distinguish it from the ideas expressed in The Analects. Until 1800, Neo-Confucianism had been dominant in China and Viet Nam.
name
Confucius (illustrations from myths and legends. The Legend of China, 1922, by E.T.C. Werner) Luo Mingjian and other Jesuits after him, while translating Chinese books into western languages, translated Confucius into believing. This Latin form has been widely used in western countries.
In the romanization of the system:
Kǒng Fūzǐ in pinyin (or Kǒng fū zǐ).
Kung fu in Kung Fu.
Fūzǐ means teacher. According to China culture, it is disrespectful to call a teacher by his first name, so even in modern times, he is called "Confucius".
The character "symbol" is optional; In modern Chinese, he is more often called Kong Zi.
His real name is Kong Qiu. In China, the surname is a common surname.
(In Liu Zhenhua's Wade-Giles translation, this name appears as Kung Ch'iu. )
His nickname is Zhong Ni.
In 9 BC (the first year of the Han and Yuan Dynasties), he was named Xuanni Gong by posthumous title, which means "praising colorful Ni".
His most popular posthumous title is?
To the Saint, to the Saint, Shi Zhi è ngxi ā nsh:, which means "the former teacher who arrived at Saint Hood" (from 1530, the ninth year of Jian 'an in Ming Dynasty);
The most holy, the most holy, "the greatest saint";
Teacher, teacher, Xi ā nsh:, literally means "the first teacher". However, it is suggested to use "teacher" to express the meaning similar to "teacher who helps the wise to concentrate". [38]
He is also known as a generation of teachers and a "model teacher" of Chinese.
philosophy
Main article: Confucianism
The Portrait of Confucius by Wu Daozi (680-740) in the Tang Dynasty. Although China people often believe in Confucianism in a religious way, the debate about whether it is a religion continues. Confucianism lacks an afterlife, and its texts express complex and contradictory views on God. It is relatively indifferent to some spiritual issues that are usually considered essential in religious thought, such as the essence of the soul.
Confucius' principles have been widely accepted, mainly because they are based on common China traditions and beliefs. He supported strong family loyalty, ancestor worship, children's respect for their elders (according to later explanations, wives' respect for their husbands), and the family as the basis of an ideal government. He expressed the well-known principle, "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" (similar to the golden rule). He also recalled the early days with nostalgia, and urged China people, especially those with political power, to follow the early examples.
Because no documents apparently written by Confucius have been handed down, and the thoughts most closely related to him were elaborated in detail in his works from his death to the establishment of the first Chinese Empire in 22 1 BC, many scholars are very cautious in attributing specific conclusions to Confucius himself.
moral philosophy
Confucian ethical theory, represented by Lu Chunqiu, is based on three important concepts of life: rituals related to ancestor worship and various types of gods, social and political systems, and etiquette of daily behavior. Some people think Lou is from heaven. Confucius' point of view is more subtle. His method emphasizes the development of Lu through the behavior of sage leaders in human history, rather than its connection with heaven. His discussion of lǐ seems to redefine the word, which refers to all actions taken by a person to build an ideal society, not just those rituals that simply meet the norms and standards. In the early Confucian tradition, although it was still associated with traditional forms of behavior, Laozi began to point out the balance between maintaining these norms to make the moral social structure permanent and violating them to achieve morality and goodness. These concepts are about doing the right thing at the right time, and they are related to the belief that the training in lǐ designed by the sages in the past has cultivated people's virtues, including the moral judgment about when lǐ must be adjusted according to the situational background.
In early confidence, y (meaning) and l ǐ are closed conjunctions. Y can be translated into rights, although it may only mean what is the best moral practice in a specific environment. This term contrasts with self-interest behavior. Although it is not necessarily a bad thing to pursue one's own self-interest, if one bases his life on the road of pursuing greater interests, he will become a better and more upright person. This is to do the right thing for the right reason. Y is based on reciprocity.
Just as Lǐ' s actions should adapt to the ambition of adhering to Y ǐ, Y ǐ is linked with the core value of REN, which is a virtual reality that perfectly fulfills its responsibilities to others, and is most often translated as "benevolence" or "benevolence"; Translator arthur waley called it "kindness" (capital letter G), and other proposed translations, including "authority" and "selflessness", Confucius' moral system was based on empathy and understanding of others, not divine rules. It is even better to develop a person's natural reaction so that he can guide his actions intuitively than to live according to the rule of "Y". In order to cultivate their concern for "benevolence", people use another Confucian version of the golden rule: treat others as you want them to treat you. According to the Confucian point of view, virtue is based on harmony with others, which is produced through this type of moral practice and constant recognition of the interests of oneself and others.
In this regard, Confucius expounded the early version of the golden rule:
"What a person doesn't want to do, he shouldn't do to others; What a person thinks he wants, he should be willing to give it to others. " (Confucius and Confucianism, Wei Lixian)
politics
Confucius' political thought is based on his ethical thought. He believes that the best government is governed by "courtesy" and people's natural morality, not by bribery and coercion. He explained that this is one of the most important Analects of Confucius: 1. "If people are led by law and seek unity for them through punishment, they will try to avoid punishment, but they have no shame. If they are guided by virtue and seek unity through appropriate rules, they will be ashamed and will become better. " (Translated by James Legge) {University} This sense of shame is an internalization of responsibility, and punishment precedes evil behavior, instead of following it in the form of law like legalism.
Although he supported the idea of ruling the government by an all-powerful saint as an emperor, perhaps because of the chaotic state in China at that time, his idea contained many factors that restricted the power of the rulers. He advocates giving truth to language; Therefore, honesty is the most important thing. Even in facial expressions, truth must always be expressed. When discussing the relationship between subjects and kings (or sons and fathers), he emphasized the necessity of giving due respect to superiors. This requires that if the superior is considered to have taken the wrong action, the subordinate must make suggestions to the superior. This was established by Confucius' modern disciple Mencius a century after his death. Mencius believed that if the king did not act like a king, he would lose his destiny and be overthrown. Therefore, regicide is justified, because tyrants are thieves rather than kings. Other Confucian documents, although praising the absolute rule of moral sages, also admit the failure of real rulers, such as "a tyrannical government is more terrible than a tiger."
Some famous Confucian sayings:
"When you have shortcomings, don't be afraid to give them up."
Do as you would be done by.
"Coarse rice to eat, water to drink, my bent arm as a pillow-not happy? Wealth and honor gained through improper means are like floating clouds to me. "
If you can't call anyone else, you can page me and I'll give you the information.