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Book Review: the Analects of Confucius

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Book Review: The Analects of Confucius

China experienced a lot of the revolutionary changes and a proliferation of new ideas in the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period. These periods can be represented as chaotic periods, so eventually there were many tries for solving the disorders of the societies by many philosophers[1]. Philosophers in those periods tried to address within these historical context and requests such as the needs for stability and reunification. Among them, Confucius has become the most noticeable philosopher, and his thought, Confucianism, has influenced significantly the cultures and histories of countries in East Asia such as China, Korea, and Japan. The analects of Confucius is a record of words …show more content…

For example, there is a conversation with Confucius and his disciple, “Tzu-kung said, ‘If you had a piece of beautiful jade here, would you put it away safely in a box or would you try to sell it for a good price?’ The Master said, ‘Of course I would sell it. Of course I would sell it. All I am waiting for is the right offer[7].’ This conversation showed that Confucius wanted to use his ideas in ruling a state but he could not get the right offer from rulers. The rulers of states in his time needed more practical thoughts to gain an edge over each others, but unfortunately the rulers considered Confucianism too idealistic to rule their states. The Spring and Autumn period was so chaotic, and doubtless the ideas of Confucius which cultivating virtue can bring stability sounded plausible; however, his thoughts could not be accepted as a realistic solution to the rulers in that period.

Also, Confucianism could not get close attentions from the common people in the Spring and Autumn period. The people had experienced hard times. It made them desire realistic ideas which were closely related to their daily life, and perhaps the people looked for supernatural things which they could rely on. However, there was some dissidence between the people’s needs in that time and the ideas of Confucius. Most of all, Confucianism was useless for the actual people’s life. People in that period were so absorbed in their own living that they could not

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