Confucianism Research Paper

during the Zhou Dynasty, China was experiencing a great deal of political turmoil. A major part of this era was called the Period of the Warring States. It was a time when there were numerous wars that occurred due to the conflict that existed between seven states. (Watkins, 2013) These warring states were the Han, Wu, Zhao, Chu, Qi, Yan and Jin. According to Jerry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler of the book Traditions and Encounters, “This period forced some people to reflect on the nature of society, and the roles of humans beings within society.” The authors continued saying that it forced others to “identify principles that would restore political and social order.” (Bentley & Ziegler, 2011) The principles of Confucianism were established and followed in order to help the citizens of China to live and govern their communities more efficiently. Through Confucianism, Confucius helped legitimize China’s rule and bring about order in the mist of turmoil. The effects of Confucius’ principles are still seen and felt today in many aspects of modern day Chinese society. Veritably, there were points throughout Chinese history where Confucianism affected almost every aspect of life in China. Confucius has impacted the development of Chinese thought and culture in various ways from education to politics, to familial relationships.

During the Warring Sates Period there were three main philosophies in china, that influenced their actions and way of thinking. The three perspectives were Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism. For each there was a social thoughts, political thoughts, ethical teachings, and a way of public life. These three philosophies where created because of the political fragmentation. (McKay,Pg.70)

Amidst the chaos of political instability and constant warring of the Zhou era, arose many intellectual thinkers that brought such a profound impact in the fields of politics, religion, and philosophy. Even to this day, their influence can be seen on the many matters of China. Confucianism became the paramount school of thinking and later significant philosophies such as Daoism and Legalism gained immense recognition as well. Each party had their own proposals for creating an idealistic political society where the many problems they faced in their everyday lives could be eliminated. All three approaches were very distinct but at the same time, they contained similarities as well. In my reasoning, I find that Confucianism and Daoism

Confucianism is a time enduring philosophy that has stood up to invading clans, war, resentment, enforcement and infringement of new philosophies, and eventually, revival. For almost 80 years, up until the late 1970’s, Confucianism and its ideas and values have been all but wiped away from China. Though effort was made to remove Confucianism for good from China by the Communist leader Mao Zedong in 1949, the ideas and values were so deeply embedded into peoples mind and the culture that even suppression could not keep it out of the culture and practices. The main factor that has brought Confucianism back into the limelight in China and other East Asian countries is the recent

Confucianism is regarded as one of the primary religions that have profoundly influenced Chinese beliefs and ideologies. While Kongzi, or Confucius, is the founder of Confucianism, he is not the only philosopher who has contributed to such a significant impact on China. Similarly, the Analects of Confucius is not the single text that represents Confucianism. In fact, during different time periods throughout the history, there are a number of eminent representatives of Confucian thoughts, such as Mengzi and Xunzi. Because Confucianism aims at eliminating chaos and maintaining order in a harmonious society , they all agree that the guidance and education of virtuous Confucian pioneers are of extreme importance to achieve this

When implemented in their society, there is no doubt that they grasped Confucian conservative beliefs into their moral standards and practices. In their education system, they were accustomed to the idea of dedication, obedience, and loyalty, due to behavioural control and motivation; in their economic system, the local and national economic system was transformed into a conservative capitalist society run by Confucianism; and finally, in their social system, they created social order and divisions among equals, while respecting elders; all conservative values and practices of originating from Confucianism. Morally, whether this standard of living is right or wrong, is dependent on the individual and his or her moral values, but what can be stated is that Confucianism and its ideologies have shaped China into a conservative

In China during 406-221 BCE, the battling states between the Zhou and the Han Dynasties? were in a state of governmental disorder. Although the era was in a disruptive state, it ushered in a cultural opening that left a long lasting imprint on the Chinese history. As a result, three major belief systems surfaced Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism in an attempt to achieve a sense of political order in a disorder period. There are distinctions in the way each of the belief systems approached the many problems that plagued the Chinese society. First, all of the founders were contemporaries in China. As well as considered philosophies, who studied the future, and sat out to focus on the present rather than the past. In contrast, Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism established various paths in search of an optimistic future for the success of China. Second, both Legalism and Confucianism developed a social belief system, but are considered a religion. However, both Legalism and Confucianism purpose was to create an orderly society in the hopes of prosperity. In contrast, Daoism does

Confucianism and Daoism are two influential schools of thoughts that have existed in ancient China around the 6th century BCE. The former, led by the politician and philosopher Confucius, proposed that humans live in society according to a set of predefined rules and that they transform society through political action. Whereas the latter, led by the philosopher Lao-Tzu, promoted the idea of inaction; people should go with the flow instead of taking action to control their lives and dominate their surroundings. Although, at first glance Daoism and Confucianism seem to be two opposing philosophies, a more in depth analysis of two of their key ideas –filial piety and education—reveals that they do share some similarities.

Confucianism, often mistaken as a religion, is a philosophical system that helped shaped society during Ancient China from 551-479 B.C. A Chinese philosopher named Confucius developed the idea in hopes of eliminating China’s problem of disorder in society. The ideology of Confucianism helped Ancient China build a foundation to establish institution and social order. Confucius intent was to create social harmony in society, and in order achieve social harmony; individuals must live by moral examples of superiority. This entailed unequal relationship in human society: the father has power over his son, the husband has power of his wife, the older brother has power over his younger brother, the eldest son has power over his mother, and of course, leaders had power of individuals. With this idea, Confucius believed that this would create equal balance between the importance of families and the importance of state and nation. Juggling between these the importance of families and state had people question whether or not individuals were able to maintain serving the nation and state while fulfilling their family’s obligations. In this paper, I will be researching whether or not Confucianism benefited Ancient China’s society as a whole, or if the idea of Confucianism leads to social destruction rather than social harmony with the help of two articles. In Cui Dahua “A Weakness in Confucianism: Private and Public moral,” and Wellington Koo

One of the key characteristics of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) was the focus on creating a “new socialist culture,” which included a change in consciousness and a forceful enlightenment. The ideology of the Chinese Communist Party first played an instrumental role in their triumphant victory in 1949. Prior to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, and indeed well afterwards, Confucianism reigned as the sole ideology in China. As an old, strongly conservative governing way of life, Confucianism valued hierarchy, emphasized a correct way of living (orthopraxy) instead of a correct way of thinking (orthodoxy), stripped youths of abilities to grow their influence, and placed an immense emphasis on the emperor (Liberthal 7-8). One can see the weakening of Confucianism with the Taiping Rebellion, the first movement not to invoke the Confucian argument that a ruling dynasty had lost the Mandate of Heaven (Bianco 30). Confucianism ultimately lost its power during the May Fourth Movement, a period of Chinese history that rejected “the subordination of subject to sovereign, of son to father, of wife to husband” and advocated the “limitless potential of human reason” (Bianco 39-40). The May Fourth Movement eventually grew into Marxist thought,

However, the Confucian culture is exclusive to the contemporary political culture. In contemporary China, although socialist political culture has been widely spread and the actually implemented with the aid of the power of the state apparatus, people are still unable to completely get rid of the influence and control of traditional Confucian culture. In Confucian culture, the unity political view had the most influence, and the divine right of authority and the benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith, combined with the Chinese characteristic of the small peasant consciousness, made socialist political system also exist some traces of traditional political culture inevitably, and a large amount of the residual traditional culture values affect the process of political development in a variety of ways (Bell, 2010). Today as you can see, the development of market economy makes profound changes taken place in people's social interest structure. Corresponding to it, while people's political consciousness is fundamentally unified under the banner of socialism and patriotism, but the concrete political tendencies such as political attitude, emotion and policy orientation appear differentiation, which

Before we explore the interactions between Buddhism and Confucianism in China, it’s important to understand what each one is. Buddhism focuses on meditation and cutting off earthly ties so the cycle of death and reincarnation stops, and the soul acheives Nirvana. Confucianism is more focused on interactions between people and their place in society, and suggests ways for people to live harmoniously together. Although they both focus on respecting others and doing good deeds, conflict arose when Buddhism began to gain popularity in ancient China. In the early period of the Buddhist infiltration into Chinese culture, Buddhism caught Confucian scholars off-guard. Its appeal to the peasants culminated in Buddhist-influenced rule for some centuries, notably through China's only woman emperor, the Empress Wu.

The question of whether or not Confucianism is a religion has been explored by many writers. Its religious status has been controversial in intellectual circles since the controversy of the Chinese rites of 17th century. There have been several attempts to define the religious character of Confucianism. The arguments by Matteo Ricci that the church should accommodate ancestor worship by Christians of Chinese origin because he considered it veneration and not a true worship was the beginning of Confucianism as a religious model (Tucker, 1998).

Most ancient philosophical ideas developed in the ancient Chinese empires are believed to have their roots from Confucius. Confucianism was a simple way of life propagated by Confucius around the fifth and sixth century BC. Often perceived as a religion and other times as philosophy, it is conceivably best unspoken as a comprehensive humanism that neither slights nor denies heaven. The Chinese populaces have devotedly observed Confucianism for nearly two millennia. It has become an implicit part of their culture. However, there seem to be a cod division among its proponents holding contrasting perspectives and understanding with respect to it. The central focus of this presentation is to address the questions whether Confucianism is a religion or a philosophy or it encompasses both.

In this essay, to make it easier to understand when I begin to address the main problem presented by the question I will first give a brief outline of what the Confucian ideas and practices are. I will then do as the question asks and evaluate the critique, I will do this by going on to decide how valid I believe the critique to be and proposing some responses to it to see how the critique really holds up, before going on to discuss some alternative critiques and whether I see them to be more valid.