preview

Essay on Confucianism and Daoism

Decent Essays

Confucianism and Daoism Confucian and Daoist views were important for the shaping and development of mankind in the past. They were views that existed among the eastern Asian countries. They had both similarities and differences in the way they shaped out self-knowledge and self-cultivation. Also there was other outside forces that played a major role in their theories. Nature and art were said to have helped shape the human race as we know it. Confucianism and Daoism seem to be complete polar opposites but there are some similarities between the two. One way that they are similar is that they both focus on the goal of self-improvement. Their teachings both agree that people are responsible for their personal life, individual …show more content…

Do not be upset, do not be startled; all things will order themselves."(Cleary 39) Rather than disturbing the balance of nature, or being themselves disturbed by things beyond their control, they allow nature to take on its own order and find peace in that setting. A difference in self-knowledge can be determined between the two philosophies. Confucianism teaches the idea of spending more time with society learning everything you can so you can judge good from bad and promote virtue. Daoism gives a different view of self-knowledge. It promotes the belief that there is more to the world than can be studied. It says that human judgements and teachings can be flawed by lack of understanding the whole worldly picture. Instead, one should go about life with the concept of "wu-wei"(non purposeful action) which allows nature to show humans their ideal "path". Nature does not play as big of a role in Confucianism in development as it does for Daoism. Confucianism deals more with your learnings from society and strive for the ideal of a "gentleman" or "perfect man". One thing that is said to be determined by nature is that Confucius never stated whether man was born good or evil, noting that "By nature men are similar; by practice men are wide apart"(Lun Yu). Daoism has everything to do with nature. It plays the most important role in human development and knowledge . It states that humans should help

Get Access