Confucius

What does he focus on?

What he knows and the present

• Sage kings and knowledge

Sage kings

Rulers who created perfect harmony and had heaven’s mandate/ favored by heaven so this is the closest Confucius has to heaven

—> copy them

Ritual propriety

A model for your behavior and the act of practicing it

The basic rules to establish social moral order in sync with heaven’s patterns and natural order

Mandate of Heaven

Contract between ruler and heaven

Someone is chosen by the gods / favored by heaven and therefore heaven will support him and his subjects as long as he follows natural order

Natural order

The natural way in which things are done

Ex: strawberries grown in summer

Why do rulers rule?

They have the highest moral virtue

Dynastic cycle

The cycle in which a new ruler is chosen/ the old one is thrown out

They gain the Mandate of Heaven —> peaceful —> bad things start happening —> someone else claims to have the mandate

Emotions

Match your emotions to the situation appropriately

Be in harmony with the situation and fit its natural patterns there is a time and place for all emotions

Ritual

We use ritual in order to practice our habits and train ourselves to be empathetic, considerate, snd harmonious so that it becomes second nature and no longer a conscious thought

Why does ritual work

Human nature is maleable therefore practicing good behaviors creates patterns and improves society as a whole

Are people good or bad?

You have no nature and no self, you are a sum of your interactions towards others and your environment, you exist in relation to others

Harmony

Obtained through ritual propriety, following natural order, making your responses match the moment

The 5 relstionships

1. Ruler-subject

2. Father-child

3. Husband-wife

4. Older sibling-younger sibling

5. Friend-friend

Why are the 5 relationships important?

They allow you to practice ritual propriety (modeling your behavior) within a larger ecosystem

The 5 constants

1. Humanes

2. Righteousness

3. Integrity

4. Knowledge

5. Ritual propriety

Behavior

Your behavior needs to match the moment and harmonize with those around you

Don’t disagree or break harmony

Rituals main goal

Develop a larger societal harmony, not just for discipline

Humanism

Focusing on uplifting society as a whole and on people themselves

Embodied virtue

End goal of moral development

Acting harmonious is now your second nature

The golden rule

Treating others how you want to be treated

Everyday interactions

Spread into society and better it as a whole

Civil service examination

How people move up to the scholar class, tested on the 4 books and the 5 classics

Downside to Confucianism

There is high individual cost because you place societal needs over your own and your individual freedoms