China: Notable Philosophers (and their Works and Notable Biographical Information) and their Concepts (and Explanations) and Movements / Schools (and their Characteristics and other Notable Facts)

551 BCE - 479 BCE - Confucius / Kung-Fu-Tzu / Kong Qiu // Confucianism (All Facts)

• Chinese Philosopher

• Born into the lesser nobility of the principality of Lu in the region of Shandong

• He worked for a time as a civil servant, where he was in charge of supervising granaries

• He tried convincing Chinese rulers to follow his advice on how to institute sound government but failed to find one that would do so

  • Thus, he turned to private teaching

  • From there, he continued to refine his doctrines until his death

• Argued that long ago people lived in a serene age when everyone knew his place in society and carried out the duties that went with it

  • His doctrines seek a return to that time

  • He claimed that the principles of this time in the distant past were forgotten or obscured over the centuries

• At the heart of his teaching is the concept of order: that everything in the universe had a rightful and natural place or position

  • He argued that order could be ensured if people, especially those in government, stuck to their moral obligations towards each other and towards society as a whole

  • Thus, this ideal favored those institutions which were most inclined to lead to the persistence of order, most notably the family and social hierarchy

  • He argued that ensuring order required

    • honesty, integrity, and respect for elders and betters

    • unpatronizing fairness towards people in lower social positions

• Proposed that government rulers and administrators adhere to four things, which were

  • Care and respect for records

  • Decent conduct

  • Loyalty

  • Faithfulness towards superiors and colleagues

• Believed that a good administrator who carried out his duties scrupulously could expect to be rewarded without pursuing success

Confucius: Analects (All Facts)

Tao Te Ching (All Facts)

82 CE - 167 CE - Wang Fu (All Facts)

• Chinese Confucian philosopher during the Han Dynasty

• Remembered for his criticisms of

  • The luxury of consumer goods 

  • The exodus from the land 

226 - 249 - Wang Bi (All Facts)

• Chinese Confucian Philosopher during the Three Kingdoms Period 

  • He changed the course of Chinese thought

• Produced commentaries on the I Ching and Tao Te Ching, which were highly influential in subsequent Chinese philosophy 

Filial Piety (All Facts)

• Confucian idea that refers to the duty of family members to subordinate their desires to those of the male head of the family and to the ruler

Neo-Confucianism (All Facts)

• Philosophy which was a syncretic system, combining rational thought with the more abstract ideas of Daoism and Buddhism

• Philosophy which emphasized ethics rather than the mysteries of God and nature

• Philosophy which became immensely popular in China during the Song Dynasty; as well as in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam