Essay/Term paper: Confuciunism

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Philosophy Essays

Confuciunism


Confuciunism is a philosophy vased on the teachings of Confucius, a Chinese
philosopher/teacher. Confucius highly stressed ethics. It is thought the reason
for this is because the China of his time was corrupt. Confucius thought the way
to live with good ethics was to follow the five virtues: Jen; to do good on
others, yi; rightsiosness by justice, li; religious and moral ways of acting ,
chih; wisdom and hsin; faithfulness. All of these being represented by the parts
of a tree for example: Jen being the root, yi the trunk, li the branches, chih
the flower, and hsin the fruit. The most important of the five being li.
Confucius used this to formulate his plan for the recovery of china. Confucius
equally emphasized the relationship with rulers and there subjects. This is
where he combined ethics and politics. At one time Confucius was asked by Chi K "
ang Tsu, the head of the chi clan, how to rule. Confucius replied "To govern is
to keep straight. If you , sir, lead your subjects straight, who will venture to
fall out of line?" Confucius believed in what is called "superior Man." This was
someone who followed the five virtues, and abided them. Confucius was a perfect
example of a "superior Man." Some people believe that he was a great man, he
was indeed, but he was merely a teacher of ethics with great wisdom.