Essay On Daoism And Confucianism

Introduction During the age of the Hundred Schools of Thought, a term coined for an era from 770 to 221 BCE of significant cultural and intellectual expansion in China, a time when philosophers and schools flourished, Mohism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Legalism each wanted to make a claim as to how Chinese civilizations should run. Mohism was founded by Mo Tzu (470 – 391 BCE), a Chinese philosopher whose thoughts were driven by notions of utilitarianism, who also established the School of Mo (墨家, Mòjiā). Daoism was invented by Laozi (604 – 531 BCE), a Chines philosopher and writer, mostly known for his book, the Dao De Ching, who founded the School of the Way (道家, Dàojiā)— note that this paper will primarily be discussing the branch of Daoist philosophy (道家) risen from the teachings of Chuang Tzu (370 — 287 BCE). Confucianism was the child of Confucius (551 – 479 BCE), a political philosopher and educator who founded School of Scholars (儒家, Rújiā), sometimes referred to as the Ru School. Legalism was founded by Han Feizi (279–233 BCE), a Chinese philosopher who founded the School of Law (法家, Fǎjiā). In its most inner core, these schools, as Chuang Tzu puts it, were attempting to answer one question: “How is a man to live in a world dominated by chaos, suffering, and absurdity?” (Chuang Tzu 3). And each school attempts to answer this question in very different ways, but they all tend to go towards a path of defining “concrete political, social, and moral reforms;” except …show more content…
The first section will attempt to outline the social atmosphere when philosophy is the established belief and compare that to a Mohist established society. The second section will then delineate a government where each school is the established belief and compare that state to that of a Mohist