Confucianism played a significant role in shaping the political and social structure of the traditional Chinese society of the imperial period of Chinese history. It is not easy to define Confucianism because there are noticeable differences and sometimes contradictions among the phases of Confucianism. Rather than to say Confucianism arose unexpectedly, it arose in response to the status quo of society. At different periods of time, Confucianism established relative order, unified the minds of people, and revolutionized the way humans should think about themselves and the environment. The essay will be broken down into three parts: classical Confucianism, Imperial Confucianism, and Neo-Confucianism. First, it will describe the basic precepts
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Confucius “was a man of no particular distinction in his own day who exerted a profound influence on the development of Chinese culture through his teachings.” Born from a small central state of Lu, Confucius traveled from state to state to find a ruler who would accept and put his teachings into practice. He preached about a utopia, “in which rulers and subjects, nobles and commoners, parents and children, men and women all wholeheartedly accept the parts assigned to them, devoting themselves to their responsibilities to others.” As one can see in these relationships (the Five Relationships), one leads and the other obeys. Confucius emphasized on these relationships because he believed that if people would do what they were supposed to do, ruled using virtues instead of force, and be humble, everything would work well. Such doctrine is called the Rectification of Names. Another belief that Confucius stressed on was the dynamic tension between Ren and Li, which means humanity and rituals respectively. In Confucius’ perspective, Ren, the relationship among individual humans, can only be expressed through Li. It is important that Ren and Li should be investigated because no other philosophers before Confucius talked about the relationship between Ren and Li before. The advent of this concepts brought forth a new kind of thinking in Chinese intellectualism and philosophy, in …show more content…
Dong Zhongshu “emphasized the pivotal role of the ruler,” suggesting that the word king, wang, is a proof that the ruler(the vertical stroke of the word) was one who unifies Heaven, Man, and Earth (the three horizontal lines). Because the ruler is one who could link Heaven, Man, and Earth, if the ruler did not fulfill his role correctly, he would directly cause natural disasters because the balance of Heaven, Man, and Earth had been disturbed. After Han dynasty fell apart, China, again, spiraled into wars. Confucianism was not revived until Sung dynasty. Westerners called this phase of Confucianism Neo-Confucianism, but the Chinese called this movement “the study of the Way.” The causes for its revival were urbanism, mercantilism, and the vast expansion of intellectualism; therefore, a great part of the principles of Neo-Confucianism deals with epistemology, the study of
Confucius “was a man of no particular distinction in his own day who exerted a profound influence on the development of Chinese culture through his teachings.” Born from a small central state of Lu, Confucius traveled from state to state to find a ruler who would accept and put his teachings into practice. He preached about a utopia, “in which rulers and subjects, nobles and commoners, parents and children, men and women all wholeheartedly accept the parts assigned to them, devoting themselves to their responsibilities to others.” As one can see in these relationships (the Five Relationships), one leads and the other obeys. Confucius emphasized on these relationships because he believed that if people would do what they were supposed to do, ruled using virtues instead of force, and be humble, everything would work well. Such doctrine is called the Rectification of Names. Another belief that Confucius stressed on was the dynamic tension between Ren and Li, which means humanity and rituals respectively. In Confucius’ perspective, Ren, the relationship among individual humans, can only be expressed through Li. It is important that Ren and Li should be investigated because no other philosophers before Confucius talked about the relationship between Ren and Li before. The advent of this concepts brought forth a new kind of thinking in Chinese intellectualism and philosophy, in …show more content…
Dong Zhongshu “emphasized the pivotal role of the ruler,” suggesting that the word king, wang, is a proof that the ruler(the vertical stroke of the word) was one who unifies Heaven, Man, and Earth (the three horizontal lines). Because the ruler is one who could link Heaven, Man, and Earth, if the ruler did not fulfill his role correctly, he would directly cause natural disasters because the balance of Heaven, Man, and Earth had been disturbed. After Han dynasty fell apart, China, again, spiraled into wars. Confucianism was not revived until Sung dynasty. Westerners called this phase of Confucianism Neo-Confucianism, but the Chinese called this movement “the study of the Way.” The causes for its revival were urbanism, mercantilism, and the vast expansion of intellectualism; therefore, a great part of the principles of Neo-Confucianism deals with epistemology, the study of