Confucius Was Optimistic About Human Accomplishments

Superior Essays
Philosophy of psychology
Name of student
Institution Affiliation
Date

Philosophy of psychology
Question 1 Confucius was optimistic about human accomplishments. He was convinced that people have access to heaven 's morality. Confucius believed that every person is a potential sage who acts with extreme benevolence. This statement means that anyone can cultivate virtue and to harmonize with the decree of heaven. He, however, knew that the human potential to become sages did not mean that this was a common occurrence. Most people exist in a dreadful state. It was clear that Confucius believed that in certain areas, human beings exercise some degree of will. People had no control over their destiny social status but had the will to make moral decisions and proper conduct. People are able to conform or resist the decree of heaven. Confucius stressed that although people had no choice in the circumstance they lived, they had a choice in how they live in any given situation. Confucius also insisted that all people fundamentally the same. Their difference was a result of their different ways of being. It means that people diverge as a result of their repeated practice. People, according to Confucius, are extremely malleable, they can become almost anything. Confucius seems to suggest that the environment much determines
…show more content…
He believed that human nature composed of a means for a function which is primarily about nutrition and reproduction. Another aspect is a sensitive structure which enables it to feel the environment and a rational structure which makes the human unique from other living creatures. The form of something, therefore, is not an independent entity but a specific pattern which defines how it exists. For Aristotle, it did not make sense for the soul to exist without a body because they are intertwined (Messerly, Summary of Aristotle’s Theory of Human Nature,

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In order to gain a better understanding of how truth is discovered rather than manufactured, one must examine the philosophy of Plato. A quintessential concept in Plato’s philosophy is the idea of being versus Being. In Plato’s Republic, the philosopher claims that there are two different realms within reality: the visible world of being, and the intelligible world of Being. In the world of Being, there exists what Plato calls the Forms. The Forms are Plato’s First Principle; he claims that the Forms are perfect, eternal, and non-changing objects in the intelligible realm, and these are the essences of the physical world; these are how things ought to be (INCLUDE CITATIONS).…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Confucius taught people more ethics in order to avoid bad conduct. ” Humans beings are determined by environment and education,by the habits and preferences they develop an the lives they lead. ”(Document 6). This shows that the influence was all up to the individual's actions, you are the one that controls your good conduct. In contrast, Shi Huangdi helped China by standardizing Chinese script, weights, measurements and even transportation for troops and travel.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Social inequality is a matter of the prejudiced external classification of minority groups, and the idea of where those minority groups fall in the social class. These groups can include: women and the working class. Influential ancient Chinese philosophers, Confucius and Lao Tzu have two distinct perspectives on the treatment and social classification of minority groups. First, in the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu advocated for feminist ideas supporting equality among both men and women; through The Analects, we note Confucius believed in the inferiority of women to men. Second, Lao Tzu believed it was not ideal to divide the impoverished and the wealthy in a socio-economic structure; Confucius however, believed in a structured division of upper and…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Social Hierarchy of Inborn Traits: An Analysis of Cultivation of the Self and Innate Goodness of Human beings in Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi This comparison analysis will define the social hierarchy of the cultivation of the self and the innate goodness of human beings as a point of conjecture in the writings of Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi. The writings of Confucius define the social hierarchy of evil as an inborn trait, which must continually be cultivated by the wisest and strongest of people. In contrast to this, Mencius feels that human beings are innately good, but they must also continue to follow the living a good life through wisdom and self-development. In a similar way, Xunzi was not unlike Confucius in believing in the innate evil in humankind, yet he followed the similar process of…

    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Confucianism and Confucianism, is the main system of thought in China; It was developed from the teachings of Confucius and his disciples, and had to do with the principles of good practice, the empirical wisdom and the own social relations. Confucianism has influenced the Chinese attitude toward the existence, setting the life patterns and patterns of social value, and providing the basis of political theories and Chinese institutions. From China it spread to Korea, Japan and Viet Nam, and in recent decades it has aroused interest among scholars of the West. Ethical principles of Confucianism, which should directed to perfection are: filial piety, linked to respect for the ancestors and the fidelity tradition and deference to superiors (zhongh): the equity that leads to respect for goods and social position of each which (yi).The way decent conduct, closely tied to ceremonies and the way of governing and restore social order (li).Passion or sympathy that leads to the rescue to the similar (ren).…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The purpose of Aristotle’s function argument is to determine the function of the human being, in order to identify the true human good. The role of the argument in Aristotle’s investigation is to eliminate typical natures belonging to living species and determine the characteristic that is most unique to human life, which is ration. Then stating how human function is an activity of the soul, Aristotle uses his elimination method to state that in order for the human function to be performed well, that it must act in accordance with ration. It is useful to understand the concept of function as it applies to human beings because without it, we would not understand how it connects with our virtues and human good. Virtues, as Aristotle describes them, are best when they are complete and self-sufficient because we are pursuing them for no other reasons but themselves.…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Daoism and Confucianism are two antique Chinese approaches to existing. The former is based on the idea of harmonious and well-balanced living. The latter considers that it is necessary to set appropriate examples through five relationships, which are ruler and follower, older and younger relative, wife and husband, friend and friend, and father and son, for others to follow. Both these philosophies have some features of religion, but mostly they seem to oppose each other. Confucianism seems to be worldlier.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The final theme shared between Confucianism and Communism is the idea of the greater good over the good of one’s self. “A sage is not…

    • 1547 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Aristotle and John Stuart Mill were two famous philosophers known for their studies in politics. Aristotle believes the best form of government is a polis, while Mill believes a more laid back structure is better. He believes the people should be ruled by the harm principles. Although they have very different ideas on how the people should be ruled, there are many similarities between the two. Aristotle was a great philosopher from the BC era.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lastly, Hobbes and Augustine are very similar with they describe men as beast because they have desire and as well they have free will and reason helps them to get out of things which is wrong, but according to Aristotle, he believes that the nature of man and how they become evil is with their body and their soul. Aristotle he also had desire he wanted to sink his teeth into making him one of the utmost key figures in philosophy. Aristotle goes through those types that man has gone through evil. According to Aristotle “that man by nature is blind to morality suggesting that man is naturally a creature, this backed up by his earlier works that man is born without knowledge. Then morality cannot be part of human nature as man has yet to acquire…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Confucius Argument Essay

    • 1086 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Traditional Chinese principles began to deteriorate, resulting in a period of moral decline (Confucius, 2015). Realizing that China was at its most vulnerable, he set out to strengthen society’s values of compassion and tradition. He choose to exercise self-discipline whole, primarily focusing on the principle of “ren’ or “loving others” (Confucius, 2015). Basically Confucius set out to create a system of social and political ethics based on loyalty, kinship, righteousness and filial piety. His teachings covered everything from how a man should at in his daily life to how one should govern.…

    • 1086 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Confucius is trying to say that a ruler can teach his subjects by knowing about the knowledge of the past but also keeping in touch with the knowledge of the present. A ruler must be a good teacher in order to be considered an effective ruler and to raise the society to the level of an essential…

    • 1639 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Soul and the Body in Aristotle’s De Anima Aristotle’s De Anima, unveils a discussion of souls (i.e., those of humans, amongst other living things) that is quite unlike what we have seen with other philosophers prior to him. Unlike the theories espoused by his predecessors, such as those of Plato and his work in the Phaedo, Aristotle’s De Anima generates a kind of characterization of the soul that steers away from the soul as being the individual creature’s true and only identity, which is separable from the body and immortal. For Aristotle, the soul is characterized as both the form of the body, as well as the actuality of the body (both claims I will explain in greater detail later on in my paper). Moreover, this conception of the soul…

    • 1885 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Contrasting Plato’s theory of Dualism , Aristotle explains that the body and mind are one thing that cannot be separated. Aristotle claims that motion is eternal. Introducing us the idea of happiness, Aristotle questions what we do to make our life good or something that makes us be alive. He states that the psyche or soul part of our life like happiness consists a good life for humans.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Critique logic of Aristotle understands of the nature(s) of the human soul. According to Aristotle, human nature refers to the unique characteristics in a human being. Some of these characteristics include the way of thinking, feeling and acting. These characteristics are in human beings, and they occur naturally, independently of the influence of culture.…

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays