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3. Confucian Conceptions of Order
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3 Confucian Conceptions of Order Confucian Ethics and Politics Kongzi (K’ung Fu-tzu, or Master K’ung) was a scholar from a minor aristocratic family who lived from about 551 to 479 b.c.e., during the early Warring States period. A relatively low-level official in the state of Lu (Lû), he is said to have obtained positions during his lifetime no higher than that of keeper of the state granaries and director of Lu’s pasture lands.1 His impact on the history of Chinese philosophy and politics, however, perhaps eclipses that of any other single human being, and the ethical teachings attributed to him lie today in many respects at the core of traditional East Asian civilization. This, of course, is Confucius. Known to the West only by a romanized version of his name given him by Jesuit missionaries two thousand years after his death, he is often credited with a towering importance in helping form a distinctively Chinese mind-set: “The ideology of the Confucian School represented by Confucius had pervasive influences on the concepts, behavior, beliefs, way of thinking, and emotional make-up of the Chinese people over several [sic] thousand years. Either consciously or unconsciously, [Confucian concepts] became the guiding and fundamental principles of the Chinese people in dealing with various affairs, relations and issues in their lives; they formed a common mentality and characteristic features of the Chinese nation.”2 There is some academic dispute over precisely which works in the classical Chinese canon were, in fact, written by Confucius. He is traditionally credited with composing (or at least editing) the Spring and Autumn Annals, which gave their name to an entire period in Chinese history, and with editing both the Book of Odes (Shih ching) and the Book of History (Shu ching). Sometimes he is also said to have reformed the 30 THE MIND OF EMPIRE Book of Rituals (Li shih) and the Book of Music (Yueh ching).3 Of the direct expressions of Confucius himself, we have only the Analects (Lun yü), which is said to have been compiled by his early disciples,4 though parts of it may, in fact, have been written later.5 In addition, the Great Learning (Ta hsüeh)—credited variously to his grandson, K’ung Chî, or to his chief disciple, Tseng Tzu—recounts much thought attributed to Confucius . The Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean (Chung yung) have both been passed down through the centuries as chapters of the Book of Rituals containing definitive accounts of Confucius’s teachings.6 The Social Ethics of Benevolence Confucianism is at its core an ethical teaching, stressing the importance of benevolence, “the characteristic element of humanity,” and righteousness, “the accordance of actions with what is right,” the “great exercise” of the latter being “in honouring the worthy.”7 The Confucian gentleman should cultivate moral self-knowledge and carefully foster virtue in the fulfillment of his responsibilities within a web of social networks beginning with the family and extending throughout society as a whole,8 accumulating moral conduct, and continually resisting selfishness in the course of living daily life.9 Fundamental to this conception is an idea of society in which actions can be harmonized smoothly with “what is right” precisely because what is right is clearly known—or at least would be known if persons and situations were properly understood. Hence the importance in Confucian theory of the “rectification of names” (cheng-ming) as the means by which may be established the at least partly symbolic and ceremonial human and social interrelationships, the proper living out of which makes one truly civilized or jen.10 As Herbert Fingarette has explained, Confucians regard the correct use of language and names as in part constitutive of correct action in society .11 If one’s son is properly characterized as a son, for instance, from this designation will flow an entire spectrum of understood social roles, rituals, and responsibilities revolving around the nature of what it means to be a son and defining both his own relationships to others and others’ proper relationships to him. When these roles and rituals are properly lived out, society will function as it should—from the level of the family all the way up to great affairs of state. As Confucius is said to have told Tsze-lû in response to a question about what advice he would give to [34.201.122.150] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 02:12...