Confucius

Agora

Confucius

selon la tradition 551–479 av. J.-C.

Première approchesimplification délibérée – le portrait en dit plus

Une bonne société naît de personnes qui se cultivent, traitent autrui avec humanité et observent les rites qui tiennent la vie ensemble.

Repères

Philosophie d’Asie de l’Est · Asie de l’Est · Éthique, Politique et droit, Société et histoire

L’ordre par l’humanité (ren), le rituel (li) et le perfectionnement de soi tout au long de la vie.

Idées clés

Ren (humanité)
Li (rituel)
La personne exemplaire (junzi)

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Influence

A influencé 19

Mencius

a influencé ✓
Mencius, said to have studied with followers of Confucius’ grandson Zisi, wished above all to learn from Confucius and developed his humaneness (ren) into humane government (Mengzi). Mengzi; Sima Qian, Shiji, biography of Mencius and Xunzi; SEP “Mencius”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata · InPhO
Mencius › v. 372–289 av. J.-C.
Zhu Xi

a influencé
Zhu Xi’s Collected Commentaries on the Analects, printed with the Four Books in 1190, read Confucius through principle and became the standard for the examinations from 1313. Zhu Xi, Lunyu jizhu, in Sishu zhangju jizhu (1190); SEP “Zhu Xi”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Zhu Xi › 1130–1200
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

a influencé ✓
Leibniz read Confucius in the Jesuit Latin version Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (1687) and in Novissima Sinica (1697) praised Chinese practical and civil philosophy. G. W. Leibniz, Novissima Sinica (1697), preface; P. Couplet et al., Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (1687); D. E. Mungello, Leibniz and Confucianism: The Search for Accord (1977)
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz › 1646–1716
Christian Wolff

a influencé
In his Halle address on Chinese practical philosophy (1721) Wolff cited Confucian ethics to show that morality can rest on reason alone; it contributed to his expulsion (1723). C. Wolff, Oratio de Sinarum philosophia practica (1721, printed 1726), ed. M. Albrecht (1985); SEP “Christian Wolff”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Christian Wolff › 1679–1754
Voltaire

a influencé ✓
Voltaire’s Essay on Manners (1756), which opens with China, presented Confucius as a sage who taught morality without revelation or miracles. Voltaire, Essai sur les mœurs et l’esprit des nations (1756); Dictionnaire philosophique (1764), “De la Chine”; B. Guy, The French Image of China before and after Voltaire (1963)
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Voltaire › 1694–1778
Léon Tolstoï

a influencé
From 1883 Tolstoy read Confucius and Mencius in Legge’s translations and wanted to make the “Chinese sages” known; he wrote an essay for P. Boulanger’s The Life and Teaching of Confucius (1903) and included the Great Learning in his Chinese Wisdom (1907). P. Boulanger, Zhizn’ i uchenie Konfutsiya (1903), with an essay by Tolstoy; Tolstoy, Kitaiskaya mudrost’ (Posrednik, 1907); D. Bodde, Tolstoy and China (1950), pp. 22–23
Attestation: brouillon IA
Léon Tolstoï › 1828–1910

Tout afficher (19)Afficher moins

Xun Zi

a influencé
Xunzi honoured Confucius as the sage not blinded by partial views and built on his teaching of ritual (li) and learning; the Xunzi opens with ‘Encouraging Learning’. Xunzi, “Quanxue”, “Jiebi”, tr. E. Hutton, Xunzi: The Complete Text (2014); SEP “Xunzi”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Xun Zi › v. 310–235 av. J.-C.
Ban Zhao

a influencé
Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women (Nüjie) applied Confucian ritual ethics of humility and deference to women, while arguing that girls too must be educated. Ban Zhao, Nüjie; N. L. Swann, Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China (1932)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Ban Zhao › v. 45–117
Wang Bi

a influencé
Wang Bi commented on the Analects (Lunyu shiyi) and held that Confucius embodied non-being and therefore did not speak of it, whereas Laozi still had to. Wang Bi, Lunyu shiyi (fragments); Liu Yiqing, Shishuo xinyu; R. G. Wagner, The Craft of a Chinese Commentator (2000); SEP “Wang Bi”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Wang Bi › 226–249
Han Yu

a influencé
In ‘Essentials of the Way’ (Yuan Dao) Han Yu defined the Way by Confucius’ humaneness and righteousness and traced its transmission from the sage-kings through Confucius to Mencius. Han Yu, Yuan Dao; C. Hartman, Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity (1986)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Han Yu › 768–824
Zhou Dunyi

a influencé
Zhou Dunyi’s Penetrating the Book of Changes (Tongshu) taught that sagehood can be learned and devoted two sections to Confucius, whose virtue it set beside Heaven and Earth. Zhou Dunyi, Tongshu; W.-t. Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Zhou Dunyi › 1017–1073
Zhang Zai

a influencé
Zhang Zai vowed to revive the lapsed learning of the sages of the past and built his philosophy of qi on the Changes commentaries ascribed to Confucius (Zhengmeng, 1076). Zhang Zai, Zhengmeng (1076); Hengqu Yishuo; Zhangzi yulu; W.-t. Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Zhang Zai › 1020–1077
Itō Jinsai

a influencé
Itō Jinsai praised the Analects as the foremost book in the universe and sought its ancient meaning, freed from Song commentary (Rongo kogi, publ. 1712). Itō Jinsai, Rongo kogi (publ. 1712); J. A. Tucker, Itō Jinsai’s Gomō jigi and the Philosophical Definition of Early Modern Japan (1998)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Itō Jinsai › 1627–1705
Ogyū Sorai

a influencé
Ogyū Sorai held that Confucius transmitted the Way of the early kings, their rites, music and institutions, and read the Analects accordingly (Bendō, 1717; Rongo chō). Ogyū Sorai, Bendō (1717); Rongo chō; J. A. Tucker, Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks (2006)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Ogyū Sorai › 1666–1728
Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan)

a influencé
In his Old and New Commentaries on the Analects (Noneo gogeumju, 1813) Jeong Yak-yong read Confucius’ humaneness as realised in practice between persons, not as an inner principle. Jeong Yak-yong, Noneo gogeumju (1813); M. Setton, Chŏng Yagyong: Korea’s Challenge to Orthodox Neo-Confucianism (1997)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan) › 1762–1836
Kang Youwei

a influencé
In Confucius as a Reformer (Kongzi gaizhi kao, 1897) Kang Youwei presented Confucius as a reformer who invented the golden age of the sage-kings to justify institutional change. Kang Youwei, Kongzi gaizhi kao (1897); K.-c. Hsiao, A Modern China and a New World: K’ang Yu-wei, Reformer and Utopian (1975)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Kang Youwei › 1858–1927
Karl Jaspers

a influencé
Jaspers counted Confucius among the thinkers of his “Axial Age” (1949) and, with Socrates, Buddha and Jesus, among the four “paradigmatic individuals” of The Great Philosophers (1957). K. Jaspers, Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte (1949), ch. 1; Die großen Philosophen I (1957), “Die maßgebenden Menschen”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Karl Jaspers › 1883–1969
Li Zehou

a influencé
In Reading the Analects Today (Lunyu jindu, 1998) Li Zehou read Confucius’ teaching as the core of a Chinese culture of this-worldly joy and reason infused with feeling. Li Zehou, Lunyu jindu (1998); J. S. Rošker, Following His Own Path: Li Zehou and Contemporary Chinese Philosophy (2019)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Li Zehou › 1930–2021
Shannon Vallor

a influencé
Vallor drew on Confucian ethics, beside Aristotelian and Buddhist, for practices of moral self-cultivation such as habituation through ritual and reflective self-examination (Technology and the Virtues, 2016). S. Vallor, Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (2016)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Shannon Vallor › contemporain

Critique

Critiques reçues de 8

Mozi a influencé

a influencé
According to the Huainanzi (139 BCE) Mozi studied with the Confucians but left them, finding their rites burdensome, and turned from the Zhou model to that of Xia. Huainanzi, “Yaolüe” (139 BCE), tr. J. S. Major et al., The Huainanzi (2010); SEP “Mohism”
Attestation: brouillon IA
critiqué par
Mozi attacked the Confucians’ lavish funerals, long mourning and music as wasteful, and set impartial concern for all (jian’ai) against graded, family-first care. Mozi, chs. 25 ‘Jie zang’, 32 ‘Fei yue’, 39 ‘Fei Ru’; SEP “Mohism”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Mozi › v. 470–391 av. J.-C.
Tchouang-tseu

critiqué par
The Zhuangzi mocks Confucian ‘benevolence and righteousness’ as fetters on spontaneous nature, often by having Confucius himself voice Daoist insights (chs. 4, 6, 14). Zhuangzi, chs. 4, 6, 14; SEP “Zhuangzi”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Tchouang-tseu › v. 369–286 av. J.-C.
Han Fei Zi

critiqué par
Han Feizi counted Confucian scholars among the ‘five vermin’ of the state, arguing that rule by benevolence fails where laws, rewards and punishments are needed (Han Feizi 49–50). Han Feizi, ch. 49 ‘Wudu’, ch. 50 ‘Xianxue’; SEP “Legalism in Chinese Philosophy”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Han Fei Zi › v. 280–233 av. J.-C.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

critiqué par
In his Lectures on the History of Philosophy Hegel judged Confucius’ teaching a merely popular, practical morality without speculative philosophy – Cicero’s De officiis, he said, was better than all the books of Confucius. Hegel, Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie (lectures 1819–31, ed. Michelet 1833), Introduction, “Chinese Philosophy”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel › 1770–1831
Max Weber

critiqué par
In Confucianism and Taoism (1915/1920) Weber described Confucian ethics as a rational adjustment to the world, lacking the tension with the world from which the Puritan mastery of the world arose. M. Weber, “Konfuzianismus und Taoismus” (1915; Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie I, 1920), conclusion “Konfuzianismus und Puritanismus”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Max Weber › 1864–1920
Bertrand Russell

critiqué par
In the same book Russell confessed himself “unable to appreciate the merits of Confucius”, whose writings he found largely occupied with trivial points of etiquette, while granting that Confucian ethics had produced no priesthood and no persecution. B. Russell, The Problem of China (1922), ch. XI
Attestation: brouillon IA
Bertrand Russell › 1872–1970

Tout afficher (8)Afficher moins

Wang Chong

critiqué par
In ‘Questioning Confucius’ Wang Chong pointed out contradictions in the Analects, holding that even a sage’s words must be tested against evidence (Lunheng 28). Wang Chong, Lunheng, ch. 28 ‘Wen Kong’, tr. A. Forke, Lun-hêng, 1907–11
Attestation: brouillon IA
Wang Chong › v. 27–100
Motoori Norinaga

critiqué par
Motoori Norinaga rejected the ‘Chinese mind’ (karagokoro) of Confucian moralising and reasoning, setting against it the ancient Way of the Japanese gods (Naobi no mitama, 1771). Motoori Norinaga, Naobi no mitama (1771); P. Nosco, Remembering Paradise, 1990
Attestation: brouillon IA
Motoori Norinaga › 1730–1801

Œuvres

v. 450 av. J.-C.Entretiens de Confucius
Les paroles du Maître sur l’humanité, le rituel et le bon gouvernement.

Position

Confucius cherchait à rétablir l’harmonie sociale par le perfectionnement moral plutôt que par la force. La vertu centrale est le ren, l’humanité, exprimée par le li, les rites et les formes de conduite respectueuse qui structurent la famille et la société. La piété filiale est la racine de toute vertu ; le junzi, la personne exemplaire, se cultive par l’étude et guide les autres par l’exemple plutôt que par la punition. Les noms doivent être « rectifiés », afin qu’un souverain agisse en souverain et un père en père. À partir de la dynastie Han, l’érudition confucéenne devint le fondement de l’orthodoxie d’État et, avec des interruptions et aux côtés du bouddhisme et du daoïsme, le resta jusqu’en 1905 ; elle a façonné les cultures de la Corée, du Japon et du Vietnam.

Vie et contexte

Confucius (Kong Qiu, ou Kongzi, « maître Kong ») vécut dans l’État de Lu à la fin de la période des Printemps et Automnes, une époque de morcellement politique. Il occupa des charges mineures, parcourut pendant des années les cours féodales à la recherche d’un souverain qui suivrait ses conseils, et consacra ses dernières années à l’enseignement auprès d’un cercle de disciples, qui recueillirent ses propos dans les Entretiens.