Confucius
A good society grows from people who cultivate themselves, treat others with humanity and keep the rituals that hold life together.
Placement
Order through humaneness (ren), ritual (li) and lifelong self-cultivation.
Key ideas
- Ren (humaneness)
- Li (ritual)
- The exemplary person (junzi)
Influence
Influenced 19
Mengzi (Mencius)
influenced ✓
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”
Mengzi (Mencius) › c. 372–289 BCE
Zhu Xi
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Zhu Xi › 1130–1200
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
influenced ✓
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)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz › 1646–1716
Christian Wolff
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Christian Wolff › 1679–1754
Voltaire
influenced ✓
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)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Voltaire › 1694–1778
Leo Tolstoy
influenced
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
Evidence: AI draft
Leo Tolstoy › 1828–1910
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Xunzi
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Xunzi › c. 310–235 BCE
Ban Zhao
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Ban Zhao › c. 45–117
Wang Bi
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Wang Bi › 226–249
Han Yu
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Han Yu › 768–824
Zhou Dunyi
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Zhou Dunyi › 1017–1073
Zhang Zai
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Zhang Zai › 1020–1077
Itō Jinsai
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Itō Jinsai › 1627–1705
Ogyū Sorai
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Ogyū Sorai › 1666–1728
Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan)
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan) › 1762–1836
Kang Youwei
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Kang Youwei › 1858–1927
Karl Jaspers
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Karl Jaspers › 1883–1969
Li Zehou
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Li Zehou › 1930–2021
Shannon Vallor
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Shannon Vallor › contemporary
Criticism
Criticized by 8
Mozi influenced
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
criticised by
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Mozi › c. 470–391 BCE
Zhuangzi
criticised by
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Zhuangzi › c. 369–286 BCE
Han Feizi
criticised by
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Han Feizi › c. 280–233 BCE
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
criticised by
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel › 1770–1831
Max Weber
criticised by
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Max Weber › 1864–1920
Bertrand Russell
criticised by
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
Evidence: AI draft
Bertrand Russell › 1872–1970
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Wang Chong
criticised by
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
Evidence: AI draft
Wang Chong › c. 27–100
Motoori Norinaga
criticised by
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
Evidence: AI draft
Motoori Norinaga › 1730–1801
Works
- c. 450 BCEAnalects (Lunyu)
The Master's sayings on humaneness, ritual and good government.
Position
Confucius sought to restore social harmony through moral cultivation rather than force. The central virtue is ren, humaneness, expressed through li, the rites and forms of respectful conduct that structure family and society. Filial piety is the root of all virtue; the junzi, the exemplary person, cultivates himself through learning and leads others by example rather than punishment. Names must be “rectified”, so that a ruler acts as a ruler and a father as a father. From the Han dynasty on, Confucian learning became the basis of state orthodoxy and, with interruptions and alongside Buddhism and Daoism, remained so until 1905; it shaped the cultures of Korea, Japan and Vietnam.
Life & context
Confucius (Kong Qiu, or Kongzi, “Master Kong”) lived in the state of Lu during the late Spring and Autumn period, an age of political fragmentation. He held minor offices, travelled for years among feudal courts in search of a ruler who would follow his counsel, and spent his later years teaching a circle of disciples, who collected his sayings in the Analects.
Appears in
- Journey ‘The Chinese Conversation’ · Stop 1 of 9
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