Confucianism in Modern Governments

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Since Confucius lived over 2000 years ago, one might assume that is ideas might be archaic and useless in today’s society. This, however, is far from the truth. The ideas and thoughts of Confucius can still apply today. This is even so in the government. Confucius’s views on humanity (jen) and governing by personal virtue can be useful in governing a modern society.

Jen is one of the most basic Confucian virtues, and it is also a vital term in Confucian thought. The word jen is translated mainly as humanity, though sometimes as benevolence or love. Confucius has many quotes about humanity that applies to governing, even in a modern society (Change and Tradition 33).

One quote from the Analects on humanity that applies to governing is the following: “To be able to practice five virtues everywhere in the world constitutes humanity… courtesy, magnanimity, good faith, diligence and kindness. He who is courteous is not humiliated, he who is magnanimous wins the multitude, he who is of good faith is trusted by the people, he who is diligent attains his objective, and he who is kind can get service from the people.” (Change and Tradition 34).

This quote tells how a ruler can obtain support and trust, complete his objectives, and win the service from his people all by just being humane. A humane person Confucius argues is magnanimous or generous and forgiving. If a modern day ruler was generous and forgiving, Confucius would argue that the person would win the support of the masses. Additionally, if the ruler was of good faith, then he would be trusted. Diligence would allow a ruler to obtain his objective, and being kind will get the people to serve him. According to Confucius’s quote, having and displaying the five aspects of huma...

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...because they can.

Likewise, just because a ruler is not upright does not mean that no one will follow him like Confucius argues. For example, one can look at Nazi Germany. Few will argue that Hitler was an upright man, yet millions of people followed his commands. Confucius’s quote is good in nature, but the absoluteness of it is debatable.

There are many aspects of Confucian thought that could be of use in governing a modern society. Some of these include Confucius’s views on humanity (jen) and governing by personal virtue. While these views are offer good characteristics of a ruler and ways a ruler should govern, some of them are written as to be absolute. That is difficulty of using Confucianism in a modern society. While written as absolutes, many of his quotes are not truly so. Regardless, modern government could benefit greatly from the views of Confucius.

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