POLITICICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL IDEOLOGY AND THE DISTINUISHING ELEMENT OF THE CHINESE CIVILIZATION.
PHILOSOPHY
Chinese philosophy has a relationship with that of the Chinese culture from the past times to the present day civilization. The philosophy in china is also the meaning of humanism, which includes man and his society that takes a majority of the attention of Chinese philosophy throughout time. However humanism does not suggest any irrelevance to a supreme power or to nature itself but represents that of the unity of man and heaven. This ideology has characterized the entire history of the Chinese philosophy.
THE BEGINNING OF PHILOSOPHY
At the period were the transitioning from the Shang dynasty (17th-11th century BCE) to the Zhou dynasty.
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His philosophy concerned the fields of ethics and politics and gave emphasis to personal and governmental morality. Confucianism and Legalisms, is accountable for creating the world’s first meritocracy, which holds that one's status should be determined by education and character rather than ancestry, wealth, or friendship. Confucianism is still known to be a major influence in Chinese culture, the state of china and its surroundings.
The largest rivals of Confucianism, before the Han dynasty, was the Chinese legalism and Mohism. Confucianism became the dominant philosophical school of China during the time of the Han Dynasty. Legalism as an articulate philosophy vanished completely because of the relationship with the unpopular dictatorial rule of Qin Shi Huang. However, many of the ideas still influence the Chinese philosophy until the end of the imperial rule during the period of the Xinhai
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During the Anti-Qing Dynasty revolutionaries western philosophy was an alternative to traditional philosophy schools. In this era, Chinese scholars tried to include Western philosophical ideologies such as democracy, Marxism, socialism, liberalism, republicanism, anarchism and nationalism into Chinese philosophy. The most known examples is that of Sun Yet-Sen’s Three Principles of the People ideology and Mao Zedong’s Maoism, a modification of Marxism–Leninism. In China today, the authorized ideology is Deng Xiaoping's "market economy
There are many Chinese Philosophies within the world, including Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism, in which they have all originated as a result of the collapse of the Zhou dynasty in China, however, they do not all have the same beliefs.
Confucius was a philosopher, political intellect and an educator whose philosophies have significantly prejudiced not only the Chinese principles but the entire world evolution. He lived through the “Spring” and “Autumn” epoch of Chinese history, when east central China was separated over a dozen fighting states. The inordinate ailment and grief he saw swayed his political thoughts, which highlighted command, grading and the rule of a compassionate self-governing state.
Amidst the chaos of political instability and constant warring of the Zhou era, arose many intellectual thinkers that brought such profound impact in the field of politics, religion and philosophy. Even to the day, their influence can be espied in the many matters of China. Confucianism became the paramount school of thinking and later significant philosophies such as Daoism and Legalism gained immense recognition as well. Each party had their own proposals for creating an idealistic political society where the many problems they faced in their everyday lives could be eliminated. All three approaches were very distinct but at the same time, they contained certain similarities as well. In my reasoning, I find that Confucianism and Daoism could be paralleled in many ways to find several common grounds. On the other hand, Legalism goes on to take a more unique approach which was much different from the previous two.
Confucianism became popular during the Han Dynasty as it was the state religion and had a great impact on East Asia (Confucianism 1, pg. 7). Born in 551 BCE in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Confucius himself absorbed the teachings of Mahavira and the Buddha (Confucianism 1, pg. 2) He had a set of virtues that he believed a functioning society should stand by such as benevolence, love and rites. Confucius wanted China to return to the old days when people were loyal to their rulers and rulers were polite and caring towards their people. He believed rulers s...
A lot of Chinese viewpoint were created early, as culture emerged along the Yellow River before 1000 B.C .E. One such idea strained the significance of agreement in and with environment around the idea of the Way which e may say described a fair and controlled way of life. More recognized systems of attention developed afterward, if we see in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C, for the period of a separated and anxious period of Chinese politics. A variety of thinkers sought way to shore up a physically powerful political system or survive without one. Of the resultant philosophies or religions, Confucianism proved the majority of durable and noteworthy.
Confucianism is a philosophy and way of life formed in China by Confucius, an early Chinese philosopher. It began as a simple concept with ideals of personal virtue, simple filial piety, and basic gender distinctions and social inequalities. But, over time with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism it began to transform into a way of life that was degrading towards women with certain hostilities towards rivaling religions. In its early period, from around 500 B.C.E to the Common Era, Confucianism changed in that it became the leading belief system and a major part of Chinese tradition. From the transition into the Common Era to the end of the Classical time period, Confucianism was altered because of a loss of popularity following the collapse of the Han dynasty and the corruption in the governing political system. In its ending period, the post-classical era, Confucianism underwent perhaps its biggest adjustments with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism. The ideas and virtues presented in the “rebirth of Confucian philosophies” of intolerance of foreign religions and extreme filial piety...
The teachings according to Confucius refer to Confucianism. Confucianism is the multifarious classification of ethical, collective, political and pious philosophy developed by Confucius and the old Chinese practices (Bertrand, 1999). Confucianism aim is actually making an individual honorable but also making such an individual the character of learning and of proper manners. The ideal and faultless man has to combine the characters of a saint, an intellectual and gentleman. Confucianism is a religious conviction whose adulation is focused on offerings to the dead. The idea of responsibility is extensive beyond the precincts of morals and holds close to the minutiae of daily living.
Confucianism is a religious philosophy formed by the Chinese philosopher Kung-fu-Tsu. This philosophy came out of need during the warring states period of Chinese history. K'ung-fu-Tsu was a teacher at the hundred schools. His prime concern was the improvement of society. Confucianism has no gods, and the only written history of this religion is in the Analects, a collection of his responses to his disciple's questions. K'ung-fu-Tsu believed that the improvement of society was the responsibility of the ruler and that the quality of government depended on the ruler's moral character. This new way meant concern for others and adherance to the golden rule. Confucianism has had a greater and longer lasting influence on China than that of any other religious philosophy.
Confucius was one of the first men to have different ideas on how rulers should go about their ruling of people during the Zhou Dynasty. “Its career as a prominent tradition in China began with its adoption by the Han dynasty, and virtually every East Asian regime of the past thousand years or more has endorsed Confucianism as its official ideology.” Confucius believed that rulers should rule in a manner that is beneficial to the people being governed and in a way that is morally right and traditionally acceptable (for the time). Confucius spent most of his time with a group of followers, in search of a ruler who would follow his teaching and take his advice. (web.cn.edu)(patheos.org 1)
As for country governance, Confucianism addresses something meaningful to change the situation. Instead, Taoism advocated doing nothing and obeying the orders of nature. In ancient Chinese society, the essence of “Dao” in Confucianism includes five factors which are benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, intelligence and honesty (Hoobler & Hoobler, 1993), while “Dao” in Taoist can be embodied as the natural orders and principles of the universe in terms of the heaven and the ground (Wang & Chanzit, 2004). Specific comparing, Confucianism concentrates on hierarchical ethical order, through a series of manners discipline to improve people's moral standards.
Confucianism is a complex system of moral, social, political, and religious teaching built up by Confucius on the ancient Chinese traditions, and still is the state religion down to the present day. Confucianism aims at making not just a man of virtue, but the man of learning and good manners. The perfect man must combine the qualities of a saint, a scholar, and gentleman. Confucianism is a religion without positive revelation with a minimum of dogmatic teachings.
Confucianism is a moral and religious system of China. Its origins go back to the Analects, the sayings attributed to Confucius, and to ancient writings, including that of Mencius. Confucius was born a mandarin under the name Kongzi. It was developed around 550 B.C. In its earliest form Confucianism was primarily a system of ethical concepts for the control of society. It saw man as a social creature that is bound to his fellow men by jen, or “humanity.” Jen is expressed through the five relationships—sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend. Of these, the filial relation is most important.
1. The warring states of China were united through a combination of philosophical and religious traditions. One of the first answers to the problem was Legalism. Legalism was created by Han Fei, who believed that an empire would only succeed if it imposed strict laws on its people to discourage bad behavior. Legalism quickly fell out of favor after the end of the Qin Dynasty because of its harshness. The successor to the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, adopted Confucianism. Confucianism was not really a religion, but more of a philosophical outlook on life. Filial piety, social harmony, and ethics were now emphasized. The final major school of thought that integrated Chinese culture was Daoism. Daoism was based on the concept of nature, and urged people to "disengage in public life" and to seek out nature instead.
Confucian culture, also known as Confucianism, was founded by Confucius during the Spring and Autumn Period, which was developed gradually after the Han Dynasty with benevolence as the core. Since the Han Dynasty, Confucianism was the official ideology and the basis of mainstream ideology in the vast majority of historical periods of China, and it also influenced many southeast Asian countries in history. After a variety of shocks, Confucianism was still the core values of China's social public, and represented the Chinese culture and national tradition in the world (Littlejohn, 2010). In the contemporary society, the Confucian culture in China increasingly spread, at the same time, its modern value is excavated by many countries in the world, and its international influence is also growing with the rise of China.
For many centuries, Confucianism has been widely revered by the Chinese for its emphasis on morality. Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BCE, is different to most philosophers in that he showed no interest questioning his existence, the possibility of a God, or the reality that he seemed to live in; instead he focused on the human relations side of philosophy as it was his belief that people should “give (themselves) earnestly to the duties due to men … (and) keep aloof from (spiritual beings)” (Confucius 195). By negating the metaphysical side of philosophy, he was able to devote himself to mold his disciples into ideal gentleman who were morally righteous, and were able to benefit society. He believed in the importance of individuals who knew their roles in an well-structured society, that was a feudal system. In his opinion, the ideal gentleman should be obedient to his elders, have humanness and be morally righteous. Through his teachings, he was able to reform an entire country; the Chinese found Confucianism to embody practices of humaneness that they could apply in their daily lives through his religion.