Confucius 551 BCE – 479 BCE Confucius’ portrait done by Wu Daozi or Wu Daozi (680- 740) 吴道子 who was a Chinese artist of the Tang Dynasty.

Confucius551 BCE – 479 BCE

Confucius’ portrait done by Wu Daozi or Wu Daozi (680-740)

吴道子 who was a Chinese artist of the Tang Dynasty.

The Analectshttp://ctext.org/confucianis

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A Brief Bio551 to 479 BCE

Known as Kong Qiu (孔丘 ), courtesy name, Zhongni (仲尼 ). Confucius was born in 551 BCE in the State of Lu (the south of modern-day Shandong Province). His father Shu lianghe (叔梁紇 ) was a famous warrior who was appointed as a senior government official at the City of Zou (Shandong Province).

After having nine daughters, he finally got a son. However, the boy Mengpi fell off a tree at 7 and limped around ever since. When his wife passed away, it was very hard for him to take care of his children.

He proposed to Family Yan, hoping to marry one of the five daughters.

Father Yan let his daughters make a decision on their own. Zheng Zai, the youngest, expressed her love. By the time Confucius was born, his father was about 70 years old.

Confucius lost his father when he was three years old and grew up in poverty.

Confucius’ ContributionsFather of Education

Frederick W. Mote credited Confucius with three contributions to Chinese education:

1. the creation of the role of the private teacher;

2. the creation and establishment of the content of education, its methods and ideals.

3. the most important is Confucius made education possible to students from all walks of life, including those who were very poor;

Intellectual Foundations of China, 1988.

Book XV.39

“In instruction there is no grading into categories” (159).

Before Confucius, only sons of nobles and a’ristocrats could be educated.

3,000 disciples, 72 worthies or notables

贤人 a person of virtue worthy

有教无类 【 yǒujiàowúlèi 】

in education, there is no distinction between classes of men.

Equality

学问【 xuéwen 】 learning; knowledge; scholarship.

How knowledge is accumulated?

Two ways: To study To ask

不耻下问 【 bùchǐxiàwèn 】

not feel ashamed to ask and learn from one's subordinates.

Frederick W. MoteAlma mater: University of Nanjing

University of Washington (1954, PhD)

Fredrick W. Mote (June 2, 1922–February 10, 2005) was an American Sinologist and a professor of History at Princeton University for nearly 50 years. His research and teaching interests focused on China during the Ming Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty. In collaboration with Professor Twitchett and Professor Fairbank he helped create The Cambridge History of China, a monumental (though still incomplete) history of China.

The Content Although education was quite specifically

for one kind of career--that of public service--Confucius believed in the broad liberal arts learning 博雅教育 . It included study of venerated books, especially The Odes (The Book of Songs—see Arthur Waley), the Book of Documents and the ritual texts.

These texts were studied as both theoretical philosophy and applied philosophy.

Three Traditions in American Higher

Education British Model: training gentleman,

emphasizing on self development and cultivation—Harvard as lead;

German model: producing scholars, focusing on research—Johns Hopkins as lead;

American model: emphasizing public service—Wisconsin Idea—to make university more relevant to its community;

The Gentleman Junzi 君子Confucian Education is closer to

the British model

Junzi, the gentleman, is the ideal figure for Confucius.

The gentleman understands the workings of relationships;

He observes proper ritual; He engages in learning both to develop his

personal moral character and to gain knowledge that is useful in serving others;

He seeks to promote the Way of living appropriate to a well-ordered society through both personal example and service in government;

Content of Confucius’ Teaching

Four branches & best students:

Moral conduct: Yan Yuan/Min Ziqian/Ran Boniu/Zhong Gong;

Speech: Zai Wo/Zi Gong;

Government affairs: Ran You/Ji Lu;

Literature (Culture and Learning): Zi You/Zi Xia

page 97 in the Analects

Confucius’ teachings are related to the Six Branches of Learning li 六艺 in ancient times (since the Zhou Dynasty):

Rites/Rituals Music Archery Chariot Driving Literature Arithmetic

Confucius’ Teaching Methods

因材施教 【 yīncáishījiào 】

teach students in accordance with their aptitude.

温故知新 【wēngùzhīxīn 】

gain new insights through restudying old material; reviewing past helps one to understand the present.

Confucius’ Teaching Methods

举一反三 【 jǔyīfǎnsān 】 draw inferences

about other cases from one instance.

Indirect By analogy

students were a cut above common job seekers

Overall, his students were a cut above common job seekers. Most of them got employed at different levels in government affairs.

The content of Confucian education is somewhat related to the so-called – 六艺the six arts/skills or branches of learning in ancient China since the Zhou Dynasty.

A Web of Human Relationships

The key to the teaching of Confucius is the idea of relationships between or among people.

Confucius believed that people could live together peacefully by recognizing their roles in networks of relationships;

The family was seen as a ‘microcosm’ of how relationships linked people together

By analogy

Five-Fold Relationships Featured with Hierarchy &

Reciprocity Confucius used a model

of Five Relationships to suggest how society might work;

The Five Relationships are those between

ruler and subject; father and son; husband and wife; elder brother and

younger brother; friend to friend;

Each of these involved both hierarchy 等级制and reci'procity 相互作用 ;

In each pair, one role was superior and one, inferior; one role led and the other followed;

Yet each involved mutual obligations and responsibilities;

Failure to properly fulfill one’s role could lead to the abrogation of the relationship;

三纲五常 sāngāng wǔchángsummarized by Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (179–104 BC)

in his book 《春秋繁露》The Luxuriant Gems/Dews of the Spring and Autumn

Annals

The three cardinal guides

ruler guides subject,

father guides son

husband guides wife

The five constant virtues:

benevolence; righteousness, propriety, wisdom and fidelity as specified in the

feudal ethical code

Individual’s role in Government

Inward, self examination three times a day to become a gentleman

Confucius cited The Book of Documents, “…Simply by being a good son and friendly to his brothers a man can exert an influence upon government” (The Analects 17).

论语【 Lúnyǔ 】 The Analects of Confucius; The Analects.

The Lun yu is the first example of what is called yu lu 语录 or record of conversations. It purports to be a record of the conversations Confucius had with his disciples. Although it probably was compiled after Confucius’ death, much of the material probably is based on actual sayings and speeches made by the master himself. There also are a number of passages that describe Confucius’ actions and conduct in various situations.

Chapter titles: the first two or three characters

Flexibility & Five Virtues A gentleman who

studies is unlikely to be inflexible. 1.8

Ethnocentrism 民族优越感 ; 本族中心主义 and its consequences;

Two definitions

1.10 温 /良 /恭 /俭 /让 Cordial Well-behaved; Respectful; Frugal deferential

hé wéi guì 和 为 贵

1.12 Harmony is the most valuable;

1.16 It is not the failure of others to appreciate your abilities that should trouble you, but rather your failure to appreciate theirs;

On GovernmentRule by internal virtues, not by external

rules

2.3 Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments, and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of shame. Guide them by virtue, keep them in line with the rites, and they will, besides having a sense of shame, reform themselves.

The Golden Mean3.20 Translated by Arthur

Waley

Shih-ching  (Shijing) the first anthology of Chinese poetry, around 600 BC. It was compiled by the ancient sage Confucius (551–479 BC) and cited by him as a model of literary expression, for, despite its numerous themes, the subject matter was always “expressive of pleasure without being licentious, and of grief without being hurtfully excessive” (Lunyu or The Analects).