1. The Confucian Project An Introduction

2. Confucius  K’ung Ch’iu  Kung Fu--tzu  551-479 BCE  Humble origins  Never got (a substantial) government post  Claimed he was NOT an innovator

3. The Problem  Collapse of the Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (ca. 1027-256 BCE)

4. The Problem  Collapse of the Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (1122-221 BCE)  How do we make life/society more livable (humane)?

5. The Problem  Collapse of the Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (1122-221 BCE)  How do we make life/society more livable (humane)? –Force?

6. The Problem  Collapse of the Chou (Zhou) Dynasty (1122-221 BCE)  How do we make life/society more livable (humane)? –Force? (Realism) –Love? (Mohism)

7. Confucian Project “The Confucian Project is learning to be human; it is not accepting fate. It is the recognition of primordial ties and the recognition that these ties can be transforming.” -Tu Wei-Ming

8. The Confucian Project “A Confucian who is bent on self-cultivation positions himself or herself squarely in the center of ever-shifting, never-ending cross-currents of human relationship and would not wish things otherwise...The point is not merely that human relationship are fulfilling... It is rather that apart from human relationships there is not a self. The self is a center of relationships. It is constructed through its interactions with others and is defined by the sum of its social roles.” --Huston Smith

9. Key Concepts  Ren (jen): “human being” + “two”-- goodness, benevolence, love. A sense of the dignity of human life.

10. Key Concepts  Ren  Junzi/Chun-tzu: ‘the superior person,’ mature person, the person who accommodates the other, the perfect host/hostess, so self-assured that he/she can defer to others

11. Key Concepts  Ren  Junzi  Li –The way things should be done.

12. Key Concepts  Ren  Junzi  Li –The way things should be done. “The Doctrine of the Mean,” -- the middle way between extremes

13. Key Concepts  Jen/ren  Chun-tzu  Li –The way things should be done. Ritual Propriety “The Doctrine of the Mean,” “The Five Constant Relationships”

14. Five Constant Relationships  Parent/Child  Husband/Wife  Elder Sibling/Younger Sibling  Elder Friend/Junior Friend  Ruler/Subject These all depend on the key concepts of: The Rectification of Names Shu (Reciprocity) Xiao (filial piety) The Mandate of Heaven

15. Key Concepts  Ren  Junzi  Li  Te: power, virtue, the power by which people rule and are ruled, virtuous power –(Politically) Three essentials of government: 1.Economic sufficiency 2.Military sufficiency 3.Confidence of its people (this is the most important)

16. Key Concepts  Jen/ren  Chun-tzu  Li  Te  Wen: “the arts of peace” –People indifferent to art are only half human –Art has power to transform human nature –It makes regard for others easy –The nation with the highest, most noble culture

17. Is Confucianism a Religion?  Cicero: –Religion as “binding” force –Religion as “re-reading”/interpreting

18. Is Confucianism a Religion?  Cicero  Huston Smith: –“way of life woven around ultimate concerns” –“concern to align humanity with the transcendental ground of its existence”

19. Is Confucianism a Religion?  Heaven and earth seen as a continuum, but Confucius seemed to shift the emphasis to earth  Heaven as a source of virtue  Self-community//Heaven-earth

20. Key Cultural Impact  East Asia’s social emphasis

21. Key Cultural Impact  East Asia’s social emphasis  Conspicuous Social Effectiveness

22. Key Cultural Impact  East Asia’s social emphasis  Conspicuous Social Effectiveness  Almost seamless religious syncretism

23. Key Cultural Impact  East Asia’s social emphasis  Conspicuous Social Effectiveness  Almost seamless religious syncretism  Importance of the Family

24. Key Cultural Impact  East Asia’s social emphasis  Conspicuous Social Effectiveness  Almost seamless religious syncretism  Importance of the Family  Respect for the elderly

25. Key Cultural Impact  East Asia’s social emphasis  Conspicuous Social Effectiveness  Almost seamless religious syncretism  Importance of the Family  Respect for the elderly  Preference for negotiation and mediation

26. Key Cultural Impact  East Asia’s social emphasis  Conspicuous Social Effectiveness  Almost seamless religious syncretism  Importance of the Family  Respect for the elderly  Preference for negotiation and mediation  Learning/arts key to human transformation

27. In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character, on integrity and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever. --George W. Bush, U.S. Presidential Inaugural address, 1/20/2005

29. junzi [ chun-tzu] "gentleman" ren [ jen] "Goodness" Dao [ Tao] "the Way" yi "rightness” zhong "role-specific duty" shu "sympathetic understanding" xiao "filial piety"