2 24 14 MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE Confucianism Kongzi o The Importance of Moral Education and the Insufficiency of Laws Moral development starts in the home Filial piety is the foundation of moral development It is very important to have good relationships and this starts with your parents Then your parents can help you develop li and yi Laws only change the surface behavior of individuals and don t address the cause of bad behavior Laws only encourage people to be cleverer in avoiding punishment You can t have a law for every situation Laws can t get the job done If we want to restore peace in society we have to treat the underlying cause In order to reform the state we first need to reform the individual o The Confucian Recipe for Success The junzi develops ren and de by following dao which is to practice xiao in order to cultivate the practice of li and yi Dao way road path Xiao filial piety respect for one s parents Li rites rituals propriety proper code of conduct Yi harmonious ease righteousness appropriateness Ren goodness benevolence conscientiousness De virtue charismatic virtue Junzi gentleman o Rectification of Names We must bring our names words into accord with the things they pick out Names labels have both a descriptive as well as a normative prescriptive component If you don t perform the normative component you cease to have the label We can use this to think about Upright Gong preference for family over the law o Sympathetic Understanding Shu The foundation of Kongzi s ethical system is The Silver Rule Basically don t do unto others what you do not want done to yourself o The Importance of Studying with a Teacher Do not self study Intuitive knowledge is dangerous and leads you off the path Don t be unthinking but make sure you are guided by your enquiries Mengzi o Humans are Innately Good We have a natural desire to help and care for others We have a seedling of concern for others that we cannot deny If you don t have this natural inclination you are not human With proper care we flourish but in bad environments we spoil and turn bad The source of evil is a bad upbringing and a bad role model not the Xunzi o Humans are Innately Bad 2 24 14 seed itself Each of the Confucian virtues are innate but needs to be cultivated o Hierarchy of Consideration Preference for family Be considerate to family first then humans then animals In that order Help your family Even if you are not dressed But don t worry about other if you are not dressed You have to show considerate to others in order to respect your family The Broader Application of Ren Starting with the hierarchy of consideration animals now get included Particularism What is right in a particular context when discussing virtue Particularism involves cultivating judgment Part of exercising ren is exercising good judgment in each case Being a junzi involves knowing when it is right to follow li For example pulling your sister in law out of water Human nature is self interested If we follow our natures it leads to the destruction of society We need to use deliberate effort to over come our nature If we re naturally good why is soooo hard to be good Education is the means of seeking goodness outside of you and so goodness cannot be internal to you If we were naturally good why would we need the sage kings in the first place We desire what we don t have Because we are bad we desire to become good o Strict Cultivation of Oneself through Deliberate Effort Inspect yourself and look for flaws Constantly Have others who are worthy give you honest appraisal Surround yourself with these people Compare yourself to your role models Evaluate yourself thrice daily in order to move towards dao o The Importance of Education Learning requires explicit transmission of teachings from teacher to student Without a teacher nothing good comes of studying Rely on the help of teachers The teacher is the person who rightly criticizes you You need to constantly strive for perfection while being educated 99 100 arrows hitting the target does not make you a good archer Even if perfection is impossible we must keep striving in a strict and rigorous manner o Importance of Precise Language If we don t speak properly and appropriately we fall into disorder Precise language is essential to social harmony Improper language is great vileness It is important that everyone has a shared understanding of how they use their terms No making up random Mohism Mozi Legalism Han Feizi new terms Language is a tool that we make up and use To speak inappropriately is to just go against the main stream 2 24 14 o The problem of partiality and the importance of universal impartiality The problem is that we show partiality to our friends and family but not everyone else Practice universal impartiality Aka universal love Don t have ranking or preference in how we care about people We must replace partiality with impartiality To be impartial is to consider everyone as equally worthy of moral consideration You want other to treat YOU impartially it only makes sense to treat other impartially as well o Consequentialism The business of the benevolent person is to promote what is beneficial to the world and eliminate what is harmful The moral status of an action is determined by the state of affairs the action brings about o Condemnation of Aggressive War and Musical Performances If you agree that killing wrong then you should agree that killing on a massive scale is much worse The money and time pit into musical performances diverts from feeding and clothing others We should get ride of musical performances o Moderation of Expenditures and Funerals Any form of excess is morally unjustifiable and should be eliminated Don t buy fancy clothes clothes are only for keeping you warm in the winter and cool in the summer Anything else is excessive and shows partiality Giving to charity helping others etc is a basic expectation Excessive expenditures show partiality to you Mozi is very sparse in his ideal funeral Take care of the body cry a bit and move on Continue sacrifices o Recognizing the selfishness of human nature and using that your advantage Amoral philosophy In order to maintain peace and stability in society you must accept that people are self interested Make it so that following the laws are always in a person s self interest o Rhetoric The ruler should keep his intentions from ministers Han Feizi argues that the art of persuasion involves as much knowing the trust and