Imperialism Vs Confucianism
When people find that their world has become foreign and strange to them, they tend to react in one of two ways. They either try to change the present to match a time in the past when things were alright in their minds which is known as being a reactionary. While others will try to push for new change to solve the problems in the present which is known as being a revolutionary. In the Spring-Autumn period of China, 722-481 BCE, many people were finding themselves in this position as order seemed to be gone from China and violence replaced it. As time went on the issues of the period only seemed to get worse and out of this time came thinkers like Confucius. Confucius offered a solution in the form of a system of government and state that would
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At the center of this argument is the belief that Confucius simply presented himself as a reactionary in order to mask his revolutionary ideology. This argument has traction as inside of the system of government that Confucius wanted to take from the Zhou, he made some changes. There is some evidence to suggest that Confucius had revolutionary ideas intertwined with his reactionary ideas. The first example was how Confucius redefined virtue in his society. In order to do this, it is important to talk about the importance of virtue in the Western Zhou system of government. According to the Mandate of Heaven, the legitimacy of a king and a ruling family is their virtue to the extent that if another family becomes more virtuous it is their right to overthrow the previous king and family. Both Confucius and the Western Zhou thought the Mandate of Heaven was important but they differ on what defines virtue. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, virtue signified being powerful on the battlefield. While Confucius saw virtue as having humanity which was when a person acted with “reverence, generosity, truthfulness, diligence and kindness” (19). It is certainly curious that in mirroring the government structure of the Western Zhou, Confucius made a crucial change to the definition of what gave the government legitimacy. This argument is further strengthened when considering the role of nobles and ministers in the Western Zhou Government. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, nobles generally served as ministers over fiefs and other areas and this power was passed through mostly hereditary links. Confucius, on the other hand, opened up being a nobleman and a minister to all people as a result of two factors. First, Confucius believed that any man who had humanity had to be a nobleman no matter their heritage nor their
At the center of this argument is the belief that Confucius simply presented himself as a reactionary in order to mask his revolutionary ideology. This argument has traction as inside of the system of government that Confucius wanted to take from the Zhou, he made some changes. There is some evidence to suggest that Confucius had revolutionary ideas intertwined with his reactionary ideas. The first example was how Confucius redefined virtue in his society. In order to do this, it is important to talk about the importance of virtue in the Western Zhou system of government. According to the Mandate of Heaven, the legitimacy of a king and a ruling family is their virtue to the extent that if another family becomes more virtuous it is their right to overthrow the previous king and family. Both Confucius and the Western Zhou thought the Mandate of Heaven was important but they differ on what defines virtue. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, virtue signified being powerful on the battlefield. While Confucius saw virtue as having humanity which was when a person acted with “reverence, generosity, truthfulness, diligence and kindness” (19). It is certainly curious that in mirroring the government structure of the Western Zhou, Confucius made a crucial change to the definition of what gave the government legitimacy. This argument is further strengthened when considering the role of nobles and ministers in the Western Zhou Government. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, nobles generally served as ministers over fiefs and other areas and this power was passed through mostly hereditary links. Confucius, on the other hand, opened up being a nobleman and a minister to all people as a result of two factors. First, Confucius believed that any man who had humanity had to be a nobleman no matter their heritage nor their