Confucius

. It is this idea that made his thought particularly important in Romanticism, though Rousseau himself is sometimes regarded as a figure of The Enlightenment. There are also many temples dedicated to him which have been used for Confucianist ceremonies. Hence, to go back to nature means to restore to man the forces of this natural process, to place him outside every oppressing bond of society and the prejudices of civilization. In China, there are many temples where one can find representations of Buddha, Lao Zi and Confucius together. Nature thus signifies interiority and integrity, as opposed to that imprisonment and enslavement which society imposes in the name of progressive emancipation from coldhearted brutality. It is still a major destination for cultural tourism, and many Chinese people visit his grave and the surrounding temples. Later he took nature to mean the spontaneity of the process by which man builds his egocentric, instinct based character and his little world.

Soon after Confucius' death, Qufu, his hometown, became a place of devotion and remembrance. In his main writings Rousseau identifies nature with the primitive state of savage man. The Kongs are related by marriage to a number of prominent Confucian families, among them that of the Song dynasty prime minister and martyr Wen Tianxiang 文天祥. John Darling's 1994 book Child-Centred Education and its Critics argues that the history of modern educational theory is a series of footnotes to Rousseau. One of the most common titles is Duke Yansheng (衍聖公 Yǎnshèng gōng), which means "overflowing with sainthood." The latest descendant is K'ung Te-ch'eng (孔德成 Kǒng Déchéng) (born 1920), who is of the 77th generation and a professor at National Taiwan University; he married Sun Qifang, the great-granddaughter of the Qing dynasty scholar-official and first president of Beijing University Sun Jianai, whose Shouxian, Anhui, family created one of the first business combines in modern-day China that included the largest flour mill in Asia, the Fou Foong Flour Company 福豐麵粉廠. He placed a special emphasis on learning by experience. They were honored with the rank of a marquis thirty-five times since Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, and they were promoted to the rank of duke forty-two times from the Tang Dynasty to 1935. He minimizes the importance of book-learning, and recommends that a child's emotions should be educated before his reason.

Confucius' descendants were identified and honored by the imperial government. Only a healthy child can be the rewarding object of any educational work. They built upon and expanded his ethico-political system. In Emile he differentiates between healthy and "useless" crippled children. Mencius and Xun Zi are his two great followers, one on each "side" of his philosophy, perhaps simply described as optimism and pessimism. Rousseau's ideas about education have profoundly influenced modern educational theory. Confucius' philosophical school was first continued by his direct disciples and by his grandson Zisi. The second important principle is freedom, which the state is created to preserve.

See main article : Disciples of Confucius. When a state fails to act in a moral fashion, it ceases to function in the proper manner and ceases to exert genuine authority over the individual. Therefore, tyrannicide is justified because a tyrant is more a thief than a king (but attempted tyrannicide is not). One of the primary principles of Rousseau's political philosophy is that politics and morality should not be separated. This was built upon by his disciple Mencius to argue that if the king was not acting like a king, he would lose the Mandate of Heaven and be overthrown. He argued that the goal of government should be to secure freedom, equality, and justice for all within the state, regardless of the will of the majority (see democracy). In discussing the relationship between a son and his father (or a subject and his king), he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors; this demanded that the inferior must give advice to his superior if the superior was considered to be taking the wrong course of action in a given situation. Rousseau also questioned the assumption that the will of the majority is always correct.

Even in facial expression, one sought always to achieve this. Rousseau was one of the first modern writers to seriously attack the institution of private property, and therefore is often considered a forebearer of modern socialism and communism (see Karl Marx, though Marx rarely mentions Rousseau in his writings). He argued for according language with truth—thus honesty was of the most paramount importance. Subsequently, writers such as Benjamin Constant and Hegel sought to blame the excesses of the Revolution and especially the Reign of Terror on Rousseau, but the justice of their claims is a matter of controversy. While he supported the idea of the all-powerful Emperor, probably because of the chaotic state of China at his time, his philosophies contained a number of elements to limit the power of the rulers. Rousseau's ideas were influential at the time of the French Revolution although since popular sovereignty was exercised through representatives rather than directly, it cannot be said that the Revolution was in any sense an implementation of Rousseau's ideas. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good." (Translated by James Legge) This "sense of shame" is somewhat an internalization of duty, where the punishment precedes the evil action, instead of following it in the form of laws as in Legalism. Rousseau attempted to defend himself against critics of his religious views in his Letter to Christophe de Beaumont (the Archbishop of Paris).

"If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. This was one of the reasons for the book's condemnation in Geneva. He explained this in one of the most important analects: 1. In the Social Contract he claims that true followers of Jesus would not make good citizens. He argues that the best government is one that rules through "rites" and people's natural morality, rather than using bribery and force. His view that man is good by nature conflicts with the original sin doctrine by Paul of Tarsus and his theology of nature expounded by the Savoyard Vicar in Emile led to the condemnation of the book in both Calvinist Geneva and Catholic Paris. Confucius' political thought is based upon his ethical thought. Rousseau was most controversial in his own time for his views on religion.

An early version of the Golden Rule: “What one does not wish for oneself, one ought not to do to any one else; what one recognizes as desirable for oneself, one ought to be willing to grant to others.” (Confucius and Confucianism, Richard Wilhelm). The boy must work out how to follow his social instincts and be protected from the vices of urban individualism and self-consciousness. Virtue under Confucius is based upon harmony with others, very different from the Aristotelian view of virtue being personal excellence. The book is based on Rousseau's ideals of healthy living. To live by rén one used another Confucian version of the Golden Rule: he argued that you must always treat your inferiors just as you would want your superiors to treat you. At this point, Emile finds a young woman to complement him. To live by rén was even better than living by the rules of yì. Second, from 10 or 12 to about 15, when reason starts to develop, and finally from the age of 15 onwards, when the child develops into an adult.

His moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. The growth of a child is divided into three sections, first to the age of about 12, when calculating and complex thinking is not possible, and children according to his deepest conviction live like animals. Ren can best be translated as human heartedness. The aim of education, Rousseau says, is to learn how to live, and this is accomplished by following a guardian who can point the way to good living. Just as lǐ flows out of yì, so yì flows out of rén (仁). He brings him up in the countryside, where, he believes, humans are most naturally suited, rather than in a city, where we only learn bad habits, both physical and intellectual. Since they took care of you for the first three years of your life you must reciprocate by living in mourning for three years. Rousseau set out his views on education in Emile, a semi-fictitious work detailing the growth of a young boy of that name, presided over by Rousseau himself.

An example of living by yì is how you must mourn your father and mother for three years after their death. Much of the subsequent controversy about Rousseau's work has hinged on disagreements concerning his claims that citizens constrained to obey the general will are thereby rendered free. Yì is based upon reciprocity. It has been argued that this would prevent Rousseau's ideal state being realized in a large society, though in modern times, communication may have advanced to the point where this is no longer the case. This means that rather than pursuing your own selfish interests you should do what is right and what is moral. Rather, they should make the laws directly. While doing things because of lǐ, your own self-interest, was not necessarily bad, you would be a better, more righteous person if you base your life upon following yì. Rousseau was bitterly opposed to the idea that the people should exercise sovereignty via a representative assembly.

Yì can best be translated as righteousness. The government is charged with implementing and enforcing the general will and is composed of a smaller group of citizens, known as magistrates. To Confucius, yì (义 [義]) was the origin of lǐ. Whilst Rousseau argues that sovereignty should thus be in the hands of the people, he also makes a sharp distinction between sovereign and government. Generally attempts to obtain short term pleasure are bad while those that in the long term try to make your life better are generally good. This is because submission to the authority of the general will of the people as a whole guarantees individuals against being subordinated to the wills of others and also ensures that they obey themselves because they are, collectively, the authors of the law. These can be either good or bad. According to Rousseau, by joining together through the social contract and abandoning their claims of natural right, individuals can both preserve themselves and remain free.

Lǐ to Confucius became every action by a person aiming at meeting the person's surface desires. This double pressure threatens both his survival and his freedom. He redefined lǐ to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society. In the degenerate phase of the state of nature, man is prone to be in frequent competition with his fellow men while at the same time becoming increasingly dependent on them. Confucius redefined lǐ, arguing that it flowed not from heaven but from humanity. Building on his earlier work, such as the Discourse on Inequality Rousseau claimed that the state of nature eventually degenerates into a brutish condition without law or morality, at which point the human race must adopt institutions of law or perish. It was believed that lǐ originated from the heavens. Published in 1762 it became one of the most influential works of abstract political thought in the Western tradition.

While Confucius grew up, lǐ (礼 [禮]) referred to three aspects of life, that of sacrificing to the gods, social and political institutions, and daily behavior. Perhaps Rousseau's most important work is The Social Contract, which outlines the basis for a legitimate political order. The Confucian theory of ethics is based on three important concepts:. At the end of the Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau explains how the desire to have value in the eyes of others, which originated in the golden age, comes to undermine personal integrity and authenticity in a society marked by interdependence, hierarchy, and inequality. He also looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly the politicians, to model themselves on earlier examples — although whether or not older rulers had governed by Confucian standards is dubious. Rousseau's own conception of the social contract can be understood as an alternative to this fraudulent form of association. He expressed the well-known principle, "Do not to others what you do not want done to yourself" (the Golden Rule). This original contract was deeply flawed as the wealthiest and most powerful members of society tricked the general population, and so cemented inequality as a permanent feature of human society.

He championed strong familial loyalty, ancestor worship, and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives, and used the family as a basis for an ideal government. The resulting state of conflict led Rousseau to suggest that the first state was invented as a kind of social contract made at the suggestion of the rich and powerful. Confucius's principles gained wide acceptance primarily because of their basis in common Chinese opinion. However, the development of agriculture and metallurgy, private property and the division of labour led to increased interdependence and inequality. Although Confucianism is often followed in a religious manner by the Chinese, argument continues over whether to refer to it as a religion because it makes little reference to theological or spiritual matters (God(s), the afterlife, etc.). Rousseau associated this new self-awareness with a golden age of human flourishing. Main article: Confucianism. As humans were forced to associate together more closely, by the pressure of population growth, they underwent a psychological transformation and came to value the good opinion of others as an essential component of their own well being.

In the centuries after his death, Mencius and Xun Zi both wrote a prominent book on these, and with time a philosophy has been elaborated, which is known in the West as Confucianism. He also argued that these primitive humans were possessed of a basic drive to care for themselves and a natural disposition to compassion or pity. Confucius' teachings have been turned later into a corps de doctrine by his numerous disciples and followers. He suggested that the earliest human beings were isolated semi-apes who were differentiated from animals by their capacity for free will and their perfectibility. Duties are always balanced and if a subject must obey his ruler, he also has to tell him when he is wrong. His subsequent Discourse on Inequality, tracked the progress and degeneration of mankind from a primitive state of nature to modern society. Both are mutual communication between someone's humanity and his social context, both feed social relationships, like the five prototypes: between father and son, husband and wife, prince and subject, elder and youngster, and between friends. He concluded that material progress had actually undermined the possibility of sincere friendship, replacing it with jealousy, fear and suspicion.

He added that rites are not only the way to arrange sacrificial tools, and music is not only the sound of stick on bell. He proposed that the progress of knowledge had made governments more powerful and had crushed individual liberty. While rites, in short, show off social hierarchies, music unifies hearts in shared enjoyment. Moreover, the opportunities they created for idleness and luxury contributed to the corruption of man. Confucius also heavily emphasized what he calls "rites and music," referring to these social conventions as two poles to balance order and harmony. In "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences" Rousseau argued that the arts and sciences had not been beneficial to humankind, because they were advanced not in response to human needs but as the result of pride and vanity. Thus, when one sees a little bit of the greater picture, according to many ancient or recent Eastern and Western commentators, Confucius' teaching can be considered a noteworthy Chinese variant of humanism. Rousseau was not the first to make this distinction; it had been invoked by, among others, Vauvenargues.

When one knows that in his time horses were perhaps ten times more expensive than stablemen, one can understand that, by not asking about the horses, Confucius demonstrated his greatest priority: human beings. In contrast, amour-propre is not natural but artificial and forces man to compare himself to others, thus creating unwarranted fear and allowing men to take pleasure in the pain or weakness of others. What seems a matter of tiny importance has been long commented on and shows another of the Confucian specificities that have to be underlined. Amour de soi represents the instictive human desire for self-preservation, combined with the human power of reason. A good example is found in this famous anecdote:. Society's negative influence on otherwise virtuous men centers, in Rousseau's philosophy, on its transformation of amour de soi, a positive self-love, into amour-propre, or pride. That is why his teachings need to be examined and put into context for access by Westerners. He viewed society as artificial and held that the development of society, especially the growth of social interdependence, has been inimical to the well-being of human beings.

This kind of "indirect" way to achieve a goal is used widely in his teachings, where allusions, innuendo, and even tautology are common ways of expressing himself. Rousseau contended that man was good by nature, a "noble savage" when in the state of nature (the state of all the "other animals", and the condition humankind was in before the creation of civilization and society), but is corrupted by society. His ethics may be considered one of the greatest virtue ethics. Rousseau saw a fundamental divide between society and human nature. One of the deepest teachings of Confucius, and one of the hardest to understand from a Western point of view, may have been the superiority of exemplification over explicit rules of behavior. In 2002, the Espace Rousseau was established at 40 Grand-Rue, Geneva, Rousseau's birthplace. And he wanted the ruler to reach perfection himself, thus spreading his own virtues to the people instead of imposing proper behavior with laws and rules. In 1834, the Genevan government reluctantly erected a statue in his honor on the tiny Ile Rousseau in Lake Geneva.

He wanted rulers who were devoted to their people. The tomb was designed to resemble a rustic temple, to recall Rousseau's theories of nature. Therefore, Confucius is often considered a great proponent of conservatism, but a closer look at what he proposes often shows that he used (and maybe twisted) past institutions and rites to push a new political agenda of his own: for example, he wanted rulers to be chosen on their merits, not their parentage. His remains were moved to the Panthéon in Paris in 1794, sixteen years after his death. In these times of division, chaos, and endless wars between feudal states, he wanted to restore the Mandate of Heaven that could unify the "world" (i.e., China) and bestow peace and prosperity on the people. Rousseau was initially buried on the Ile des Peupliers. Far from trying to build a systematic theory of life and society, he wanted his disciples to think deeply for themselves and relentlessly study the outside world, mostly through the old scriptures relating past political events (like the Annals) or past feelings of common people (like the Book of Odes). While taking a morning walk on the estate of the Marquis de Giradin at Ermenonville (28 miles northeast of Paris), Rousseau suffered a hemorrhage and died on July 2, 1778.

In this respect, he is seen by Chinese people as the Greatest Master. Because of his partially-justified paranoia, he did not seek attention or the company of others. In the Analects, where one can find the most intimate descriptions of him, Confucius presents himself as a transmitter who invented nothing and his greatest emphasis may be on study, the Chinese character that opens the book. In order to support himself through this time, he returned to copying music. When he was about sixty, he returned home and spent the last years of his life teaching an increasing number of disciples, trying to share his experiences with them and transmit the old wisdom via a set of books called the Five Classics. In 1776 he completed Dialogues: Rousseau Judge of Jean-Jacques and began work on the Reveries of the Solitary Walker. At about age fifty, seeing no way to improve the government, he gave up his political career in Lu, and began a twelve-year journey around China, seeking the "Way" and trying unsuccessfully to convince many different rulers of his political beliefs and to push them into reality. In 1772, he was invited to present recommendations for a new constitution for Poland, resulting in the Considerations on the Government of Poland, which was to be his last major political work.

After several years, disapproving of the politics of his Prince, he resigned. Rousseau continued to write until his death. As a young man he was a minor administrative manager in the State of Lu and rose to the position of Justice Minister. In 1771 he was forced to stop this, and this book, along with all subsequent ones, was not published until after his death in 1782. As a child, he is said to have enjoyed putting ritual vases on the sacrifice table. As a condition of his return, he was not allowed to publish any books, but after completing his Confessions, Rousseau began private readings. His social ascendancy links him to the growing class of Shì (士), between old nobility and common people, which later became the prominent class of literati because of the cultural and intellectual skills they shared. In 1768 he married Thérèse, and in 1770 he returned to Paris.

His father died when he was three and he was brought up in poverty by his mother. Rousseau returned to France under the name "Renou," although officially he was not allowed back in until 1770. His father was seventy and his mother only fifteen at his birth. Facing criticism in Switzerland – his house in Motiers was stoned in 1765 – Rousseau in January of 1766 took refuge in with the philosopher David Hume in Great Britain, but after 18 months he left because he believed Hume was plotting against him[1]. He was born into a once noble family who had recently fled from the State of Song. While in Motiers, Rousseau wrote the Constitutional Project for Corsica (Projet de Constitution pour la Corse). According to traditional belief, Confucius was born in 551 BC (during the Spring and Autumn Period, at the beginning of the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical movement) in the city of Qufu in the Chinese State of Lu (now part of present-day Shandong Province and culturally and geographically close to the royal mansion of Zhou). Rousseau was forced to flee arrest and made stops in both Bern and Motiers in Switzerland.

. Both books criticized religion and were banned in both France and Geneva. These contain an overview of his teachings. In 1762 he published two major books, first The Social Contract (Du Contrat Social) in April and then Emile, or On Education in May. The Analects is a short collection of his discussions with disciples, compiled posthumously. Rousseau in 1761 published the successful romantic novel Nouvelle Heloise (The New Heloise). Used since then as the imperial orthodoxy, Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a vast and complete philosophical system known in the west as Confucianism. Beginning with this piece, Rousseau's work found him increasingly in disfavor with the French government.

These values gained prominence in China after being chosen among other doctrines such as Legalism or Taoism during the Han dynasty. In 1755 Rousseau completed his second major work, the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, and justice and sincerity. In 1754, Rousseau returned to Geneva, where he reconverted to Calvinism and regained his official Genevan citizenship. After much travelling around China to promote his ideas among rulers, he eventually became involved in teaching disciples. This inspiration, however, did not cease his interest in music and in 1752 his opera Le Devin du village was performed for King Louis XV. Living in the Spring and Autumn period (a time when feudal states fought against each other), he was convinced of his ability to restore the world's order, and failed. Rousseau claimed that during the carriage ride to visit Diderot, he had experienced a sudden inspiration on which all his later philosophical works were based.

Confucius (traditionally September 8? 551 BC–479 BC) was a famous thinker and social philosopher of China, whose teachings have deeply influenced East Asia for centuries. Rousseau's response to this prompt, answering in the negative, was his 1750 "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences", which won him first prize in the contest and gained him significant fame. He is also commonly known as 萬世師表, Wànshìshībiǎo, "the Model Teacher of a Myriad Ages" in Taiwan. In 1749, on his way to Vincennes to visit Diderot in prison, Rousseau heard of an essay competition sponsored by the Académie de Dijon, asking the question whether the development of the arts and sciences has been morally beneficial. 先師, Xiānshī, "the First Teacher". Soon after, his friendship with Diderot and the Encyclopedists would become strained. 至聖, Zhìshèng, "the Greatest Sage";. His most important contribution was an article on political economy, written in 1755.

至聖先師, Zhìshèngxiānshī, meaning "The Former Teacher who Reached Sainthood" (comes from 1530, the ninth year of the Jianing period of the Ming Dynasty);. While in Paris, he became friends with Diderot and beginning in 1749 contributed several articles to his Encyclopédie, beginning with some articles on music. His most popular posthumous names are