Confucius

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. There are also many temples dedicated to him which have been used for Confucianist ceremonies. Other poems include Sonetti, Canzoni, Ottave, and Canti carnascialeschi.. In China, there are many temples where one can find representations of Buddha, Lao Zi and Confucius together. Principal works/Poems:. It is still a major destination for cultural tourism, and many Chinese people visit his grave and the surrounding temples. The following is a list of the works of Machiavelli (he created over 30 in his lifetime):.

Soon after Confucius' death, Qufu, his hometown, became a place of devotion and remembrance. Famous quote/philosophy: "The ends justify the means.". 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. A Machiavellian may also be a term used to describe a person who is deceitful and cunning in the business world, often those who work in MLM schemes make use of Machiavellian deceit by convincing the potential buyer that the product will promise them success when really it will land them in failure. 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. Nonetheless, the epithet was quickly adopted by Machiavelli's contemporaries, and his name often used in the introductions of political tracts of the sixteenth century, most notably those of Jean Bodin and Giovanni Botero, which offered more 'just' reasons of state. 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. The eponymous adjective "Machiavellian" is seen by most experts to inaccurately represent him and his views, having come to describe narrow, self-interested behavior pursued by interest groups.

Confucius' descendants were identified and honored by the imperial government. But what invests "The Prince" with more than a merely artistic or historical interest is the incontrovertible truth that it deals with the great principles which still guide nations and rulers in their relationship with each other and their neighbours. They built upon and expanded his ethico-political system. Machiavelli always refused to write either of men or of governments otherwise than as he found them, and he writes with such skill and insight that his work is of abiding value. Mencius and Xun Zi are his two great followers, one on each "side" of his philosophy, perhaps simply described as optimism and pessimism. It advocates a form of minarchy managed by a limited aristocracy that is wholly devoted to successful rule, on the chance that they may prevent chaos. Confucius' philosophical school was first continued by his direct disciples and by his grandson Zisi. It is the cry of a far later day than Machiavelli's that government should be elevated into a living moral force, capable of inspiring the people with a just recognition of the fundamental principles of society; to this "high argument" The Prince contributes but little.

See main article : Disciples of Confucius. Necessary wars are just wars, and the arms of a nation are hallowed when it has no other recourse but to fight. Therefore, tyrannicide is justified because a tyrant is more a thief than a king (but attempted tyrannicide is not). Then --to pass to a higher plane--Machiavelli reiterates that, although crimes may win an empire, they do not win glory. 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. In politics there are no perfectly safe courses; prudence consists in choosing the least dangerous ones. 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. Men will not look at things as they really are, but as they wish them to be--and are ruined.

Even in facial expression, one sought always to achieve this. The cloak of religion still conceals the vices which Machiavelli laid bare in the character of Ferdinand of Aragon. He argued for according language with truth—thus honesty was of the most paramount importance. Men are still the dupes of their simplicity and greed, as they were in the days of Alexander VI. 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. Leaving out of consideration those maxims of state which still furnish some European and eastern statesmen with principles of action, The Prince is bestrewn with truths that can be proved at every turn:. 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. Its historical incidents and personages become interesting by reason of the uses which Machiavelli makes of them to illustrate his theories of government and conduct.

"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. Such as they are, its ethics are those of Machiavelli's contemporaries; yet they cannot be said to be out of date so long as the governments of Europe rely on material rather than on moral forces. He explained this in one of the most important analects: 1. Although the light of almost four centuries has been focused on The Prince, its problems are still debatable and interesting, because they are the eternal problems between the ruled and their rulers. He argues that the best government is one that rules through "rites" and people's natural morality, rather than using bribery and force. And it is on the literary side of his character, and there alone, that we find no weakness and no failure. Confucius' political thought is based upon his ethical thought. In the conduct of his own affairs he was timid and time-serving; he dared not appear by the side of Soderini, to whom he owed so much, for fear of compromising himself; his connection with the Medici was open to suspicion, and Giulo appears to have recognized his real forte when he set him to write the History of Florence, rather than employ him in the state.

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). He was misled by Catherina Sforza, ignored by Louis XII, overawed by Cesare Borgia; several of his embassies were quite barren of results; his attempts to fortify Florence failed, and the soldiery that he raised astonished everybody by their cowardice. Virtue under Confucius is based upon harmony with others, very different from the Aristotelian view of virtue being personal excellence. He does not present himself, nor is he depicted by his contemporaries, as a type of that rare combination, the successful statesman and author, for he appears to have been only moderately prosperous in his several embassies and political employments. 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. Undoubtedly, Machiavelli was a man of great observation, acuteness, and industry; noting with appreciative eye whatever passed before him, and with his supreme literary gift turning it to account in his enforced retirement from affairs. To live by rén was even better than living by the rules of yì. It is due to these inquiries that the shape of an "unholy necromancer," which so long haunted men's vision, has begun to fade.

His moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. Whilst it is idle to protest against the world-wide and evil signification of his name, it may be pointed out that the harsh construction of his doctrine which this sinister reputation implies was unknown to his own day, and that the researches of recent times have enabled us to interpret him more reasonably. Ren can best be translated as human heartedness. No one can say where the bones of Machiavelli rest, but modern Florence has decreed him a stately cenotaph in Santa Croce, by the side of her most famous sons; recognising that, whatever other nations may have found in his works, Italy found in them the idea of her unity and the source of her renaissance among the nations of Europe. Just as lǐ flows out of yì, so yì flows out of rén (仁). Machiavelli was absent from Florence at this time, but hastened his return, hoping to secure his former office of secretary to the "Ten of Liberty and Peace." Unhappily he was taken ill soon after he reached Florence, where he died on 22nd June 1527. Since they took care of you for the first three years of your life you must reciprocate by living in mourning for three years. This was followed by the sack of Rome, upon the news of which the popular party at Florence threw off the yoke of the Medici, who were once more banished.

An example of living by yì is how you must mourn your father and mother for three years after their death. In that year the battle of Pavia destroyed the French rule in Italy, and left Francis I of France a prisoner in the hands of his great rival, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Yì is based upon reciprocity. It is somewhat remarkable that, as, in 1513, Machiavelli had written The Prince for the instruction of the Medici after they had just regained power in Florence, so, in 1525, he dedicated the History of Florence to the head of the family when its ruin was now at hand. This means that rather than pursuing your own selfish interests you should do what is right and what is moral. When the History of Florence was finished, Machiavelli took it to Rome for presentation to his patron, Giulio de' Medici, who had in the meanwhile become Pope Clement VII. 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. His return to popular favour may have determined the Medici to give him this employment, for an old writer observes that "an able statesman out of work, like a huge whale, will endeavour to overturn the ship unless he has an empty cask to play with.".

Yì can best be translated as righteousness. It was in the same year that he received a commission at the instance of Cardinal de' Medici to write the History of Florence, a task which occupied him until 1525. To Confucius, yì (义 [義]) was the origin of lǐ. In 1520 the Florentine merchants again had recourse to Machiavelli to settle their difficulties with Lucca, but this year was chiefly remarkable for his re-entry into Florentine literary society, where he was much sought after, and also for the production of his Art of War. 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. In 1519 the Medicean rulers of Florence granted a few political concessions to her citizens, and Machiavelli with others was consulted upon a new constitution under which the Great Council was to be restored; but on one pretext or another it was not promulgated. These can be either good or bad. These and several minor works occupied him until the year 1518, when he accepted a small commission to look after the affairs of some Florentine merchants at Genoa.

Lǐ to Confucius became every action by a person aiming at meeting the person's surface desires. Before Machiavelli had got The Prince off his hands he commenced his Discourse on the First Decade of Titus Livius, which should be read concurrently with The Prince. He redefined lǐ to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society. And of my loyalty none could doubt, because having always kept faith I could not now learn how to break it; for he who has been faithful and honest, as I have, cannot change his nature; and my poverty is a witness to my honesty.". Confucius redefined lǐ, arguing that it flowed not from heaven but from humanity. Machiavelli concludes his letter to Vettori thus: "And as to this little thing [his book], when it has been read it will be seen that during the fifteen years I have given to the study of statecraft I have neither slept nor idled; and men ought ever to desire to be served by one who has reaped experience at the expense of others. It was believed that lǐ originated from the heavens. Although it was plagiarized during Machiavelli's lifetime, The Prince was never published by him, and its text is still disputable.

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. Although Machiavelli discussed with Casavecchio whether it should be sent or presented in person to the patron, there is no evidence that Lorenzo ever received or even read it: he certainly never gave Machiavelli any employment. The Confucian theory of ethics is based on three important concepts:. Various mental influences were at work during its composition; its title and patron were changed; and for some unknown reason it was finally dedicated to Lorenzo II de' Medici. 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. The "little book" suffered many vicissitudes before attaining the form in which it has reached us. He expressed the well-known principle, "Do not to others what you do not want done to yourself" (the Golden Rule). Filippo Casavecchio has seen it; he will be able to tell you what is in it, and of the discourses I have had with him; nevertheless, I am still enriching and polishing it.".

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. I have noted down what I have gained from their conversation, and have composed a small work on 'Principalities,' where I pour myself out as fully as I can in meditation on the subject, discussing what a principality is, what kinds there are, how they can be acquired, how they can be kept, why they are lost: and if any of my fancies ever pleased you, this ought not to displease you: and to a prince, especially to a new one, it should be welcome: therefore I dedicate it to his Magnificence Giuliano. Confucius's principles gained wide acceptance primarily because of their basis in common Chinese opinion. And because Dante says:. 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.). After describing his daily occupations with his family and neighbours, he writes: "The evening being come, I return home and go to my study; at the entrance I pull off my peasant- clothes, covered with dust and dirt, and put on my noble court dress, and thus becomingly re-clothed I pass into the ancient courts of the men of old, where, being lovingly received by them, I am fed with that food which is mine alone; where I do not hesitate to speak with them, and to ask for the reason of their actions, and they in their benignity answer me; and for four hours I feel no weariness, I forget every trouble, poverty does not dismay, death does not terrify me; I am possessed entirely by those great men. Main article: Confucianism. In a letter to Francesco Vettori, dated December 13, 1513, he has left a very interesting description of his life at this period, which elucidates his methods and his motives in writing The Prince.

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. The new Medici pontiff, Pope Leo X, procured his release, and he retired to his small property at Sant'Andrea in Percussina (town of San Casciano in Val di Pesa), near Florence, where he devoted himself to literature. Confucius' teachings have been turned later into a corps de doctrine by his numerous disciples and followers. Shortly after this he was accused of complicity in an abortive conspiracy against the Medici, imprisoned, and put to the question by torture. Duties are always balanced and if a subject must obey his ruler, he also has to tell him when he is wrong. On the return of the Medici, Machiavelli, who for a few weeks had vainly hoped to retain his office under the new masters of Florence, was dismissed by decree dated November 7, 1512. 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. The return of the Medici to Florence on September 1, 1512, and the consequent fall of the Republic, was the signal for the dismissal of Machiavelli and his friends, and thus put an end to his public career, for, as we have seen, he died without regaining office.

He added that rites are not only the way to arrange sacrificial tools, and music is not only the sound of stick on bell. When, in 1511, Julius II finally formed the Holy League against France, and with the assistance of the Swiss drove the French out of Italy, Florence lay at the mercy of the Pope, and had to submit to his terms, one of which was that the Medici should be restored. While rites, in short, show off social hierarchies, music unifies hearts in shared enjoyment. Florence had a difficult part to play during these events, complicated as they were by the feud which broke out between the pope and the French, because friendship with France had dictated the entire policy of the Republic. Confucius also heavily emphasized what he calls "rites and music," referring to these social conventions as two poles to balance order and harmony. This result was attained in the Battle of Vaila (now usually known as the Battle of Agnadello), when Venice lost in one day all that she had won in eight hundred years. 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. The remaining years of Machiavelli's official career were filled with events arising out of the League of Cambrai, made in 1508 between the three great European powers already mentioned and the pope, with the object of crushing the Venetian Republic.

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. The Emperor Maximilian was one of the most interesting men of the age, and his character has been drawn by many hands; but Machiavelli, who was an envoy at his court in 1507-1508, reveals the secret of his many failures when he describes him as a secretive man, without force of character--ignoring the human agencies necessary to carry his schemes into effect, and never insisting on the fulfilment of his wishes. What seems a matter of tiny importance has been long commented on and shows another of the Confucian specificities that have to be underlined. Machiavelli has painted Ferdinand II of Aragon as the man who accomplished great things under the cloak of religion, but who in reality had no mercy, faith, humanity, or integrity; and who, had he allowed himself to be influenced by such motives, would have been ruined. A good example is found in this famous anecdote:. He had several meetings with Louis XII of France, and his estimate of that monarch's character has already been alluded to. That is why his teachings need to be examined and put into context for access by Westerners. It is impossible to follow here the varying fortunes of the Italian states, which in 1507 were controlled by France, Spain, and Germany, with results that have lasted to our day; we are concerned with those events, and with the three great actors in them, so far only as they impinge on the personality of Machiavelli.

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. It is in reference to Pope Julius that Machiavelli moralizes on the resemblance between Fortune and women, and concludes that it is the bold rather than the cautious man that will win and hold them both. His ethics may be considered one of the greatest virtue ethics. It was to Julius II that Machiavelli was sent in 1506, when that pontiff was commencing his enterprise against Bologna; which he brought to a successful issue, as he did many of his other adventures, owing chiefly to his impetuous character. 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. Julius did not rest until he had ruined Cesare. 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. Machiavelli, when commenting on this election, says that he who thinks new favours will cause great personages to forget old injuries deceives himself.

He wanted rulers who were devoted to their people. On the death of Pope Pius III, in 1503, Machiavelli was sent to Rome to watch the election of his successor, and there he saw Cesare Borgia cheated into allowing the choice of the College to fall on Giuliano delle Rovere (Pope Julius II), who was one of the cardinals that had most reason to fear the duke. 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. Machiavelli never to carry him through, exclaims that it was not his fault, but an extraordinary and unforeseen fatality. 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. Machiavelli's public life was largely occupied with events arising out of the ambitions of Pope Alexander VI and his son, Cesare Borgia, the Duke Valentino, and these characters fill a large space of The Prince. 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). It was Louis XII who also made the dissolution of his marriage a condition of support to Pope Alexander VI which lead Machiavelli to refer those who urge that such promises should be kept to what he has written concerning the faith of princes.

In this respect, he is seen by Chinese people as the Greatest Master. Louis XII was the king who, in his conduct of affairs in Italy, committed the five capital errors in statecraft summarized in The Prince, and was consequently driven out. 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 1500 he was sent to France to obtain terms from Louis XII for continuing the war against Pisa. 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. This is a very noticeable principle in Machiavelli, and is urged by him in many ways as a matter of vital importance to princes. 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. His first mission was in 1499 to Catherina Sforza, "my lady of Forli" of The Prince, from whose conduct and fate he drew the moral that it is far better to earn the confidence of the people than to rely on fortresses.

After several years, disapproving of the politics of his Prince, he resigned. A mere recapitulation of a few of his transactions with the statesmen and soldiers of his time gives a fair indication of his activities, and supplies the sources from which he drew the experiences and characters which illustrate The Prince. As a young man he was a minor administrative manager in the State of Lu and rose to the position of Justice Minister. Here we are on firm ground when dealing with the events of Machiavelli's life, for during this time he took a leading part in the affairs of the Republic, and we have its decrees, records, and dispatches to guide us, as well as his own writings. As a child, he is said to have enjoyed putting ritual vases on the sacrifice table. After serving four years in one of the public offices he was appointed Chancellor and Secretary to the Second Chancery, the Ten of Liberty and Peace. 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. The second period of his life was spent in the service of the free Republic of Florence, which flourished from the expulsion of the Medici in 1494 until their return in 1512.

His father died when he was three and he was brought up in poverty by his mother. Then, writing of a new patron, he continues:. His father was seventy and his mother only fifteen at his birth. He writes:. He was born into a once noble family who had recently fled from the State of Song. In a letter to his son Guido, Machiavelli shows why youth should avail itself of its opportunities for study, and leads us to infer that his own youth had been so occupied. 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). He writes:.

. Machiavelli, in his Florentine Histories, gives us a picture of the young men among whom his youth was passed. These contain an overview of his teachings. Whereas the magnificence of the Medicean rule during the life of Lorenzo appeared to have impressed Machiavelli strongly, for he frequently refers to it in his writings, and it is to Lorenzo's grandson, Lorenzo II de' Medici, that he dedicates The Prince. The Analects is a short collection of his discussions with disciples, compiled posthumously. Savonarola's influence upon the young Machiavelli must have been slight, for although at one time he wielded immense power over the fortunes of Florence, he only furnished Machiavelli with a subject of a gibe in The Prince, where he is cited as an example of an unarmed prophet who came to a bad end. 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. Florence has been described as a city with two opposite currents of life, one directed by the fervent and austere Savonarola, the other by the splendour-loving Lorenzo.

These values gained prominence in China after being chosen among other doctrines such as Legalism or Taoism during the Han dynasty. Although there is little recorded of the youth of Machiavelli, the Florence of those days is so well known that the early environment of this representative citizen may be easily imagined. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, and justice and sincerity. This was the period of Machiavelli's literary activity and increasing influence; but he died, within a few weeks of the expulsion of the Medici, on June 21, 1527, in his fifty-eighth year, without having regained office. After much travelling around China to promote his ideas among rulers, he eventually became involved in teaching disciples. The Medici again ruled Florence from 1512 until 1527, when they were once more driven out. 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. During his official career Florence was free under the government of a Republic, which lasted until 1512, when the Medici returned to power, and Machiavelli lost his office.

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. The downfall of the Medici in Florence occurred in 1494, in which year Machiavelli entered the public service. He is also commonly known as 萬世師表, Wànshìshībiǎo, "the Model Teacher of a Myriad Ages" in Taiwan. His youth was concurrent with the greatness of Florence as an Italian power under the guidance of Lorenzo de' Medici, Il Magnifico. 先師, Xiānshī, "the First Teacher". His life can be divided into three periods, each of which constitutes a distinct and important era in the history of Florence. 至聖, Zhìshèng, "the Greatest Sage";. A symbolic tomb in his honor can be found in Santa Croce.

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);. He died in Florence in 1527 and his resting place is unknown. His most popular posthumous names are