Philosopher/Philosophy Notes Confucius (Classical ...
Philosopher/Philosophy
Notes
Confucius (Classical Confucianism)
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Zisi (Classical Confucianism)
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Mencius (Classical Confucianism)
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filial piety: a junzi (superior man) works on the beginning/root (filial piety and brotherly love ), and this allows the Way to rise. o reciprocity of love as the internal reason for filial piety (eg. mourn parents for three years) o social function as the external reason for filial piety (eg. the filial and fraternal don’t offend superiors, and thus will not create disorder) - ren (humanness or humanity): the self-aware interconnectedness with and responsiveness to many others, derived from li (rites, rituals, proprieties, and decorum) o from ren comes yi (righteousness), the respect for and proper actions to others o yi allows for the establishment of harmony, like the way of ancient kings o ren yi li - ren also extended by two golden rules (“principle of applying a measuring square”): negative golden rule (shu): don’t impose on others what you yourself don’t want, positive golden rule (cheng): a man of humanity wishing to establishing himself also establishes others; wish to be self-prominent also helps others to be prominent o shu can extend from reciprocity to universalizability - “doing for nothing”: one does what one ought to do, simply b/c it’s morally right to do it; value of doing things is in doing itself, not in the external results - Virtue ethics: excellence of abilities (wisdom as excellence of human intellect, ren as excellence of human feeling, bravery as excellence of human will) and harmonization of relationship (good relation with others by 5 virtues of earnestness, liberality, truthfulness, diligence, and generosity) - governing by li and virtue: leading them by virtue and regulating them by li, instead of leading them by political power and regulating them by law and punishment human nature comes from mandate, which comes from Heaven. Dao starts from human feeling which is born from human nature. Heaven Mandate Human nature human feeling Dao humanity is born wihitn human being, whereas rightness is born from the Way (interior ren vs exterior yi) o Way = the following of human nature 5 virtuous actions: ren, yi, li, zhi, sheng; all formed within is virtuous and without is just action, except for sheng which is both virtuous action). sysnthesis of the first four = excellence, way of human; synthesis of all = Virtue, way of Heaven Centrality vs sincerity: Ultimate Reality vs True Reality, sincerity enlightenment human nature humans all have “four beginnings”: feeling of commiseration, shame and dislike, respect and reverence. right and wrong, all respectively unfold into humanness, righteousness, propriety and wisdom the mind cannot bear to see the suffering of others; human nature is originally good, if don’t have the four beginnings, they are not human but animals.
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Xun Zi (Classical Confucianism)
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Laozi (Classical Daoism)
know Heaven by unfolding own human nature, by unfolding sincerely his xin (mind/heart/feeling) to its utmost degree fulfillment of human nature through sincerity, through inborn ability and inborn knowledge, and through extension and self-reflection in politics: o distinction b/w yi and li: yi is profiting for the common good of public interest and li is profit for one’s own o ruling by virtue (yi), rather than by force (li); ppl submit willingly vs. unwillingly (priority of ppl over ruler) human beings have ability to discern right from wrong: “discernment”, in discourse it is called “argumentation”, and good attitudes in argumentation by humane heart 仁心, learning heart 學心, and impartial heart 公心 Dao is the way of judging right or wrong, includes classes (類), unity (統), and division (分) in order to discern right from wrong, need to keep mind in “greatly pure and enlightened” state (大清明) by making mind “empty, unified, and still” (虛一而靜) o empty: what is stored in mind does not hinder reception of new impressions o unified: when knowing of one thing does not hinder the knowing of another (awareness of differences in things while knowing the diversity of things) o still: not allowing dreams and noisy fancies to disorder capacity for knowing - distinction of names by extension and intention: o extension: the general and particular; general names 共名 and particular names 別名 through “inclusion” or “belonging” b/w classes and subclasses o intention: the facts and values; distinguishing names discerning superiority/inferiority (values), and names discerning identity/difference (facts) - faculty of knowing: 1) natural senses receive impressions, 2) mind interprets these impressions - human nature is evil, and only through culture becomes good. But also have intelligence, which makes it possible to become sage. Need li to regulate behaviour and desires, and to distinguish b/w birds and beasts and allow for morality. - nature has constant regularity, and by responding with peace and order good fortune will result. Human’s should have control over nature. use nature to create culture. - governance by li 禮 and fa 法, fa assists li; the good are treated with li and the evil are treated with fa - Dao: the laws of nature, esp. when combined w/ heaven, or heaven and earth; origin of all things, that which gave birth to myriad of things; and the self-manifesting Ultimate Reality - You (being) names the origin of heaven and earth, Wu (non-being) names the mother of all things; both have same origin but after they are produced, they have diff names
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Zhuangzi (Classical Daoism)
Wang Bi (Neo-Daoism)
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Guo Xiang (Neo-Daoism)
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You means the real, actual, the realization and constraint, the full, and presence; Wu means the nonbeing, the possible, the transcendence and freedom, void, and absence human models themselves upon earth; earth models itself upon heaven; heaven models itself upon Dao; Dao models itself upon what is of itself o all things under Heaven produced from being, and being from non-being Dao manifests itself into Wu, and from here some possibilities were realized as You; all beings are structurally constituted of opposites you and wu, yin and yang Dao is the principle of mov’t of all things; Fan (reversal/return) is the mov’t of Dao 3 laws of nature: o structural law: all phenomena constituted of opposing elements o dynamic law: all phenomena move in a way that when one state of affair comes to maturity and exhaustion, it moves on to the opp state of affairs o law of conversion: all things return to Dao and achieve harmony De: spontaneous creativity inside all things after being produced by Dao, that leads all things to return to the Dao. Both human and natural beings inherit De from Dao. way of knowing: guan; intuition of nature of things by letting things the way they are in politics: o follow Dao and unfold De of all ppl; a place not with political domination, but where ppl and things unfold spontaneously their own creativity, thereby enjoying their existence = wuwei (無為), or nonaction; letting all beings be themselves ppl should have few desires (unlike Confucianism which has too many desires and knowledge) Dao is everywhere The Self constitutes: bodily self, psychological self, and arbitral/calculative self Life praxis, free from all anxiety including life and death, is the ideal life; union with nature nature is internal, what is man is external; following nature = good, following man = pain and evil, and man should not try to overcome nature disperse emotion w/ reason by understanding nature of things have-no knowledge have knowledge have no-knowledge; “knowledge which isn’t knowledge” distinction b/w principle and fact, relation b/w substance and function; a superior man sees similarity in general principles but diversity in functions and facts all beings originate from non-being everything existed and transformed by itself; beings in nature give birth to themselves o no Creator of things; Tao cannot create things b/c it is nothing satisfying in one’s allotted being; living according to oneself (non-action) since imitation is harmful, fruitless and useless; fulfilling one’s own role (everything has its proper nature and that nature has its proper limitation) mutual complementarity; opposites that act for own sake, but benefits both since they both need each other
Notes
Confucius (Classical Confucianism)
-
Zisi (Classical Confucianism)
-
Mencius (Classical Confucianism)
-
filial piety: a junzi (superior man) works on the beginning/root (filial piety and brotherly love ), and this allows the Way to rise. o reciprocity of love as the internal reason for filial piety (eg. mourn parents for three years) o social function as the external reason for filial piety (eg. the filial and fraternal don’t offend superiors, and thus will not create disorder) - ren (humanness or humanity): the self-aware interconnectedness with and responsiveness to many others, derived from li (rites, rituals, proprieties, and decorum) o from ren comes yi (righteousness), the respect for and proper actions to others o yi allows for the establishment of harmony, like the way of ancient kings o ren yi li - ren also extended by two golden rules (“principle of applying a measuring square”): negative golden rule (shu): don’t impose on others what you yourself don’t want, positive golden rule (cheng): a man of humanity wishing to establishing himself also establishes others; wish to be self-prominent also helps others to be prominent o shu can extend from reciprocity to universalizability - “doing for nothing”: one does what one ought to do, simply b/c it’s morally right to do it; value of doing things is in doing itself, not in the external results - Virtue ethics: excellence of abilities (wisdom as excellence of human intellect, ren as excellence of human feeling, bravery as excellence of human will) and harmonization of relationship (good relation with others by 5 virtues of earnestness, liberality, truthfulness, diligence, and generosity) - governing by li and virtue: leading them by virtue and regulating them by li, instead of leading them by political power and regulating them by law and punishment human nature comes from mandate, which comes from Heaven. Dao starts from human feeling which is born from human nature. Heaven Mandate Human nature human feeling Dao humanity is born wihitn human being, whereas rightness is born from the Way (interior ren vs exterior yi) o Way = the following of human nature 5 virtuous actions: ren, yi, li, zhi, sheng; all formed within is virtuous and without is just action, except for sheng which is both virtuous action). sysnthesis of the first four = excellence, way of human; synthesis of all = Virtue, way of Heaven Centrality vs sincerity: Ultimate Reality vs True Reality, sincerity enlightenment human nature humans all have “four beginnings”: feeling of commiseration, shame and dislike, respect and reverence. right and wrong, all respectively unfold into humanness, righteousness, propriety and wisdom the mind cannot bear to see the suffering of others; human nature is originally good, if don’t have the four beginnings, they are not human but animals.
-
Xun Zi (Classical Confucianism)
-
-
Laozi (Classical Daoism)
know Heaven by unfolding own human nature, by unfolding sincerely his xin (mind/heart/feeling) to its utmost degree fulfillment of human nature through sincerity, through inborn ability and inborn knowledge, and through extension and self-reflection in politics: o distinction b/w yi and li: yi is profiting for the common good of public interest and li is profit for one’s own o ruling by virtue (yi), rather than by force (li); ppl submit willingly vs. unwillingly (priority of ppl over ruler) human beings have ability to discern right from wrong: “discernment”, in discourse it is called “argumentation”, and good attitudes in argumentation by humane heart 仁心, learning heart 學心, and impartial heart 公心 Dao is the way of judging right or wrong, includes classes (類), unity (統), and division (分) in order to discern right from wrong, need to keep mind in “greatly pure and enlightened” state (大清明) by making mind “empty, unified, and still” (虛一而靜) o empty: what is stored in mind does not hinder reception of new impressions o unified: when knowing of one thing does not hinder the knowing of another (awareness of differences in things while knowing the diversity of things) o still: not allowing dreams and noisy fancies to disorder capacity for knowing - distinction of names by extension and intention: o extension: the general and particular; general names 共名 and particular names 別名 through “inclusion” or “belonging” b/w classes and subclasses o intention: the facts and values; distinguishing names discerning superiority/inferiority (values), and names discerning identity/difference (facts) - faculty of knowing: 1) natural senses receive impressions, 2) mind interprets these impressions - human nature is evil, and only through culture becomes good. But also have intelligence, which makes it possible to become sage. Need li to regulate behaviour and desires, and to distinguish b/w birds and beasts and allow for morality. - nature has constant regularity, and by responding with peace and order good fortune will result. Human’s should have control over nature. use nature to create culture. - governance by li 禮 and fa 法, fa assists li; the good are treated with li and the evil are treated with fa - Dao: the laws of nature, esp. when combined w/ heaven, or heaven and earth; origin of all things, that which gave birth to myriad of things; and the self-manifesting Ultimate Reality - You (being) names the origin of heaven and earth, Wu (non-being) names the mother of all things; both have same origin but after they are produced, they have diff names
o
-
-
-
Zhuangzi (Classical Daoism)
Wang Bi (Neo-Daoism)
-
Guo Xiang (Neo-Daoism)
-
You means the real, actual, the realization and constraint, the full, and presence; Wu means the nonbeing, the possible, the transcendence and freedom, void, and absence human models themselves upon earth; earth models itself upon heaven; heaven models itself upon Dao; Dao models itself upon what is of itself o all things under Heaven produced from being, and being from non-being Dao manifests itself into Wu, and from here some possibilities were realized as You; all beings are structurally constituted of opposites you and wu, yin and yang Dao is the principle of mov’t of all things; Fan (reversal/return) is the mov’t of Dao 3 laws of nature: o structural law: all phenomena constituted of opposing elements o dynamic law: all phenomena move in a way that when one state of affair comes to maturity and exhaustion, it moves on to the opp state of affairs o law of conversion: all things return to Dao and achieve harmony De: spontaneous creativity inside all things after being produced by Dao, that leads all things to return to the Dao. Both human and natural beings inherit De from Dao. way of knowing: guan; intuition of nature of things by letting things the way they are in politics: o follow Dao and unfold De of all ppl; a place not with political domination, but where ppl and things unfold spontaneously their own creativity, thereby enjoying their existence = wuwei (無為), or nonaction; letting all beings be themselves ppl should have few desires (unlike Confucianism which has too many desires and knowledge) Dao is everywhere The Self constitutes: bodily self, psychological self, and arbitral/calculative self Life praxis, free from all anxiety including life and death, is the ideal life; union with nature nature is internal, what is man is external; following nature = good, following man = pain and evil, and man should not try to overcome nature disperse emotion w/ reason by understanding nature of things have-no knowledge have knowledge have no-knowledge; “knowledge which isn’t knowledge” distinction b/w principle and fact, relation b/w substance and function; a superior man sees similarity in general principles but diversity in functions and facts all beings originate from non-being everything existed and transformed by itself; beings in nature give birth to themselves o no Creator of things; Tao cannot create things b/c it is nothing satisfying in one’s allotted being; living according to oneself (non-action) since imitation is harmful, fruitless and useless; fulfilling one’s own role (everything has its proper nature and that nature has its proper limitation) mutual complementarity; opposites that act for own sake, but benefits both since they both need each other
