IIIZhuangzi庄子(369-286(1).ppt

Text in the Analects (551-479 B.C.)
(A 6.22) Fanzhi asked about wisdom. The Master said, “To work for things the common people have a right to and to keep one’s distance from the gods and spirits of the dead while showing them reverence can be called wisdom.”
Text in the Analects (551-479 B.C.)
(A 11.12) Zhilu asked about the spirits of the dead and the gods should be served. The Master said, “You are not able even to serve man. How can you serve the spirits” “May I ask about death?” “You do not understand even life. How can you understand death?”
II. Mencius (371-289? B.C.)
Also lived in a period of political struggle, moral chaos, and intellectual conflicts.
Like Confucius, he traveled around various states to offer advice for rulers for reform. He also failed and became a professional teacher.
He failed and eventually went back to his home country, Lu魯, with his students.
He then became a professional teacher with 3000 students.
Confucius’s Analects論語
Confucius was considered as “the Teacher of the Ten Thousand Generations”/ a sage
Lived in a period of political struggle
Confucius (551-479 B.C.)
He went to various states, hoping to actualize his teachings.
Mencius (371-289? B.C.)源自文库
(M 3.6) Mencius said, “No man is devoid of a heart sensitive to the suffering of others. Such a sensitive heart was possessed by the Former Kings and this manifest itself in compassionate government. With such a sensitive heart behind compassionate government, it was as easy to rule the Empire as rolling it on your palm…
Had debates with his contemporary philosophers like Mozi, Yangzhu, Kaozi.
Mencius (371-289? B.C.)
Was entitled as the Second Sage. Mencius’s teachings: an extension, a further
step of Confucius’s ideas. Confucius does not clearly say (maybe imply)
that human nature is good or evil. Mencius declared that human nature is
originally good. One possesses the innate knowledge of the good.
A collection of everyday conservations between Confucius and his disciples
20 chapters, each is entitled with the first 2 words in the first passage
Not a systematic or logical text, but composed of scattered passages
The Hundred Schools
Outline
I. Confucius II. Mencius III. Zhuangzi IV. Leizi V. Han Feizi
I.The Humanism of Confucius 孔子
Humanistic tendency since the Zhou Dynasty
Confucius’ Dream & Concern
Confucius’s primary concern is to have a good government and harmonious human relations.
He looks for a community that works by virtue and moral examples rather than punishment and rules.