Analects 12:19

Analects 12:19

Ji Kang Zi asked Confucius about government saying: “Suppose I were to kill the unjust, in order to advance the just. Would that be alright?”

Confucius replied: “In doing government, what is the need of killing? If you desire good, the people will be good. The nature of the noble man is like the wind, the nature of the inferior man is like the grass. When the wind blows over the grass, it always bends.”

In Ji Kang Zi statement that if he supposes to kill the unjust, in order to advance the just, it will never be alright because killing make him also unjust because the act of killing is the way of unjust.

In Confucius statement I really believe that it is true that if you desire good, there is no need of killing. If you desire good, the people will be good, it is like when you are the leader of a certain group, when you do good, all your members will also do good because they know that you do the right thing and they will be ashamed of themselves if they themselves will not do good. “When the wind blows over the grass, it always bends,” this statement is true because when the leader do good or the right thing, its members will also do good things because they saw that their leader that leads them does good things while when the leader is doing bad things, its members will also do bad things because the members are the reflection of its leader.

Analects 8:6

Analects 8:6

Ceng Zi said: “A man who can be entrusted with the care of the crown prince, who can take responsibility for a district of 100 li and who can handle a major crisis without losing touch with himself: Is he a noble man? He certainly is a noble man.”

                       I would like to give the military officials as an example for this analects. A military official stands firm does his/her work well and he/she does not betray his/her country. A military official plans something to protect his /her area of responsibility no matter what happens and he/she always think of the safety of many. A military official even in war are in calm mind and does not lose his/her temper because he/she knows that if he/she is calm, he/she can think well and can handle any situations and therefore it makes him/her a noble man.

Synthesis Paper 4

In finding the answer to the question “what Is the philosophy as demonstrated in Ancient Chinese Philosophy by Confucius in the way he lays out the step of self cultivation”, we must first piece by piece explain the steps of developing a Chun Tzu.

In investigating things, you should look closer to see what the whole thing is composed of. One should learn to know all things or the principle of things, as it is said in the power point “instruct the learners in regard to all things in the world, to continue from what knowledge he has of their principles and investigate further until he reaches the limit and it is called the investigation of things”. 

Extension of knowledge is extending the knowledge to the highest point and dedicates himself on learning things well. Perfection of knowledge is when you investigate things for a long time and after investigating things, you understand it all and understand the qualities of all things. The superior man studies to reach the principle of all things.

In making the will sincere, superior man will always be watchful over himself when alone, it means that he is doing the right things when he is alone as if there is someone looking at him, he does not only show good things when someone is looking but also does good things when he is alone therefore it makes him sincere. Being sincere is not fooling yourself about what you feel and you are not pretending about the things you does.

In rectification of the mind, cultivation of personal life depend on what you does, when you are doing the right things, it means that you are cultivating your personal life well. Superior man does his duties well and always associates himself to the men of principles. Therefore summing up all the steps on developing a Chun Tzu, it gives us the idea that we should always do what is right and it gives us the answer that the Philosophy as demonstrated in Ancient Chinese Philosophy by Confucius in the way he lays out the step of self cultivation is moral philosophy.

Analects 3:19

Analects 3:19

Duke Ding asked how a ruler should employ his minister and how a minister should serve his ruler. Confucius replied, saying “The prince employs his minister with propriety; the minister serve their prince with good faith.”

I will give another example to explain this analects. Another example is the relationship between the boss and the laborers or workers, if the boss give the laborers or workers enough food, give them enough salary, take care of them, give them enough time to work and rest, not abuse them and more especially treat them as human and not a slave or robot, because of treating them well, laborers or workers will do the job well and proper and will do their very best to build what you told them to build or work what you told to them to work for. The workers or laborers happily work and give their very best for the boss because they know that you are treating them well and not abusing them

Analects 2:3

Analects 2:3

The Master said: “If you govern the people legalistically and control them by punishment, they will avoid crime, but have no personal sense of shame. If you govern them by means of virtue and control them with propriety, they will gain their own sense of shame, and thus correct themselves.”

I will give a simple example for this yet it will explain what the whole meaning of this analects. If you have a child and your child does bad things, you automatically punish him/her by spanking him/her or hurting him/her and he/she will not do what the wrong thing he/she has done again because of the pain he felt and fear of being hurt again but the sense of shame will not instill in his/her mind or heart. When you teach a child that stealing is bad and will make others laugh at him/her and not respect him/her because of the act of stealing, a child will reflect and will not do the act of stealing because of shame and not because of punishment. When a person has a personal sense of shame, he/she will not do the bad doings because he/she knows that if he/she will do the bad doing, people will laugh at him/her and will not respect him/her and therefore because of shame, he/she will not do bad doings.