Summary and Conclusion (Confucius)

Confucius first perceives the philosophical problem. He perceives the philosophical problem as the absence of the social harmony in the society. Social harmony is absent in the society because people don’t live how their names should be lived. People in the society are in chaos because they don’t know what to do or what are they doing is not fitted for them and this chaos caused the absence of the social harmony in the society. One must act according to his name because when one acts according to his name, he will know what to do and one will not be confused and when one is not confused, he will really do what he is according to do and when all does what they are accord to do, social harmony is achievable.

Confucius then lays down the assumption of the solution to the Philosophical problem. Confucius then lays down the solution to the philosophical problem which is the education of the noble man. By education a person to become a noble man, he will know what to properly act. Educating a person means giving him the knowledge about what are the good things and the bad things. Educating a person makes him ponder about the things around him and he can know whether things are good or not. Educating him means allowing him learn good things that could make him a noble man. When one becomes a noble man he becomes righteous and when one become righteous, he will always do what is right and not do the wrong things. When one becomes a noble man, he will always think about the great things or beyond things and will not think about the superficial things. It is to become noble man that makes the society in harmony because when one become a noble man, he can distinguish the right thing do to and when he know the right thing to do, he will actually do it because he knows that it tis the proper thing to do and when people in the society is educated and become a noble people, they will start to do good things and they will actually know what to do for the greater good of the society and when they exactly know what to do good, they will create a harmonious society.

Third Confucius characterizes the ideal of human being. If one puts Jen as a cardinal virtue to himself, he will always be good to others because Jen means love, when one loves others, it means that he will not do a thing to hurt him but he will do good things to him. Hsiao makes a person be respectful to others because if one practiced filial piety within his home, he will always bring it whenever place he may be. He will always respect others because he practiced it at home and when one respect others, it is a trait of being good and when one respect others, they will respect you back and when both of you respected each other, it will create harmony in both of you and there will be no harm. T’I also makes a person respectful to others and as I have said, when one pays respect, he will also beget respect and when both respect each other; there will be harmony in both of them. Chung makes a person faithful to others or it makes a person to be faithful to others when one is faithful to others, he will never do harm to them. Faithfulness begets respect, if a person sees you as a faithful man, he will respect you and be good to you, when both of you are good to each other, both of you will create harmony. Altruism makes a person becomes unselfish and always available for others. When one always helps, he will be admired by everyone and if everyone sees or notices his doings, they will also start to be available for others and becomes unselfish, it is so pleasant to see that everyone is helping each other and does not hurt each other, which would create harmony in them.

When one is Righteous or possesses Yi, he knows how to act properly or what to do because he knows what is right, and when one knows what is right, he will not create harm to others because he knows that harming others is not the right thing to do. Propriety or Li is really good when being act upon because propriety is doing the things which is actually good or morally accepted and things that are morally accepted is usually good and does benefit everyone. When one do knows that the thing he is doing is morally good, it means that the thing he is doing is not hurting someone but rather it benefits someone. When one does always do good things, he will be appreciated by other, and others will also do good things, which would eventually create a harmony to them.

When one has the Wisdom or Chih, he is understood to have knowledge of things and having the knowledge of many things means having the knowledge wether the act or thing is good or bad, when he has the knowledge that the act or things is bad, he would actually not do it because first and foremost he knew that is is not the proper thing to do, so he would actually do the good things because he knew that it is good and would benefit everyone from it. And when one has the knowledge of good things, he will apply it to others and when others feel that you are doing good, they will also do good things and when all of you do good things, it will create a harmony between them. He must then instill to himself all the character that are said, when one has the characteristic of the ideal man, he would actually be followed by others because other will see what would be the effect when doing good things and when all will instill in their self the characteristic of the noble man, they will always do the good things and it will make the society harmonious and harmony will be felt by everyone.

Fourth Confucius lays out the step of self cultivation. One must learn to follow the step on becoming a Chun Tzu to achieve social harmony in the society because the steps make the Chun Tzu a philosopher king. 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.

Then lastly Confucius specifies the solution to the Philosophical problem. The solution to the philosophical problem is becoming a philosopher king to promote peace and harmony in the state. We must first lay down the steps on achieving social harmony to come up to a conclusion. Family is basic social unit because different family creates a society. Peace and harmony cannot be promoted in a society when there is no peace and harmony in family first. How can one implement harmony to everyone if he/she himself does not have in his family. There is a saying “Charity begins at home”. One cannot give charity when charity is not implemented or practiced at home. Family molds its member first before one of its members can mold another into good. Second is the State as big family.

State as a big family means biological family is no different from a big state. You treat the state as if you are treating your family. When one is ruler of the state, he/she must rule the state and implement laws as if he/she is implementing it to his/her family. He/she must take care of the state as if he/she is taking care of his family.  If one is ruling the state and the one who rules it, takes care of the people that under him/her, in return people will give their loyalty.

 Third is the Regulation by Virtue, Not Law or Force. One must regulate his people with virtue because if people is regulated with virtue, people will not do things which will harm someone or the community because they knew themselves that the things that they will do is bad or is not good for everyone. If the people is regulated by virtue there will be the feeling of being ashamed because they know that what they will do bad, will make the people look at them in a shameful way and they will feel ashamed. If the people are regulated by force, people will follow the rules because they will fear that they will be hurt or punished when they will not follow the rules but when people are regulated by virtue, they will do the right things because they know that what they should do is always right. When things are regulated by virtue, things will run or flow according to what is right.

And the last one is Chun Tzu as Philosopher King. A Philosopher king is like a North Star because North Star is the reference and fixed. If you are a king, you must be a role model and if you are a role model, you are to be modeled by some, and if you are modeled by someone, you should do what is right and what is good for the people to do what you are doing. A Philosopher king is fixed like the North Star and when he is fixed, everyone can rely on him. If people in the community is lost and don’t do what to do. People usually look for someone as a reference, and if there is someone they can refer, like the philosopher king, people can know what to do. A leader like the philosopher king can inspire others to do something good. If a leader is full of virtue and people see that their leader is full of virtue and practices it, people will emulate what their leader is doing and there will be social harmony in the society. When all have virtue in them, all will do what is right and doing what is right means not hurting or harming someone, and if there is no harming, there comes the harmony to each and everyone. Therefore the philosophy of Confucius is that one should always do what is right to achieve social harmony in the society.