Confucianism

Rana Odeh                                         DBQ Essay                                                    Mr. Z

10/12/17                                                                                                                    World History

In Chinese society many philosophers have tried to maintain balance and peace to ancient China. Every single one of these philosophers had different beliefs than others, some were harsh and strict and others were not. There were many different views about life and law going on in the brain of these philosophers, and each one was unique and different in its own way. However, the two that stood out the most was Confucianism and Legalism.

One of the philosophies that drew my attention was Confucianism. Confucianism was a philosophy based on the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Kon Fuzi, which was also known as Confucius. This philosophy emphasized order, the role of the gentleman, obligation to society, and reciprocity. Confucius’s thought was fundamentally, moral, ethical, and political in character. For example, he believed in three important qualities, Ren, Li and Xiao. Ren meant an attitude of kindness and benevolence or a sense of humanity. This was explained that the people who possessed rem were courteous, respectful, diligent and loyal. This characteristic was extremely good for government officials to posses it. Also, the second thing of the Confucian value was Li, which meant a sense of propriety, which called for individuals to behave in conventionally appropriate fashion. For example, they should show courtesy and show respect to elders. Finally, the last quality that Confucian believed was needed in the society was Xiao, which is also known as Filial Piety, this obliged children to respect their parents and other family members that are older than them, to look after their welfare, support them in the times of need and to remember them and their other ancestors when they pass away. These beliefs were significant to Confucian because he believed that the individuals that possess all three of these traits would be a great government official. Also, another way of the Confucianism was that to not be harsh towards people and not let the laws be harsh either. According to Document 2 Confucius believed that if you lead the people by virtue and restrain that would not help them become more obedient but it would actually cause them to rebel more.  This sums up the idea of bringing balance and harmony to the people because it shows that if all people in China grow up and learn and become all these traits, then China would become a better place for everyone because this might help cause a no war which would cause peace and also everyone would treat each other the same which would help with the balance. Also, Confucius tried to bring balance and harmony by helping the people not rebel or do crime by showing them proper behavior.

Another philosophy that was important was Legalism. Legalism was a Chinese philosophy from the Zhou dynasty that called for harsh suppression of the common people. This philosophy showed a harsh way of ruling. For example, legalists believed in clear and strict laws, as seen in document 1 they believe that punishments should be served in order for people to fear them. They thought that people are evil and inclined toward criminal and selfish behavior. Which led them to believe that if the people were afraid of committing a small crime, then they would be terrified of committing large crimes. This explains that this might help decrease the amount of crimes committed because the people would be too afraid of the government to get caught. Also, the legalists expected all members of a family or community to observe the others closely, in order to see if any illegal actions are committed. However, if a family has a knowledge that someone in their family has committed any kind of crime, but they do not inform the government that this person has committed a crime then the person who has done the crime and the entire family would be punished. This explains that Legalism tried to produce harmony and balance much different than Confucianism, they led strict laws for the people to fear the government so they could decrease crime and cause the people to become “LESS-SELFISH”.