Intro Lecture
Axial Age
ca. 500-0 BCE (or 800-300 BCE) world shift; What characteristics? new ways of thinking, social disorder, humanism...
Noble Person
Confucian ideal; Embodies Confucian virtues and values
Mencius's Mother
Maternal ideal; Three moves; Gender equality; Social equality (rule by the people)
Anti-Waste
Critique lavish rituals (funerals, music); Harms people's (the many's) livelihood; Focus on utility/necessity (cost/benefit)
Ritual Propriety
Manages desires and emotions; Establishes distinctions; Harmony; Nature as guide; Music as a complement
Hundred Schools
ca. 500 to 200 BCE; Many thinkers emerge; Practical focus; Key schools?
Confucian Social System
Human Nature
Innate goodness; Potential in all; Contrast: Xunzi?
Ghosts & Spirits
Enforce morality (rewards/punishments); Social control mechanism?
Human Nature
Innate nature = bad; Inclined to partiality, disorder; Goodness requires effort/artifice; Contrast: Mencius?
Relational Perspective
Contrast: Individualism?; Focus: interactions/context; Self via connections?
Mandate of Heaven
Zhou Dynasty origin/legitimacy; Ruler's "contract" with Heaven; Requires ruler's moral virtue; Justifies dynastic change?
Heaven
Capricious? Unpredictable?; Contrast: Confucius/Xunzi?; Humans must still act—agency!
Heaven
Infallible; Desires righteousness, hates unrighteousness; Its will is knowable via consequences (life/death, wealth/poverty); Following it brings benefit
Artifice
QUOTE FROM XUNZI: "Nature is what is spontaneous from Heaven, what cannot be learned, what cannot be acquired. Ritual and morality arise from the sages. People become capable of them through learning; they perfect themselves by acquiring them. What cannot be learned, what cannot be acquired, in human beings is called nature. What they can become capable of through learning, and can acquire in order to perfect themselves, is called “artifice.” This is the distinction between nature and artifice."
Humanism
Shift to human concerns; Heaven-human link?; Human role in cosmos?
Confucius' cardinal values/virtues
Five Constants: humaneness, righteousness/duty, integrity/trust, knowledge, and ritual propriety; sincerity; filial piety; reciprocity
Four Sprouts
What are they? Seeds of virtue; Need cultivation; Located in the heart-mind...
Impartiality
Treat all equally; Rational, not emotional; Mutual/maximum benefit; Contrast: Confucian hierarchy
Heaven's Constancy
Regular, immutable patterns (seasons, stars)?; Patterns of Heaven/Nature as guide; Humans should respond/adapt; Contrast: human affairs fluctuate?
What's its relationship to music?
Critique of Individualism
Alienation, atomization?; Consumerism?; Society, Nature; Chinese alternatives?
Ritual Propriety
One of Five Constants; Daily actions; Adaptability; Harmony; Transformative...
Heart-mind
Seat of Four Sprouts; Thinking + Feeling; Needs cultivation; Guides response...
Rationality
Basis for Mohist ethics; Cost/benefit calculation; Determines right action (via benefit); Justifies impartiality
Heart-Mind
Controls bodies/desires/emotions; Instincts, emotions downplayed; Contrast: Mencius?; Key faculties: Emptiness, Unity, Tranquility; Allows rational thought and action