
Undoubtedly, the most famous teacher and philosopher of ancient China is Confucius (Kong Qiu ), which lived between 551 and 479 BC. The Children no deviation in the middle of a materially poor environment, and the young Qiu (Kong is the family name) had to work hard to pull ahead, either as official retail stores to monitor the state of Lu , or count and care of sheep and goats. Later, and within the court, he studies the rites and traditions, and soon became a famous lawyer, thanks to his travels, he reported experience and lessons.
Even then many followed him for his wisdom, and followed him wherever he was Kong, regardless of location or conditions. At the time of Confucius, China was divided into fiefs, with the courts of the gentlemen on one side and peasant villages, on the other. But wars were losing their land and many noble titles, and survival were devoted to teaching, providing their knowledge and skills. The lawyers were a group of scholars devoted to the rites and ceremonies, as well as the dissemination of classical texts, among which was Kong. Prevented during periods of warfare and hostility to practice in the courts, Confucius, he taught his disciples. Although he wrote nothing, and the western Socrates, his disciples gathered in a book, Lunyu , sayings and aphorisms of his master key, we know here by the name " Analects" of Confucius.
Confucius had a unique relationship with religion. Often marked spiritual master, in reality Kong Qiu was averse to "contact" with the spirits, in fact, it seems that not even talk about extraordinary events, such as rejecting the mythology, so richly, had nurtured the Chinese tradition. But this hostility towards such issues is due rather, it seems, that Confucius wanted to devote all his energies to serve as moral guides of men and women. This is not a disguised atheism, but a spirituality of a more mundane and practical to the purely away and mystical.
But what Confucius meant by a Supreme Being, Heaven or Deity? It is not too light, given resignation to talk about heavenly forces, or death, as always put the moral and just governance. Habituated to respond evasively (" If I do not know life, what we know of death? " or when he said that wisdom is " serving men with justice and respect the spirits, keeping as far away from them as possible. .."). Hence, many scholars have seen in the Confucian doctrine, rather than a religion nor a belief system (since no gods, pantheon, or temple priests), a philosophy of a social and political. In China
old accepting the doctrine of "heavenly mandate", he considered that every human being received a celestial order, urging it to fulfill the duty entrusted to him for the good of the community. This mandate, support of morality, it is sometimes difficult to find, but once the individual finds out, should be geared towards achieving them, regardless of whether the result, if the consequence of their actions, will be good or bad, but by the act, to fulfill his obligation, his duty. In this sense, the moral doctrine is clearly Confucian ethics (and not teleological, that is, one that considers primary purpose or the consequences arising thereof.) But another question is whether the individual can make your own celestial mandate, because even if we put all our strength and determination, there is always strength ming, destiny, of the inevitability of the future: Confucius used to say "if my principles succeed is because that is willing, if they fail is because it is willing . " So, what we do is search our heavenly mandate, find it and devote our energies to its realization, doing our duty, but we observe and keep in mind that success is not unique product of our will.
The moral perfection, the realization of our mandate celestial should always be based on two deadly virtues: the benevolence and righteousness . The latter is to always, in every circumstance and situation, what is right, fair or compulsory, accepting what we are commanded to perform the duty. As Jesus said Mosterín, " is a formal basis, a situational kind of categorical imperative, which opposes or benefit li ... to do what needs to be done because it's fair or right, without considering the consequences or the possible advantage ... because if we do what we do because we think we should do, then you do not act morally. This position is a clear precedent for the Kantian ".
Benevolence, in turn, corresponds to altruism, compassion and love for others, our request for help, benefit and encourage our neighbors. In contrast to the righteousness, the compliance of benevolence has no formal status, forced, but springs spontaneously from within due to human feelings. Compassion and altruism (shu shaping the , main guide work) suggest, in anticipation of Kant's thesis that " what you would not that make you yourself do not do your others " and therefore we do to others what we would like also do unto us. Confucius says that we will be benevolent and righteous if we try to be and act morally towards others and if we invest our efforts in that direction only.
If, as stated in the preceding note , Mo Di Confucius and blasted the lawyers was a result of his doctrine of the gradation of love. Kong was in the family, and love extended to this, the basis for all social relations. However, in the family are not the same loving treatment all: no one wants the same way a mother than an aunt, a brother or a cousin. Thus, love is not provided universally and indiscriminately to any human being simply by virtue human, but is adjusted according to the proximity of that person in relation to us. Benevolence urges us to love more intense and faithful to our brothers and father, even in adverse circumstances (or precisely because of them), as other individuals. Our love must conform to the proximity and relationship we have with them. Therefore, love is superior in terms of immediate family members (parents and older siblings), and less intense as we go out of it (neighbors, villagers nearby, unknown, etc..). Kong Qiu
includes rituals and ceremonies as an essential part of our morally upright and correct. We must not forget, but enhance them, for this and for that we practice in a spontaneous and open, non forced benevolence needs to be achieved, achievable only through discipline and education. Self-control can act straight and honest, be respectful of rituals and practice, and gain wisdom. Confucius himself did just that state in his old age: " at seventy I could follow what my heart desired without being impropriety." A state in which we act spontaneously, without effort, but always in harmony with right, then what was done and what should be done are, already, the same thing.
regard to improving State, Kong Qiu said the main remedy for their management were the clarification of the names. Ie " if names are not correct, the words do not conform to what they represent, so that the tasks are not carried out and people do not know how ... States that the names meanings and accommodate them to the facts. In the higher man say there should be nothing improper . "
Kong also believed that the only way society could function properly and be useful at all was through the proper performance of duty and the particular role of each individual: good governance is that "the sovereign is sovereign, minister, minister, father, father and son, son . " The behavior and character of each must display the qualities and behavior of their own, " only then the society will work well and be well governed ."