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Notes on video lecture:
Confucius and the Analects
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on January 7, 2015 (go to class or lectures)


Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
walk, border, narrative, decay, discouraged, gentlemanly, death, crown, clans, king, ceremonies, honorific, first, dark, interacted, heaven, random, normative, bureaucracy, wake, East, plans, knight, subordinate, Chongzhi, Kong, rigidity, job, bell, Edited, tradition, afterwards, proper, cultural, ontological, readopt, real, neglect, clapper, state, door, Lu, written, need, raw, technical, chaos, true, dancing, narrow, Confucian, usurped, conservative, lifetime, East, dependent, school, courtyard, anachronistic, Han
The Analects ("Lúnyǔ", or " Conversations")
or "collected sayings" or "categorized sayings"
a record of Confucius' teachings as put together by disciples after his
we don't have texts directly from the pen of Confucius
we have an account of his teachings from people who know him and with him
tradition view is that the whole text was recorded during Confucius' lifetime or shortly thereafter
probably not true
20 books
books 1-10, the early core
recorded by generation disciples
books 11-15: next generation of disciples
using different concepts
books 16-20: anyone's guess
uncommon and long, forms
more like later Warring States writings
late concepts
book 20 is a hodge podge
clearly just passages that look like the Book of Documents
Confucius
the name Confucius
a Latinization of the Chinese " Fu Zi"
Zi = master
Kong was his surname, or "Master Kong" or Kongzi
almost all master writers of this time have "zi" as a suffix in their name, e.g. Laozi, and Xunzi.
especially in the Dynasty, there is this idea that they want to single out Confucius as special so they added another "fu" which means "supper" in the middle of his name so "Kongzi" became "Kongfuzi" or, Latinized, "Confucius".
the person Confucius
most probably a person
probably not as is commonly thought now is that he was a massively revered person in his lifetime
member of the minor nobility in State of Lu
formerly a class
a class of scholar-officials
were literate and worked in the in some capacity
kind of an "out of luck" nobility, not wealthy
professionally he wasn't terribly successful
traveled around China
one way to look at the Analects is that it was a record of Confucius trying to get a
going from state to state trying to get kings to accept the way
while he was not very successful in his own , it is almost impossible to overstate the importance of his later on in history
Confucian thought, especially as formulated in the Analects became foundational throughout East Asia and still has a profound affect on modern -Asian civilization
the State of
one of the warring states
ruled by a Duke, the Duke of Lu
could trace his ancestry back to the Duke of Zhou
in practice during Confucius' lifetime, the state of Lu was ruled by three powerful
ministerial families who should have been to the Duke
but in face had his power
also usurping certain ritual prerogatives
this upset Confucius
Confucius is concerned about the state of ritual
believes he's on a mission from
the Analects is a record of a guy who thought it was his job to save the world
it's a religious mission from tian to revive the culture of the Zhou
his job is to get a ruler to the way of the Zhou
he feels if this can happen, then by the power of "de", the entire kingdom will be ruled by one again
Analects 3.24
Confucius going from one to another
gets interviewed by a official
Confucius failed to get a job in the state he was in
disciples are
border official says to them
don't worry that your master is unemployed, heaven has for him
"The world has been without the Way for a long time now, and Heaven intends to use your Master like the wooden for a bell."
officials would use the clapper and the to get people's attention
so heaven wants to use Confucius as a clapper to " up China"
Confucius and the Dao
a way or a path
also "the way to do something"
an framework that gives normative guidance
something that was revealed by heaven to the ancient Zhou kings
preserved in the state of Zhou
embodied in cultural forms of classics and rituals
passed down in the state of Lu
Confucius happens to be an expert in these forms
Confucius sees his job as returning people to these practices
Confucius was a "ru"
(not only a "shir")
not translated as "Confucian"
"ru-jah" is a Confucian
this is obviously
some scholars don't use Confucian anymore, instead use "Ru-ist" or "erudite"
trained in rituals and classics
could recite the classics
masters in Zhou cultural arts
singing, , music
they made their living by being hired by the aristocracy to perform
Analects 6.13
"Be a ru, not a petty ru."
let's reclaim this concept of ru
we're not just specialists, someone you can hire for a party
we are keepers of the sacred that was passed down from heaven
Confucius' Views on Culture
wen
culture
ordered patterns
everything that has been passed down from our ancestors
writings
practices
the way you into a room
the way you are supposed to think
the way you dance and sing
for Confucius this culture that was inherited from the Western Zhou is the key to being a proper human being
culture in modern West today
culture is more of an add-on
we're human beings, we walk around, and then we get culture
for Confucius culture is what makes us who we are
until you get shaped by culture, you are a human being
culture is not exclusively humans
song birds
primates
human beings are unique in the extent to which we use culture to think and act
humans are uniquely on culture
reliant on culture input to be who we are
we are born incomplete and are designed for receiving cultural input
we are born to acquire the bit that we still , the culture that will form us
we are learning creatures
one culture fits all
the underbelly to this idea
people who are not properly acculturated are not human beings
can lead to views of who is a proper human being and who is not
in the West we celebrate cultural diversity
Confucius was not very into diversity in that regard
thought there was one, culture
when we are born, we need a culture, and there is one true culture to fill that need, and that is the culture of the Western Zhou
Analects 6.17
"Who is able to leave a room without going out through the ? How is it, then, that no one follows this Way?"
most students read the Analects and are appalled by this kind of
seen historical, culture diversity is a freakishly anomalous view
but most religious communities are traditional
there is one proper way to be a human
there is one proper way to believe about the world
Confucius in context
political of the warring states
was a direct result of a of Zhou cultural forms
Analects 3.1
Confucius said of the Ji Family, "They have eight rows of dancers performing in their courtyard. If they can condone this, what are they not capable of?"
eight rows of dancers is what the Zhou king is allowed to have in his
a mere official has put on an event in which he has eight rows of dancers in his courtyard
he might as well be putting a on his head and parading around with a scepter
for Confucius, this is a symptom of the broader degeneration of his age
the solution is: re-learn the rituals the proper way
Analects 17.5
"If I found someone to employ me, could I not establish a new Zhou in the ?"
so Confucius' main aim is to restore the Dao, or the way, which is both
a concrete cultural way
a metaphysical, order
corrected:
ancestery
ancestry
aculturated
acculturated
Vocabulary:
honorific, n. a title or word implying or expressing high status, politeness, or respect ⇒ "Especially in the Han Dynasty, there is this idea that they want to single out Confucius as special so they added another honorific "fu" which means "supper" in the middle of his name so "Kongzi" became "Kongfuzi" or, Latinized, "Confucius"." |
People:
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######################### (313-238 BC) A Chinese Confucian philosopher who lived during the Warring States period, believed man's inborn tendencies need to be curbed through education and ritual, a counter to Mencius and so did not believe that man is innately good, and had a pragmatic flavor compared to Confucian optimism
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Ideas and Concepts:
Etymology of the day, via tonight's Ancient Chinese Thought class: "Almost all major thinkers during the Warring States period in China had the suffix "zi" at the end of their name which meant "master". So you had Laozi, Chongzhi, Xunzi, and Kongzi. Centuries later, the Han Dynasty found the latter of these masters particularly useful and so based their state philosophy on the teachings of "Kongzi" or "Master Kong". In order to differentiate him from the other masters, they added the honorific "fu" (or "super") to the middle of his name, and so hence forth he was known as "Super Master Kong" or "Kong fu zi", later Latinized as "Confucius"."
