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Notes on video lecture:
Confucius: I Transmit, I Do Not Innovate
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on January 23, 2015 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
unformed, male, aesthetic, uncouthness, meritocracy, junzi, barbarians, conservative, ugly, virtues, horrific, social, highest, Zhou, community, one, language, families, piety, narrow, alive, demeanor, inner, children, gentlemen, royal, anyone, grow, creator, reshape
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Confucius sees himself as merely passing on the Western tradition
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Analects 7.1
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"I transmit, I do not innovate."
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doesn't see himself as a or an innovator
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however, Confucius did actually innovate or transform Zhou thought
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1. idea of a
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he's democratizing the idea of
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anyone can become a junzi
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at least any can
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similar to the change in English
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anyone who acts like a gentleman is a gentleman
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we mean he's cultured, well-mannered
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the Confucian way was open only to men
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he in fact has quite views of women
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2. from outer beauty to beauty
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"ren"
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goodness
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benevolence
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the virtue of being a perfected human being
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in the Zhou dynasty, definition is much more
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the physical appearance of a junzi (gentleman)
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"handsome" or "well-formed"
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attractive
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Confucius internalizes ren from an external to an internal quality
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not about beauty in an sense but about being perfectly formed morally
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3. democratized the "de"
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in the Zhou dynasty, the de was something you could possess if you were from the Zhou line
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for Confucius, anyone can acquire "de"
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anyone who becomes a gentleman can get this power
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become a morally perfected person in line with heaven is not the province of a hereditary class
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is accessible to (men) who adopt Zhou culture
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you can see the seeds of here which get set up later in the Chinese exam system
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in theory everyone could take this exam and whoever scores the score is prime minister, the second highest gets the second position
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being an elite is a result of commitment, learning, and making yourself of who you are
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4. ritual makes us human
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Confucius considers himself passing down the tradition of Zhou ritual
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Zhou ritual even encompassed how you act when you are alone
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Confucius universalizes ritual, it becomes the human
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the primary means by which we become human beings
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a cultural and behavior language which helps us act like human beings instead of animals
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anyone can adopt it
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ritual is about creating
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at one point when Confucius can't get anyone to listen to him, he says he is going to go live among the "Eastern "
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uncouth people
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tatooed
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half naked
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"if a gentleman lived among them, what would there be?"
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even the wildest Barbarians can become Chinese through the influence of the gentleman and learning Chinese culture
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there is only correct culture and it is the Chinese culture and anyone can adopt it
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different than the Japanese or Jewish conception of culture which are both exclusive
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so Chinese culture has been able to assimilate other cultures because of this idea that anyone who adopts the proper practices can become a properly cultivated Chinese person
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5. culturally deeply
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human nature is not particularly helpful
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xing = human nature
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we are all born the same
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we are all born equally crude and
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on the issue if human nature is good or bad, Confucius doesn't have a statement on that
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human nature is neutral tending toward badness, crude and uncouth in and of itself, so we need to have culture to this material
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metaphor of craft formation
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reshaping a raw material which, by itself, has no shape and is , needing to be formed into a crafted, beautiful object
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6. importance of
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modern Western view, e.g. Canada and America
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the person is very individualistic
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we are lone individuals striding through the world, endowed with stuff by nature that makes us who we are
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we move away from our at an early age and establish our own identity
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for Confucius
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culture makes us human
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family and community makes us a person
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we are a person in and of the social roles we inhabit
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who we are is informed by the role
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in the family
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in the community
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a big part of the Confucian way is to perfect family and roles
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not trying to cultivate an asocial excellence in people
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they are social virtues which allow us to take our place in a community
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7. filial
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xiao [syow]
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the virtue of being an obedient child
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obey your parents and do what they say
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Analects 2.5: "What is filial piety? / Do not disobey. When your parents are alive, serve them in accordance with the rites, when they pass away, bury them in accordance with the rites and sacrifice to them in accordance with the rites."
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not completely unqualified obedience
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Analects 4.18: "In serving your parents you may gently remonstrate with them. However, once it becomes apparent that they have not taken your criticism to heart you should be respectful and not oppose them, and follow their lead diligently without resentment."
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a fairly conservative view
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this is foreign to us
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we have an idea that should become independent as soon as possible
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family should be a site for negotiation
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is still very much in Asian countries
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not just actions but attitude
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Analects 2.8: "It is the that is difficult"
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not just obeying them physically, but internally
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take on their values
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the most basic virtue
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the root from which the other virtues
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get this virtues right in the family
Spelling Corrections:
obediance ⇒ obedience
Ideas and Concepts:
On the fundamental differences between Confucianism and Christianity via tonight's Ancient Chinese Thought class:
"If you want to find a comparison to Jesus in Chinese history, look to Mo Tzu, not Confucius, as there are at least four fundamental differences between Confucianism and Christianity:
1. Confucianism relied on the government, but Christianity started as a movement against governmental authority.
2. Confucius and his followers kept a distance from gods and spirits, whereas Jesus and his followers relied heavily on miracles and mysterious phenomena to preach.
3. Confucius held that gentlemen should not form parties and should not compete with each other, where Jesus painted his group as a unique one by criticizing others, and struggled to get a larger social space for his Christianity.
4. Christianity had strict organization and an outward itinerary which relied going out to preach, whereas Confucianism remained at the level of academic thought and self-cultivation."
"If you want to find a comparison to Jesus in Chinese history, look to Mo Tzu, not Confucius, as there are at least four fundamental differences between Confucianism and Christianity:
1. Confucianism relied on the government, but Christianity started as a movement against governmental authority.
2. Confucius and his followers kept a distance from gods and spirits, whereas Jesus and his followers relied heavily on miracles and mysterious phenomena to preach.
3. Confucius held that gentlemen should not form parties and should not compete with each other, where Jesus painted his group as a unique one by criticizing others, and struggled to get a larger social space for his Christianity.
4. Christianity had strict organization and an outward itinerary which relied going out to preach, whereas Confucianism remained at the level of academic thought and self-cultivation."
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