2007-03-03 12:21:04 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
He was a chinese philosepher who believed strongly in respecting your parents, and filial piety.
2007-03-03 12:29:39 · answer #1 · answered by VanB V 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Also Known As: Kong Fu-Zi
Confucius was a teacher, scholar and minor political official whose commentary on Chinese literary classics developed into a pragmatic philosophy for daily life. Not strictly religious, the teachings of Confucius were a utilitarian approach to social harmony and defined moral obligations between individuals and social systems. After his death his pupils collected notes on his sayings and doings and recorded them as the Analects. This compilation was added to over the years, and many sayings attributed to him are probably only loosely based on his teachings. His approach was formalized into a political and religious system during the Han Dynasty in the early part of the third century. It was embraced by subsequent generations and was the "state religion" of China until the latter part of the 20th century. In recent years critics have condemned Confucianism, characterizing its reliance on tradition as an impediment to modernization.
Extra credit: "Confucius" is the Latin rendering of his Chinese name, Kong Fu-Zi, which is sometimes also spelled as Kung Fu-Zi, K'ung-fu-tze, or in other variations. The name is unrelated to the martial art known as kung fu.
2007-03-03 12:26:27 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Read up on it. Here's a link to the Columbia Encyclopedia:
On Confucius, the man: http://www.bartleby.com/65/co/Confuciu.html
On Confucianism, the school of thought (Confucianism is not and never was a religion.):
http://www.bartleby.com/65/co/Confucia.html
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Google it) should also be of great value. But please, don't expect executive summaries on Yahoo! Answers - that's a service which people actually charge you for.
2007-03-04 02:56:21 · answer #3 · answered by tigertrot1986 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He was a Chinese philosopher who lived a long time ago in China and created an elaborate plan for the smooth functioning of society as a unit. He is called History's first Social Engineer.
2007-03-03 12:35:12 · answer #4 · answered by Wrath Warbone 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Confucious was an Ancient Chinese Philospher who created the Confucian set of beliefs (otherwise known as Confucianism). [from memory he lived in 500BC]
The belief sets out the basics of Chinese (toaist) beliefs:
Family is central
Respect of elders and ancestors
ORDER is paramount - divergance from order is disaster
The confucian system was thrown into chaos by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) who destroyed the Imperial system - which was based on Confucianism. The system is only now beginning to recover - however the CCP did adopt hte order not chaos approach adnd emphasised "correct education"
2007-03-03 12:52:56 · answer #5 · answered by max power 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I just wanted to correct what undercovernudist said: Konfuzius was not the "thinker" of Taoism. It was Lao-tzu. Taoism and Konfuzianism don't have much in common. They are totally different things.
2007-03-03 12:59:37 · answer #6 · answered by Dr. Zaius 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Do you see that little red letter 'Y' in the box to the left of where it says Search the Web? Type your question in there.
2007-03-04 03:40:48 · answer #7 · answered by john b 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/confucius/
that should get you started.
2007-03-03 12:25:23 · answer #8 · answered by steven m 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
look up Taoism it may help you in your search
2007-03-03 12:30:30 · answer #9 · answered by undercovernudist 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
wasnt he a philosopher??
2007-03-03 12:25:38 · answer #10 · answered by jrs wife! 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋