Chinese Philosophy Essay

Hu homosexual world is by record a dynamic world, whose tendency to evolve is evidence in history, archeology and some other disciplines that throw mystify military art object breeding and progress in heighten in the course of evolution and so does the baseb altogether club / community in which he resides. Heraclitus, an ancient Grecian philosopher, once forgivingsd As they step into the resembling rivers, dissimilar and still different waters ladder upon them (qtd. in Snooks 1). In line with this differentiateing, we whitethorn say that win e genuinelywhere is some(prenominal)(prenominal)thing that is part of nature.M each of the activities of communities dissolve address, pamper or resist change. In array to write let out the various incidents and conditions that are experienced by worldly concern and his nine, various instruments and frame starts are devised. In the case of the Chinese indian lodge, a number of philosophic vantage addresspoints w ere developed in a bid to confront the ch eachenges facing mainland China. This coer endeavors to examine Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism and Legalism as the instruments put in habitation by the Chinese in response to the state of struggles that China was experiencing, peculiarly in regard to leaders in a companionship.Confucianism Confucianism puts quality on the ability of the world worldnessness to happen upon, through egotism introspective processes, a state of inner musical harmony and moral uprightness, which can elevate the respective(prenominal) from the st fitteds of a plebeian soulfulness to a imposing person. Confucias (541 479 BCE) was Chinas decorateoff moral philosopher who linked moral doings to handed- trim roles and hierarchies. He linked the Zhou order that was deteriorating and believed that completely should understand and accept their role in the society.This dust of theory is good in so removed as it has faith in the humanity beingness as being capcapable of managing his own destiny, and being able to change for the fracture. Confucianism gives an individual member of the society a chance to strickle responsibility for creating and maintaining harmony in the society, by having it entrenched in the individual countenance that recognizes nobility as a state that can be achieved by an individual, without anybody being able to gain it through ascription or inheritance and this is not fold uply attached to the usance of goernmental advocate per se (Barry et al. 24)In China where galore(postnominal) communities were vying for political dominance, Confucianism offered a window for the restoration of order through self cultivation, oriented toward achieving a imposing state, in spite of the persons accessible extraction. This, as a philosophy that sought to scram harmony in the competitive Chinese society, worked toward the ecesis of personal moral uprightness, which in turn would chance upon the focal poi nt flock related to champion another, especially in their relation to leadership.If the society regarded nobility highly, so the noble nation, having cultivated themselves effectively would have their lure in the society to steer clear of war, or to effectively lead the the great unwashed in better battle campaigns against their adversaries. If on the other hand, the Chinese society was to transform itself into a nation of noble people according to Confucian principles, accordingly everybody would maintain the peace, beca office people would look at each other with to a greater extent humility and considerateness.The Confucian noble is thus, one who is able to get out leadership without really reigning or ruling. Confucianism can overly be seen as a direct response to insen devolve onive leadership during the war tip, and thus, a organization to try and impress the virtue of good leadership amongst the regulations of the time (86). This was done in such(prenominal) a wa y that it did not hazard as much, the sociable structures prevalent then, because the Confucian recognition of the social hierarchies, and insistence on the the great unwashed to uphold respect for the superiors.Of course, war is a period when it matters to positively receive instruction and commands from the superiors. Daoism While Confucianism promotes the coif of self improvement in line with the assembly line based on native evolution of the human species, Daoism on the other hand places all human effort in the search for knowledge and purposive conversion in the realm of vanity. Daoists wanted the political sciences not to override their lives and were interested in the spiritual opinion of human existence. The temptation to dismiss this discipline of thought prima facie is quite high.This is due to the natural preference of man to take responsibility of his destiny and the natural tendency to seek a better life, to marvel at nature and to try to influence it so as t o satisfy personal ingests. In that respect, one would expect that a working formula has to evince mans rationality and his wants and require, as the profound pillars of his push toward creating his own history and having dominion over his environment. On the other hand, Daoism offers a situation where, as a country at war, the Chinese had an hazard to re-examine their value systems and act accordingly.The Daoist concept of being in harmony with nature and not essay to claim just near change could be looked at as a peace strategy. This is because wars are course fanned by human desire to achieve something that humans feel is of ultimate importance to them. Wars as well as spring out of humans questioning of things and hence inventions of valuable things (which they desire so much). Humans would as well as like to either wrest from people who wouldnt like them to possess the valuable items, or fierily protect the items from the people who would covet them.The need for ma n to change, to improve on things and to have an influence over his environment is a tendency that puts man in contention with the Daoist principle. If people followed Daoism, then they wouldnt draw in a lot of questioning, which would bring nigh the escalation or perpetuation of the war. Their social relationships would be smooth, for all of them would be in harmony with nature, which would naturally take its course and not support of war. Daoist leadership would therefore be a laid back kind of leadership, with nature taking care of itself.The kind of transformation to come out of the society would therefore be premised on the Daoist fact that nature is capable of transforming itself, and man doesnt have to take steps to intervene with occurrence of events. This however, would be criticized on the premise that change is something to be managed by the human being, by use of his intellect. Daoism as a leadership style would be an aloof kind of leadership, and during the war perio d, something deliberate had to be done, the solutions to the problems then were not just left to run into from heaven.To best illustrate this, Barry calls Daoists those who wandered off (48) Legalism This school of thought argued that substantive government depended upon effective institutional structures not just the moral quality of the leaders. This could be described as the application of law for the gather of the mass. Legalism thus becomes a system of reinforcement, with an emphasis on both positive and negative reinforcement meted out to the members of the society in order to discourage real socially undesirable behavior according to the majority of people paying allegiance to the society in question (Ebrey & Buckley 23).According to legalism school of thought, society is influence through its reward system, with socially unacceptable behavior being punished for, with blessings from the social framework that awards accredited individuals the power to dish out these rew ards, without ineluctably being seen to deny one or infringe upon their rights. This may help galvanize a society or community, which get out in turn have a more prominent sense of identity and solidarity. much(prenominal) a stand in a war situation is good for the purpose of gaining victory over the enemy.Legalism is quite an ideal system for saving the society together in the face of a car park enemy. This excessively gives the pattern the chance to act with speed, since legalism is a system that is responsive to the times changing with pot and accordingly responding to the dictates of the time. War times need an glory where there is quick action and response, and with the foundation that gives virtue to what the rulers are deciding on behalf of their subjects.Legalism was therefore, an ideal philosophical grounding for individual Chinese communities during the time of war, for it is a system that can well serve the expedients of war. This comes in the inflame of the fact that the Chinese had developed government structures bequeath to them by the Chin dynasty, and which lasted for more than twain centuries (Barry et al. 145). The structures brought about by the Chin dynasty were important in the realization of the dictates of the legalistic system, which was organized around reward and punishment, and had to have a basis in the park will of the people.Thus, there had to be a person vested with the power to mete out punishment to errant members of the society, while at the same time hand down rewards to those who performed and behaved in accordance with the needs and aspirations of the society. This person also derived mandate from the same common will that requires the people to obey and take reward, both positive and negative, with judgement since it is for the common good that this is done. It can be argued that legalism is something close to Confucianism, because it comes out of mans free will.It is a product of social engineering, with a thinking to bringing about an ideal society something totally distanced from Daoism, which emphasizes the need to let life just flow, without taking any action to influence ones environment. Mohism This is a system of universal brotherhood, where everyone on the face of the earth is related to each other, with an obligation to look subsequently ones kin (Ebrey & Buckley 35). Taken from this very standpoint, this is a perfect doctrine for humanity at any one time, and in this case, for China during the warring times.This is because, as we have noted above, human counterpoint springs out of differences. These differences, when not solved amicably, lead to war. The disputation to keep some things outside from others and to take what is have by others is a perfect recipe for war. If, in the light of Mohism, all of humanity was to lay a claim on brotherhood, and maintain that doctrine of being each others keeper, then the incidence of war would be remote. This is because brotherho od entails harmony and amity.It also presupposes the ability to communicate with each other without necessarily taking to arms. Mohists might not have been comp in their brotherhood matrix. Even though all men are supposed to be brothers, the Mohists view of the world is quite hierarchical, with the junior members of the society explosive charge a social responsibility to be instrumental to those who are perceive to be on an uplifted social platform. This is a system that would have borne payoff if only the small people accepted it.If however, the common people are not agreeable to this arrangement, then Mohism would be just but another pick of wood in the fire, for they would revolt as a response to this flawed brotherhood arrangement. From a different perspective, Mohism could be taken to be the answer to the perceived social injustices prevalent in China then. lots as one could be the others brother, this system sought to cultivate an environment where an individual, aft er(prenominal) striving for, and accumulating enough superior residues would acquire a higher status and would lead people.War needs strong willed people, since it carries a lot in foothold of col ulterioral damage, both in terms of human life and material possessions. War time also needs utmost sacrifice, so that as brothers, some members of the society do not just sit back and wait for the other people to work out way-through for them. If one is in a inflict position, then he has to be obedient and provide for that one who is up. In this way, Mohism comes out as a system that influenced the social set up such that it recognized the need to love each other, and to be ready to stand by each other while at the same time, not losing the individual.If they were to be juxtaposed, Mohism and Confucianism would relate up to a certain extent. virtuoso would easily say that in terms of hierarchy, both Confucianism and Mohism teach about the society in light of inequalities and the need fo r these to be maintained through decent social decorum. Confucius goes deeper to analyze, at a finer level, the social relations and how they should be handled for the sake of peace and tranquility. Mohists may differ on some of these because of the pedant stand they regard the social hierarchies and how they observe and maintain them.However, it provides a framework for the legitimization of rulership, for a ruler is someone who occupies a place in a hierarchical set up. Legitimacy of a ruler springs out of the word meaning the ruler enjoys from the society. War times need strong leaders who derive genuineness from their people. In times of war too, a ruler could impose himself on the people, but for as long as he serves to protect them or unite them against the enemy, then his legitimacy may not be much of a problem, since it is in the peoples name that the ruler reigns.This solidarity is best achieved by communities that recognize hierarchy as a natural phenomenon in life, and which Mohists and Confucians upheld in their thought. windup In conclusion, based on personal point of view, the various ideological developments in China which brought about the four schools of thought which have been examined in this cover are a response to certain conditions in the society at the time of their emergence, and that these are instrument that were crafted so as to manage change.The difference only lies in the points that were stressed. Mohism, for instance, is a system that was conservative to a certain extent, reacting to the possibility of occurrence of a development that could challenge the breathing hierarchical status quo. At the same time, it endeavored to foster change in the way people regarded one another, with the small people (the serfs and commoners) in full recognizing and venerating their lords.Confucianism on the other hand, much as it strove for change on the individual level which would later on seep into the entire social model of the Chinese , was also a fairly conservative system. on the nose like Mohism, it posed no threat to the existing powers. It was a system that would be used to bring the people together in times of war, for this was not a time for people to start questioning their authorities. By defending the hierarchical system alive(predicate) then, the Confucians thought of an alternative leadership style where noble people would get to influence the rulers through their self cultivation.This system almost totally absolved the ruler from responsibility, since the leader had the social privilege of lording it over his subjects without being obliged to observe certain tenets of leadership. It was however superjacent upon the subject to go through the process of self improvement. What would happen if all the subjects had transformed themselves yet the leadership was not together with them? What avenues would they have to really exercise power? Daoism was one way of running away from the human responsibility to respond to change.By let all systems go, the society would be at a greater risk of falling prey to the dictates of a bad ruler, a coward or one who would cover them to the enemy during this war period, since the Daoist doctrine was all about living and letting live. After considering everything, legalism seems to be the system that would have best defended the particular communities, and even a collection of the communities, for it is a system of action and reciprocation. The common person reacts, and then the system responds by award a deserving reward whether positive or negative.