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This nine page paper on Aristotle Vs. Confucius compares and contrasts the ideas of Aristotle with that of Confucius. This paper also outlines where the ideas of both of these men differed from each other. This paper also proves that no matter how old the teachings of the philosophers may be, they still are in relevance today. Aristotle Vs. Confucius Aristotle and Confucius have been regarded as great philosophers of their times.
While Aristotle was born in Stagira in North Greece, Confucius was born in China. Both men imparted considerable amount of knowledge on various subjects to their pupils. It is known that Aristotle and Confucius are from completely different lands, yet in spite of this, both were able to direct many people onto the righteous paths. Though their teachings differ in certain aspects, they provided their followers with similar ethical guidelines, which stand on the platform of virtue. Both of the philosophers works depicts how one should behave in order to live a good life, and although that goal is not the same for Aristotle and Confucius, both outlook express a suitable character, which is present throughout their readings. In their mission to improve ones moral principles, Confucius and Aristotle share a few basic ideals on how life should be treated.
Hence, their ideas are similar as well as dissimilar on some traits. Aristotle is said to have had an anthology of one hundred and fifty philosophical treatises out of which thirty survived. These touch on an enormous range of philosophical problems, ranging from biology and physics to morals to aesthetics to politics. Many, however, are thought to be lecture notes instead of complete, polished treatises, and a few may not be the work of Aristotle but of members of his school. Aristotle saw reality in physical objects, knowable through experience. These objects could be categorized as organisms, which were composed of a potential, their matter, and of a reality, their form; thus, a block of marble -- matter -- has the potential to assume whatever form a sculptor gives it, and a seed or embryo has the potential to grow into a living plant or animal form.
In living creatures, the form was branded as the soul; plants were assumed to have had the lowest kinds of souls, animals had higher souls as they could feel, and humans alone had rational, reasoning souls. In turn, animals could be classified by their way of life, their actions, or, most importantly, by their parts. Where Aristotle's ideas diverged acutely from medieval and modern thinkers was in his conviction that the universe had never had a beginning and would never end; it was perpetual. Change, to Aristotle, was cyclical: water, for instance, might evaporate from the sea and rain down again, and rivers might come into existence and then perish, but overall conditions would never change. Like Aristotle, Confucius is famous for his philosophies. He said many wise sayings that helped many Chinese learn about the world and human behavior.
He also assisted the government and the emperor by teaching them about the successful ruling of their kingdom. Like Aristotle, Confucius also received fine education and later imparted his wisdom as a teacher. Confucius condemned the contemporary disarray and lack of moral standards. He came to believe that the only solution was to convert people once more to the principles and precepts of the sages of ancient times.
He therefore lectured to his pupils on the ancient classics. His theories and principles were daub throughout China by his partisans, and soon many people learned from his wise sayings. One of his rules said, If you governed your province well and treat your people kindly, you kingdom shall not lose any war. If you govern selfishly to your people, you kingdom will not only lose a war, but your people will break away from your kingdom. He had also said a wise phrase called the golden rule that is still being used as a rule today. It said, A man should practice what he preaches, but a man should also preach what he practices.
Both Aristotle and Confucius proposed their thoughts on human goodness and virtue. Aristotle's concept of virtue can be compared to Confucius concept of Ren. The concerted notion of Confucian philosophy is Ren, that is, humanity; he explained that Ren is to love the people. He further explained that one could not only love his parents, brothers, sisters and sons, but ought to love the masses significantly. Here the masses did not indicate specially certain kind of people. Its basic meaning is like what Buddha said of saving all the living creatures and Holy Prophet Mohammad and Christ said of loving all the people including your enemy.
The dissimilarity on this concept between Aristotle and Confucius is that Aristotle's definition is based on practical wisdom while Confucius focuses on filial love. Confucius position on principles and morality is inscrutable but a distinction between the definitions of virtue will bring his ideas into contemporary virtue ethics. We briefly look at what these two mean meant by their definitions on virtue and morality. Aristotle wrote the book called Nichomachean Ethics which focused on how to obtain happiness. Disquieted with the persona of character that makes one a good person, Aristotle sees the right thing to do as means to accomplishing good character but not as values in themselves. Aristotle refers to these traits as virtues.
He describes virtue as a trait of good character coalesced with habitual good action. Aristotle primarily focused on virtue of moderation. His Doctrine of the Mean holds all virtues exist between two extremes which are excess and deficiency. He believed that moral virtue is a mean between two extremes that is, one involving excess and the other deficiency.
This concept of Aristotle later came to be known as the Golden Mean. The Golden Mean has been cautiously scrutinized and practiced by many philosophers from various cultures such as Aristotle's ancient Greece and Confucius China. Aristotle stated out that in order to find the Golden Mean, the two extremes must be identified in order to find equilibrium between the two. But the mean must occur at the right time towards the right people for the right reason and in the right manner.
Aristotle's thinking grant ethical motivation to develop a good character. The good character may result in the production of good actions. Nonetheless, there is no way of distinguishing or even determining the right action. In todays age we have learnt from Aristotle's Golden Mean that good actions are basically good solutions that permit an open minded person to react to various situations. By not selecting one extreme over the other, we may remain level headed. Yet, evaluating this level ground is often difficult to do since some extremes are different than others.
Consider for example, two people who weigh one hundred and ten pounds and the other who weigh two hundred and fifteen pounds. The former will need fewer calories than the latter. Both obtain a balanced diet, but their right quantities of food differ. So, what is apropos for one is malapropos for the other. Thus, the middle mean is relative to the individual.
Specifically, in Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics he says that we can let our passions and desires rule us or we can be free from them by acting with our ethics and morality. Aristotle accepts as true that right thinking results in good action, but he also firmly sticks to the notions that habit is the best guru of virtue. Good habits are born from prevention of excess and extremes to confront lifes hardships. Choosing the middle road may seem to be the easy way out, yet Aristotle believes this to be the most complicated way to virtue. For instance, there is no clear answer to right and wrong. The assessment of character depends on the situation one is in.
Once moderation has been acquired, keeping a level head is easier, according to Aristotle. As slaves to the senses and desires, humans should retrieve happiness not as a state of emotion rather than satisfaction. Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics say that success comes from moderation which leads to the universal divine good that would be the highest of any life. It is rather interesting to highlight that Aristotle believes that some actions are unethical throughout and have no basis. For example, if a man who has not killed anyone would not want to kill many people. This action is not only unjust but also premeditates harming of another person and thus should not be sought.
Confucius, on the other hand focuses on strengthening the character in life. He highly regarded the virtue of Ren, which comprised of benevolence, sympathy and perfect virtue. The Chinese character for Ren associates man with two, so that the root meaning of the term is social. According to Confucius theory, evil upshots from peoples lack of ability to shun negative thing in their lives. Confucius believes that a good person is a superior human being because he is capable of hearing all sides of an issue with an open mind and attains Ren in perfection. Under the Mean doctrine, Confucius stresses that practicing wisdom, courage and humanity simultaneously balance automatically into the Mean.
Hence, Confucius like Aristotle believed that finding the Mean can help bring about satisfaction or fulfillment in ones life. It is important to point out that both Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics and Confucius Doctrine have often been spoken and preached by many men before. For instance, the Golden Rule has been found in the gospels of Christianity. It states, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This statement signifies good action that may be used to obtain good character, and consequently, happiness. Aristotle's and Confucius perception of virtue and finding the Mean path in order to live life may seem appealing but the truth is that it is not consistent with human nature and has little relevance to modern life.
These ideas deal with ideas of excess and deficiencies that are vague. Once someone said, seeking the middle path between extremes is a good idea, but never experiencing an extreme in itself seems extreme. The vital idea of Aristotle and Confucius is that every normal human being treasures the ambition to become a superior human being that is, superior to ones fellows, if possible, but surely superior to ones own past and present self. This goal does not mean attaining a perfect state of the self but rather a state of always striving to go beyond my present state. This thought of Confucius has great relevance to the modern way of living. If one cogitates, that one would conclude that every other person on the face of this planet is striving to attain more.
I agree with Aristotle and Confucius, that all human beings are constantly engaged in a battle of attaining more success, capital and fame than our colleagues but there are indeed very few who revert to the righteous path to get what they want. Aristotle in his elucidations of the nature of morality claims that the ultimate good for us human beings is happiness, and in order to reach happiness, we must live our lives in accordance with reason and virtue, precisely because they are the very things that make up our essence. He also said that moral behavior can only be acquired if we make use of reason and virtue. Similarly, Confucius also believes that in order for us to demonstrate good moral behavior, we must live by the ways of the gentleman. He argues that there is a right form for everything, from the way we treat the general public to the way we treat our own family members. Confucius principles are related to Aristotle's principles as both are based on virtue and the need for character development.
This again is in relevance to modern living. The Golden Mean is one of the rudimentary kinds of Confucian philosophy. It is the method and standard of his humanity principle. If one observes carefully than one will see that there are both similarities and differences between Confucian Golden Mean and that of Aristotle. The later said in Nichomachean Ethics, It may become evident also if we view the kind of nature possessed by virtue.
In everything that is incessant and divisible it is possible to take an amount which is greater than or less than or equal to the amount required, and the amount taken may be so related either with respect to the thing itself or in relation to us, and the equal is a mean between excess and deficiency. By the mean in the case of the thing itself, I mean that which lies at equal intervals from the extremes, and this mean is just one thing and is the same for everyone. For example, if ten is many and two is few, then six is taken as the mean with respect to the thing itself, for six exceeds two and is exceeded by ten by equal amount, and this is the mean according to an arithmetic proportion. Both Confucius and Aristotle emphasized the defects of excess and the deficiency. A disciple once asked Confucius, Who is better, Shi or Shang? Shi goes too far and Shang does not go far enough.
In that case, Shi must be the better. Confucius said, To go too far is as bad as not to go far enough. When the Golden Mean extends from the personal remark to the right handling of the interpersonal relation, down to the chance-grasping of an important action, the standard by which one may judge the excess or deficiency is changing with the time, space and conditions, that is, A gentleman keeps the Golden Mean in due time. This shows that what Confucius means is perfectly a practical principle and method based on experience, whereas that of Aristotle had its clear transcendental character, it is inferred by simple rationalistic deduction. The virtue conveyed forward in this manner is a fabrication of the exploratory mind. Even though various similarities existed between Aristotle and Confucius on the notion of virtue, however dissimilarities also existed on the ways both men viewed mankind.
Aristotle divided men into freeman and slaves. Confucius on the other hand never differentiated between men. He emphasized on equality. Confucius elucidated humanity as to love the people, or to love the masses extensively. This allowed him to provide equal opportunities, education and to carry out teaching activities in dialogue with his disciples. The overall expansion of everyones potential ability consists of the most integral part of Confucius idea of humanity.
He practiced moral education, intellectual education, physical education and aesthetic education through his six art crafts, which were The wise have no perplexities, the humanists have no worries, and the courageous have no fears. Confucius humanity principle was brought forward continuously by his disciples. One of his disciples Zixia said, All people on the earth are brothers, why should a gentleman worry about shortage of brothers? His philosophy stem from his political practice and teaching activity. Aristotle and Confucius teachings are in great relevance even today. These are the same principles and concepts that we are taught in school, in offices and in holy places.
Though both philosophers may have slightly differed on few of their concepts but their main ideas are the same. Both Aristotle and Confucius have been referred to as paragons of virtue.
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Research essay sample on Order To Live Order To Find
