What Is Confucianism? Confucianism (儒家, rújiā, literally “The School of the Scholars“; or, less accurately, 孔教 kŏng jiào, “The Religion of Kong”) is an East Asian school of ethical, philosophical, and (more contentiously) religious thought originally developed from the teachings of the early Chinese sage Confucius (551 – 479 B.C.E.). As a school of thought, it...
Confucianism Explained By Confucianism is meant the complex system of moral, social, political, and religious teaching built up by Confucius on the ancient Chinese traditions, and perpetuated as the State religion down to the present day. Confucianism aims at making not simply the man of virtue, but the man of...
Rectification Of Names The rectification of names (正名; Zhèngmíng; Cheng-ming) is originally a doctrine of feudal Confucian designations and relationships, behaving accordingly to ensure social harmony. Without such accordance society would essentially crumble and “undertakings would not be completed.” Mencius extended the doctrine to include questions of political legitimacy. When Confucius was asked what he...
Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism, is described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or simply a way of life. Confucianism developed from what was later called the Hundred Schools of Thought from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BCE), who considered himself a recodifier...