Chinese Philosophical Systems
In the sixth century B.C., in China, feudalism had brought about much chaos. Within this chaos was the roots of Chinese Philosophy. There were three major "schools" of philosophy, Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism. These three different philosophies were each important in the development of Chinese society and government in a big way. Through their teachings, the Chinese people of the time gained many morals and new ideas which helped them progress as a people. Of the many ideas that were brought about in this time, some of them are still even used in governments around the world today. Confucius founded Confucianism to spread his ideas of honesty, hard work, and concern for others. Confucianism helped to develop society in major ways one way is his idea of filial piety. Filial piety is the idea of a great amount of respect toward one's parents. This allowed the parents to rule of their children with less controversy. Confucius once said, "As an offshoot of his parent's, how dare a child not respect himself." This is saying that according to filial piety, you must respect yourself since you are a result of your parents. Another idea of Confucianism is it's patriarchal society. This
Daoism, the third philosophy, sought after living in harmony with nature, rather than bringing order to human affairs with its founder Laozi. Daoism rejected the world of conflict and strife, to emphasize the virtue of giving. Daoism greatly impacted on the development of the society, because many people in areas of Daoism, were indebted to it as a philosophy and as a religion. Many people who practiced Daoism became hermits, mystics, artists, and poets to express their loyalty to this philosophy. "The government that governs best, governs least." These statement explains how Laozi helped to develop government in his time through Daoism. Laozi felt that like "a person who is good at counting," the Chinese society "[didn't] need a calculator." In other words, the more the government did in society, the worse off the people would be. With less government, especially in these feudalistic times, there would be less corruption of government. Very different ideas grew out of the teachings of another Chinese Philosopher, Hanfeizi. His teachings were known as Legalism. This philosophy was much harsher and more strict than Confucianism, but was like Confucianism in the sense that it wanted bring order to human affairs. Legalism brought about developments in society because one of the main ideas of Legalism was harsher punishment.
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Approximate Word count = 906
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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