PhilosophersConfucius

Confucius

Becoming human through learning, ritual and benevolence.

Confucianismv. 551 – 479 av. J.-C. ChinaTeacher of wisdomVirtue ethicsPolitical thinkerEducator
己所不欲，勿施於人
What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.
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知之爲知之，不知爲不知，是知也
When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it: this is knowledge.
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學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆
Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.
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三人行，必有我師焉
When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers.
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朝聞道，夕死可矣
If a man in the morning hear the right way, he may die in the evening without regret.
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Misconceptions

False
Confucius wrote the Analects.

He wrote nothing. The Analects gather sayings recorded by his disciples and their successors over two or three centuries after his death. Every "the Master said" is a report, not a quotation from his own hand.

False
Confucius said: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

This sentence is found neither in the Analects nor in any other ancient text. It is a modern saying, credited to Confucius without any source. The closest passage says something else: loving a thing is better than knowing it, and delighting in it is better still (the Chinese does not say which thing; Couvreur reads "virtue", Legge "the truth").

Nuanced
Confucius preached blind obedience to power.

He defends a hierarchical order where everyone fulfils their role. But the ruler must first fulfil his own, and a good minister does not deceive his ruler and stands up to him when needed.

Nuanced
For Confucius, humans are naturally good.

That is Mencius' thesis, a century and a half later. Confucius only says that people are close by nature and that practice sets them apart, and his disciple Zigong says one did not hear him speak about human nature.