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Confucianism is the main component of Eastern culture and the Chinese one in particular. The Confucian school was founded in the late 6th and early 5th centuries BC and it has influenced the Chinese culture till the present time. The structure of the Chinese political system and its socio-economic structure with the societys values and ethic standards are based on the doctrines of Confucius. Confucianism played a dominant role in the development of Chine and the civilization of the whole mankind. Confucianism is still used nowadays and it is considered to be the world heritage.
Confucius was known for his inimitable thoughts and his ability to distinguish fine elements in the process of thinking. Confucian doctrines were based on the experience of the past dynasties namely the Zhou, Xia, and Shang. The essence of Confucian doctrines was to relate and not to invent (Confucius, 1979). He impelled other people to look for the answers to the current questions in the history of previous generations. Confucius believed that every culture might teach people to live and there was valuable and vitally important information in every culture. Even if most countries rejected to accept the Jewish culture Chine was the only country that had a friendly attitude to ancient Jewish people.
Although Confucianism had a dominant role in Chine other forms of religions and doctrines such as Christianity, Buddhism and Islam developed there. According to Confucius, there was no sense to hate and rejecting those people who had another religion or followed other doctrines. It was more useful to take something useful from these religions. Confucianism preached tolerance and as the result, it united all the best from the past and present cultures.
Although Confucianism was founded thousands of years ago it is still developing and absorbing all the values from other cultures. Early Confucianism considered a human being to be the only ruler of the Earth, the most important creature in the world, and the spirits of the land. This early doctrine was enlarged with a lot of new ideas where human needs and interests were endowed a dominant role. Confucianism does not reject science although it is not based on scientific knowledge. Even if there are no scientific words in Confucian doctrines such as socialism, democracy, humanitarianism, or freedom Confucianism denotes these ideas. A human being is the most precious in Confucian doctrines and everything it contains is in a good cause for mankind.
Present fundamental human rights such as democracy, freedom of speech, and womens rights emanate from Confucianism. The UN General assembly approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th nearly sixty years ago. The Declaration states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and that they have the right to life, liberty, and security of person. Slavery, torture, and other inhumane treatment are strictly forbidden.
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 19 everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers . Factually, all these human rights are expressed in Confucianism but with the help of other words. Confucius presupposes the same ideas with the help of simple words. Confucianism contains a lot of progressive ideas which correspond to modern human rights ideas. It may be concluded that the development and formation of human rights are obliged to Confucian doctrines.
Benevolence is considered to be the key concept of Confucianism. This notion is expressed with the help of the pun of two words namely ren ren (Confucius, 1979). These two Chinese words have the same pronunciation but the hieroglyphs are different. The first ren means a physical person and the second ren is used to denote the relationships between two people, love and benevolence. Literally, ren denotes two people and the factual meaning of this pun is that people may be humane only in that case when they collaborate with each other.
Benevolence denotes the building of interpersonal relations or relationships between two people. People should be tolerant of each other and do their best to live in peace and harmony. In the first article of the Declaration Confucian words ren ren is substituted with the words conscience , a universally shared moral knowledge, and the spirit of brotherhood to point out the same idea as Confucian considers.
Main Confucian ideas are: The benevolent man establishes for others stands he wishes for himself and brings others to reach where he wishes to reach himself , Do as you would be done by, and To discipline self and love others (Confucius, 1979). Generally speaking, Confucian benevolence is connected with the human rights guaranteed respect for each other and tolerance to the beliefs of other people.
Confucianism preaches respect to other people especially to the elder ones, piety, loyalty, and friendly relationships between people belonging to different cultures. Confucius expresses his ideas in the following words: to devote all strength to serving parents and to be willing to die in serving lords and be it to serve fathers on one hand; be it to serve your lords on the other hand (Confucius, 1979). Everyone should take care of the people surrounding them.
The main aim of human life is to do good for others and this good returns to them. Country, government, family, and friends play a dominant role in human life according to Confucian ideals. Thanks to the development and spreading of Confucianism all over the world such notions as patriotism and collectivism have become popular among people belonging to different cultures. All these ideas are used as the basis for a democratic country. Factually, Confucianism is used by many countries to create democracy.
Confucianism is strongly connected to humanism as far as it puts a human being in the center of its doctrines. Human beings are considered to be the most valuable things in the world. People should value each other. It is believed that people are the creators of civilization and all cultures and they are the founders of the country. It is the main reason why the government should do everything to improve peoples life. It is created by people and for people. Human rights should be at the core of the government. Confucianism considers people to be more valuable than lords as far as lords should be servants of people and they should do everything to improve the life of ordinary people.
This idea resembles the present democratic values where the government is for the people and politicians are the servants of the people. Article 21 of the Declaration states that everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives and that the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. As we may observe all human rights expressed in the Declaration are based on Confucian doctrines. Factually, Confucian words are substituted by modern terminology to express the same ideas.
Confucius considers food to be the paramount necessity of people (Confucius, 1979). The government should take care of the satisfaction of this necessity. Famine is one of the main problems of many countries and people should unite their efforts to solve this problem and they should help each other. According to Confucian doctrines everyone should be guaranteed to have the necessary conditions for life and development. Everyone should be provided an opportunity to work and hunt for food. Nature belongs to a human being and he may use its resources for satisfying the paramount necessity. The government does not have any right to take the land from the people. Nature is the common propriety of all people and everyone has the right to use it.
An ideal society is considered to be a united society where people have equal rights and are provided with good conditions for living. Old people should care till their last moment and children should be provided with education and good conditions for their growth and development. Every human being, as well as his propriety, should be protected and inviolable. Widows and widowers, orphans, disabled and sick people should be specially cared for and supported by other people and the government. These ideas are used as the core of all human rights. They are in the Constitution of every country and are used as the basis for any civilization.
Harmony is considered to be one of the main points of Confucianism. The ideal society is a harmonious society where people respect each other and support each other. Harmony should be between people, between countries, between cultures, and between nations. This harmony is one of the main methods to prevent conflicts and wars, and keep peace and prosperity. Harmony is a guarantee of balance and stability. Harmony is still considered to be the main aim of many countries.
The main aim of UNO is to keep peace and stability in the world. There is no wonder that Confucian ideas have influenced the present human rights and laws. Any country or the whole world cannot develop without stability and peace. Wars are disastrous and destructive. They hamper the development of the world. Different countries and people belonging to different religions or different cultures should not solve their problems with the help of weapons as far as all people are equal and they are the same ruler of the Earth as others.
There is no dominant religion or the dominant nation in the world. All people are valuable and equal and they should be tolerant to each other if they want to co-exist and achieve harmony in the world. Everyone should realize the merits of other people and other cultures. Only in this way different cultures may co-exist and enrich each other. Confucianism is a good demonstration of combining different ideas and doctrines from different cultures.
Confucius considers unity without uniformity the key point of peace in the world. It denotes that all human beings should live in peace but they should be an individual body. There is no necessity to create a great country uniting all countries and cultures and having one government and one runner. It is not useful for the people. Confucius considers harmonious diversity to be the way to the development of the world.
Confucius expresses the importance not only of the unity between people but of the unity with nature. Nature is factually a big organism where everything depends on each other. A human being belongs to this organism and it is a part of nature. Therefore, people should follow the rules of nature and live with nature in harmony.
Confucianism has been changed for a long time. It has absorbed different ideas and has been influenced by Western culture. Nevertheless, it should be noted that it has influenced the development of human rights and people have taken the best from these Chinese doctrines. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that our modern society lacks Confucian social responsibility and unity. Extreme individualization and weak social unity have become popular in modern society. The Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities (DHDR) testifies to the fact that many human rights are based on Confucianism as for example the following words: Do as you would be done by which are the basis of any code of human rights.
Works Cited
Confucius. The Analects (Lun Yü). New York: Penguin, 1979. Print.
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