Political Philosophy in the Treatise Kong-zi Jia Yu

Authors

  • Anastasia Yu. Blazhkina Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences, 32, Nakhimovsky av., Moscow, 117997, Russian Federation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21146/0042-8744-2023-3-184-193

Abstract

The article examines the key aspects of political philosophy, reflected in the Con­fucian treatise Kong-zi jia yu (Speeches of the Confucius school). The essence of the political doctrine in the searched text is the concept of governing the coun­try on the basis of virtue (de) and with the help of the law (fa), which pre­supposes political leaders have the highest forms of morality; considers one of the main functions of the state as the implementation of a program of spiritual guidance for the people through the education of ritual decency (li) and the es­tablishment of cultural norms (wen).One of the characteristic features of Confu­cian politics is that it represents the logical conclusion of Confucian ethics. Con­fucian political doctrine is a national etatism. The ultimate goal that it sets is a harmonious condition of society, understood as a return to the ancient ideal of the Great Unity (da tong), including the material well-being of the people (fei).Achieving such a state should be achieved through the implementation by gentleman (jun-zi) of an effective program for the transformation of the country (tianxia). A gentleman is understood as an ethical model for the people, and has the main moral constant of a political leader – humanity (ren)

Published

2023-03-31

Issue

Section

Russian Philosophers Write About China and Chinese Philosophy

How to Cite

[1]
2023. Political Philosophy in the Treatise Kong-zi Jia Yu. Voprosy Filosofii. 3 (Mar. 2023), 184–193. DOI:https://doi.org/10.21146/0042-8744-2023-3-184-193.