With filial piety, he championed strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives, recommending family as a basis for ideal government. Aphorisms concerning his teachings were compiled in the Analects, but only many years after his death.Ĭonfucius's principles have commonality with Chinese tradition and belief. At least some of the texts and philosophy he taught were already ancient. Ĭonfucius is traditionally credited with having authored or edited many of the Chinese classic texts, including all of the Five Classics, but modern scholars are cautious of attributing specific assertions to Confucius himself. Confucianism was part of the Chinese social fabric and way of life to Confucians, everyday life was the arena of religion. During the Tang and Song dynasties, Confucianism developed into a system known in the West as Neo-Confucianism, and later as New Confucianism. After the collapse of Qin and the victory of Han over Chu, Confucius's thoughts received official sanction in the new government. His followers competed with many other schools during the Hundred Schools of Thought era, only to be suppressed in favor of the Legalists during the Qin dynasty. His philosophical teachings, called Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity.

Ĭonfucius considered himself a transmitter for the values of earlier periods which he claimed had been abandoned in his time. Confucius's teachings and philosophy underpin East Asian culture and society, remaining influential across China and East Asia to this day. 479 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. 'Confucius ( Kǒngzǐ)' in seal script (top) and regular (bottom) Chinese charactersĬonfucius ( / k ən ˈ f j uː ʃ ə s/ kən- FEW-shəs Chinese: 孔夫子 pinyin: Kǒng Fūzǐ, ' Master Kǒng' or commonly 孔子 Kǒngzǐ c.

The antalects