Diep 1

Chris Diep

Philosophy 1000

Shannon Atkinson

Confucius and Holism

Being a minority in the States, I like to observe and see on how every culture is different

from one another. I have lived in Utah for a while, and I noticed that my family customs are

different from my western-friends (no need to hyphenate western friends) customs. For

westerners, love is shown by external expression. In my family, love is not expressed externally,

but we do this by showing full respect to our ancestors. Also, I noticed many westerners like to

act upon something. For my family, we dont like to (you left this bolded addition from when I

corrected it. You should remove the bold) respond to certain actions, but rather to keep our

thoughts internally. Note, what I just said are observations, not necessary facts. To me though, I

believe my family customs maintain this cultural difference because of the value Confuciuss

teachings contains.

Confucius was a Chinese philosopher who teaches moral values to rulers all over China.

He was born in Shandong peninsula in the fifth century. At that time, Chinese rulers disputed on

who should rule the Zhou Dynasty. After his death, many of his followers compiled his

scriptures, known as the Analects. To Confucius, the best way to understanding nature living is

by practicing his teachings.1 Most of which are related to the concept of holism, an idea where

the universe is seen by looking nature as a whole, rather than examining its individual parts.2 In

other words, it describes the universe to be structured in a way where we every existence is

1 http://www.iep.utm.edu/confuciu/
2 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/holism
 Diep 2

interconnected to one another. This leads into a question. How does his teachings enable us to

live in a holism life-style? To answer the question, I will analyze the Confucius teachings using

the concepts of tao, chung-yung, te, li, chun-tzu, jen, and explain how they relate to his view of

holism. Very good intro and thesis. I bet a guy with a girls name helped you with this. He

he

One of the major concepts Confucius spoke in his Analects was tao (Capitalize Tao).

Tao has multiple meanings, such as the way, path, moral law, and a principle/sources of all

things. It was believed to be a single reality that contains a balanced yin and yang. Yin defined as,

positive, strong, bright, and instructive. Yang is, negative, weak, dark, and destructive.

Together, they form the Golden Mean.3 He considers this balance to be golden, in fact, in his

writing of The Doctrine of the Mean, he stated that Equilibrium is the great foundation of the

world, and harmony its universal path.4 In other words, he described a superior man as the one

who recognized Tao by balancing his/her own yin and yang.

This superior man Confucius described was often referred as a jen. Jen is a humankind,

a kind man or woman who is truly him/herself; a real person (I know you have a footnote later

in this paragraph for jen, but since you are actually defining it here, you should have a

citation here, too). Confucius believed that a real person is the one who knows the balance of

him/herself and others. He/she also needs to know on how to govern the society (leadership) and

understand the importance of education. Confucius described jen to have the following key

characteristics: wisdom, humanity, and courage.5 Jen is also a quality that is applied to todays

society. When it comes to the question, What do you want in a man/woman?, most people

3 Class notes, Handout 2

4 Soccio, pp. 23
5 Soccio, pp. 39
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would answer qualities that are balanced, such as dominance, courageous, prideful, etc. To them,

selfishness and overgenerosity are unattractive since they are not balanced qualities. Basically, an

attractive human is jen. The next paragraphs explain the Confucian practices that lead people to

become a jen. Good. But even though jen can be used as saying one becomes a real person,

the proper way to speak of the virtue is that one has or possesses jen, not that one is jen.

One is chun-tzu, possessing jen. So it should be that Confucian practices lead to the chun-

tzu who possesses all the virtues you will speak of. Lastly, and maybe you do this later, you

need to be more specific how this concept applies to holism.

Generally, moderation is the key to balance. Confucius named this practice as the chung-

yung. As described from Confucius, chung-yung means the moral law, balance to everything,

and moderation.6 This Confucius (Confucian) term has been passed into many generations,

even this was passed to my family. My parents tell me all the time to be careful at parties, but

what they really meant is for me to have fun, but while doing so moderately. Because of their

teachings, I like to socialize others, and dance a little bit of pop music during parties, but I do not

like to participate in hazing activities, getting drunk, nor acting wild. This kind of behavior is an

example of a chung-yung. My family maintain our limits for these situations because we know

that having limits allows us to understand what lifes moral law (tao) is and remain happy the

way it is. (great example and application, but capitalize Tao and I hope you explicitly tie

this into holism sometime)

Another important Confucius (you either need to say Another important of Confucius

teachings or Another important Confucian teaching to keep the tense in agreement)

teaching is the power to affect others without physical force, known as te.7 Saying a simple,

6 Soccio, pp. 35
7 Class notes, Handout 2
 Diep 4

how are you is one example. Because we tend to talk to those who we know, a short dialogue

gains our attention, which allows trust to build between others. Tapping people on shoulders and

pulling others physically were not even necessary to make a positive difference to them. Also,

the reason why many Asians families do not really show expressions, nor to act, is because of te.

I always the driver who cuts me off, because I know that he/she later realizes that its dangerous

to do so (read this whole sentence out loud, its incomplete). I do not brake check that driver

because if I do so, then I am using the car as a weapon, which to me, I considered that a physical

force. This is also an example of a te. Great example

There are also several ways to follow te, and one of them is through the practice of li. Li

is to honor ones ancestors by respecting them fully; usually by ceremonies, customs, traditions,

or by etiquette.8 Praising loudly, cheering up, our ancestors by praise can come up off guard, but

traditions are a good way to affect their self-esteem, while not becoming too cheerful. Confucius

taught this of his followers, and this was passed into families, which was also passed by newer

generations. Like many Asian families, my family believed that our ancestors (including

grandparents) deserve the most respect. Sure, this does not provide equality, but we believe this

because to Confucius, li prevents people from having disorders. He also believed that traditions

allow us to be well-mannered in all aspects of life and treat everyone with respect.9 In fact,

ceremonies were important, even Confucius stated, Where things are not on course, if you

harmonize by knowledge of harmony without regulating it by ceremony, they still cannot be put

on course.10 As for my family, we follow this practice by bowing to the household shrine every

night, as well as visiting my grandparents for every Chinese New Year. (I like the example, but

remember that Confucius also re-interpreted this term to emphasize our moral conduct

8 Soccio, pp. 37
9 http://www.iep.utm.edu/confuciu/
10 Soccio, pp. 37
 Diep 5

amongst others, i.e., our manners, our etiquette. Yes, it begins within the family, but it is

exemplified outwardly towards others, not just towards ones ancestors. The example and

writing you have of course still works, just be aware of it)

Additionally, Confucius believed that a functional society requires highly cultured,

educated men who recognize the importance of li. Doing so will make one a chun-tzu, which

means the lords son, and a superior man with a noble soul.11 The opposite of chun-tzu would

be hsiao-jen, a small, petty individual.12 A chun-tzu is a one who helps others because he/she

cares more about people. A hsiao-jen is a one who relies others for help, just to benefit

themselves.

Now that each of the Confucian terms were analyzed, I will explain their relation to

holism. What the each of the terms have in common with holism is they all believe that being

together (as a whole) gives society a better understanding of their moral values. The word,

whole indicates that every existence is interconnected to one around. Finally the tie to

holism. Thank you

As for the tao, (crap, you didnt capitalize this again! Since its, THE way or THE

path, its a proper noun and I have never seen it not capitalized) interconnectedness plays in

(delete in) a major role, because Confucius believed it ying and yang were opposing, but not

seperated. This makes sense because the more failures we make, the better skilled we become at

a subject. Also, everything in life has pros and cons. An internet (The Internet) allows access to

every information, but it can be distracting from working on this Philosophy paper. Realizing

that there are pros and cons to everything, or that we can overcome our weaknesses (but requires

effort) leads us to an understanding of tao. Basically, the understanding of this

11 http://www.iep.utm.edu/confuciu/
12 Soccio, pp. 38
 Diep 6

interconnectedness, between the good and the bad, also leads to know what tao is. (Tao, Tao,

Tao!!!)

Jen, chung-yung, and chun-tzu have a common characteristic of moderation. This plays in

a role of interconnectedness as well. Because holism states about the interconnectedness to

existent things in nature, it can also be said that every human behavior influences our humans

behavior. However, as mentioned before, Confucius stated this quote, Equilibrium is the great

foundation of the world, and harmony its universal path.13 Wait a minute, if we moderate our

behaviors, wouldnt that also mean others would also balance their behaviors? If we practice

chung-yung, and become a jen and a chun-tzu, then perhaps we can help the society also become

realist with the same characteristics as us. Very good

Li relates to holism as it brings people all together, including pasted ancestors, into a

group. Every ceremony, traditions, requires participation from multiple people, usually from

families. Confucius stated that without li, We will behave insincerely, doing the right thing out

of obedience rather than with sincerity and harmony.14 This means li allows us to be sincere.

Plus, since ceremonies involve several families, then the harmonious feeling is passed to every

family. This forms seeds that will spread the same harmonious feeling to pretty much

everyone. Very good

To re-state what I discussed in this paper, I first described some of the terms used in

Confuciuss writings. Tao is the way, moral law, which describes a perfect life is by

balancing the good and the bad. Jen is a humankind, superior person who knows how to

balance caring of self and others. Chung-yung simply means moderation. Te is to affect others

13 Soccio, pp. 23
14 Soccio, pp. 37
 Diep 7

without physical force. Li is customs, traditions, manners used to honor our ancestors. Chun-tzu

is a person with a great, noble soul. Also, I defined holism. A simple definition of holism is an

idea that the universe is meant to be a place where everything in nature interconnected.

Then, I made connections between the Confucian terms and holism. Tao is a single reality

to have an interconnected ying and yang, hence is how it was defined as the moral law. Chung-

yung, te are practices used today because our behaviors influence to one another, which some

behaviors can stray away from moderation. The only way affect others (and him/herself)

positively while maintaining a balance is to act in a way that does not involve physical force,

so that other people will replicate this same behavior. Because li involves family traditions, this

requires brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, relatives, cousins, and others to effectively

appreciate our ancestors as a whole, which then allows us to be sincere to every human being.

Jen and chun-tzu both describe a person with a noble soul by taking everything in moderation,

which I already mentioned on how moderation relates to holism. Overall, each of the Confucian

terms involve the interconnectedness and the whole, thus strongly relating to holism.

Chris,

A very good paper. You finally make the tie to holism at the end and you just nailed

it. Honestly, I dont have much if any real criticism of the paper other than a few

grammatical, punctuation and that darn capitalization error. Had you just done it once, I

would have barely mentioned it. But it was so consistent I think I have to call your mother

and let her know how disappointed I am in you. Ha ha. I gave a couple of corrections on

the applications of some of the concepts, but honestly, just a very good paper.

Thesis 20/20
 Diep 8

Length 10/10

Closing 5/5

Spelling/punctuation/grammar/capitalizing Tao, Tao, Tao..... 15/20

Citations 14/15

Explanation and understanding of the philosophy 30/30

94/100