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Confucianism is a philosophy and a social structure. And it is highly annoying, if you've never
lived in a Confucianist culture (China, Korea, Taiwan) with its "rules for a harmonious society":
1. "Male and female" which really means "males over females", i.e. Nobody complains or
helps when occasional wife beating or sexual assault happens in public. They think foreigners are
crazy for stopping men from beating girlfriends in a drunken rage.
2. "Parent and child" which really means "parent over children", i.e. Nobody complains
when there's abuse. Corporal punishment is officially frowned on, but it happens. And when I say
corporal punishment, I don't mean spanking, I mean "stress positions", hitting hands with sticks,
and in rare cases, parents putting children's hands in hot water as "punishment".
3. "Older and younger" which really means "older over younger", i.e. Age is more
important that being right or being honest. Whoever is oldest in a group gets to make decisions,
sometimes even above people who should have authority over them. I worked at one office in Asia
where smoking was banned due to chemicals used in the building, but drivers would smoke in the
building anyway. The manager's response? "Well, the drivers are older than me, I can't ask them to
stop." An explosion would have happened and people killed before he would have said anything.
4. "Senior and junior" which really means "senior over junior", i.e. Seniority is more
important than skill, and the young are expected to put up with abuses of authority. Juniors in a
company or office are expected to turn a blind eye when they see corruption, and not report it.
Small wonder bribery is rampant in these countries' businesses and governments.
5. "Friend and friend" which really means "closer over further", i.e. How "close" you
are determines how you are treated - family first, work, neighbors, city, region, country, skin
colour. A Confucianist will defend a family member over a neighbor even if he knows his relative is
wrong, or defend a friend over a stranger even if he knew his friend was a thief. |
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 K9  11 Jun 2008 15:59
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It's a philosophy based on a religion. They act good to each other to be considered good |
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Confucianism is more of philosophy or a code of conduct. |
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It's a philosophy. |
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Confucianism is technically a religion. It is also very representable without any complications. You
can talk about it without big arguments, unless someone found some way just to really get into it,
anyways I don't agree. Anything can be a religion if you really wanted it to be. |
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I do not think that it is necessary for an ideology to include a belief in the existence of a
divinity, in order to be called a religion, although all religions usually do believe in the
supernatural, to various degrees. Heaven's Gate, for example, was widely considered to be a
religious cult, not so much because its leaders believed in a divine force, but due to their
insistence on the existence of aliens and a massive spaceship which all members could board, once
they committed suicide. As such, Heaven's Gate believed primarily in the supernatural, but not
necessarily in the divine.
Confucianism is also a religion, even if its followers do not believe in the existence of God.
Confucius himself became a sort of demi-god to many and the supernatural played a central role in
Confucianism. In the second century, the Chinese emperor even offered animal sacrifices near
Confucius' tomb and these practices continued well into the fourth century. In fact, temples were
built in order to offer people a place to worship the faith's founder. Had Confucianism only been a
system of ethics--with no supernatural component--then animal sacrifices and the construction of
temples would never have taken place. |
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