Aristotle And Kongzi

Aristotle ( 384-322 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and political scientist born in Stagira, Greece, who focused mainly on politics and made significant contributions to various fields of knowledge such as ethics, biology, and politics. Many of his opinions and thoughts regarding politics are expressed throughout his work the Politics, Book I from 350 B.C. Unlike Aristotle, Kongzi (551 - 479 B.C.) was an ancient Chinese politician. He introduced Confucius, a teaching that was built to establish the social values in traditional Chinese society. In the Analects of Confucius, students of Kongzi discuss about the moral doctrine of Kongzi and his goal to rebuild the Golden Age. Despite that they both support the proper method of wealth-getting and
There must be a ruler who practices rituals, has the spiritual perfection referred as wuwei, and true virtue. The virtue of the subjects would be influenced by the virtue and ruling of such a ruler. In the Analects it is stated, “ There will be no need for raising armies, instituting laws, or issuing governmental decrees, for the entire world will be as inexorably drawn to a ruler with true Virtue” (I|Intro). The government that Kongzi describes needs no law, no armies, or anything because everyone would be naturally following the ruler. If the ruler has the quality of ren, he would share his knowledge with everyone so that practice rituals and meet all of the requirements of being a ren without realizing. When Jikangzi was concerned about the rise in a robbery in his state, he asked Kongzi for advice and he replied saying, “If you desire good, then the people will also desire good. The virtue of the gentleman is like the wind, and the virtue of the petty person is like the grass --- when the wind blows over the grass, the grass must bend” (12, 12.19). A petty man can have high morality if his ruler possesses it as well. If there’s no wind, no grass will bend and no one’s virtue would be impacted in a positive way. Unlike Aristotle, Kongzi didn’t mention anything about how it’s essential for people to have different virtue than the rulers nor did he say that it should be strived for because his mission was to create a society of gentlemen who are qualified to be a ren and don’t strive for virtue for the sake of having it. Therefore, Kongzi suggests that people don’t need to strive for virtue as long as there is an ideal ruler while Aristotle claims that people need to aim for having the proper virtue that would