Chinese Philosophies Essay

Chinese Philosophies Writing Assignment From 1027-221 BCE, the Zhou era, Chinese philosophers “offered insights into how humans should behave in regard to their families, the state, and nature.” Different philosophers tried to achieve a similar goal of having a well-ordered Chinese society, but they all had vastly different methods of achieving this goal. There were three different schools of Chinese thought that all tried to achieve the goal of having a peaceful society that lived in harmony. All of these ideas were exceptionally diverse and they all varied in different ideas. “Daoism emphasized harmony with nature; Confucianism emphasized the harmony of relationships; and Legalism emphasized the harmony of a well-regulated state.” The Three Schools of Chinese thought, Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism had major impact on Chinese History both politically and socially for they each promoted a different approach to achieve a well-ordered society. Confucianism is a philosophy that pushed for a well-ordered society by emphasizing human relationships, a righteous leader, and a good education. The discoverer of this idea was Confucius, a philosopher and teacher. He grew up in the period of Eastern Zhou, the age of a hundred schools. His goal was to transform the Chinese society into a state of coherence and righteous. He planned this goal was to be achieved by something called filial piety, devotion and service to parents, ancestors, and superiors. He found filial piety important because he believed it would make the people act moral. Another way he planned to achieve this goal was having a wise and moral leader that was able to set good examples for his people. The Analects state that Confucius said “If you preside over them with dignity, they will be reverent; if you are filial and loving, they will be loyal; if you promote the good and instruct the incapable, they will be mutually encouraging.” This proves that he believed the ruler should often set a good