Confucius, known as Kong Zi or Master Kong in China, lived in Shandong province during the sixth century BCE.  After working as an advisor in local government, he began travelling to various provinces seeking new work as an advisor and teaching a large throng of pupils.  Although he never reentered government service, his philosophy regarding governance and citizenship was posthumously recorded by his students and would influence Chinese politics for centuries after his death.  At the core of his teaching was the idea that ritual, filial responsibility, and careful consideration of others, as practiced by both rulers and citizens, would produce a harmonious government and society.  Indeed, scholars note that “Confucius lived during an era of political turmoil when China suffered from ineffective leadership, constant warfare, and conflict among local rulers…[and] his thought focuses on the establishment of social harmony on earth."  Hearkening back to tradition, Confucius asked his fellow citizens to live an upright life that would then be reflected in the beneficence of their rulers, respected wise men, and other men in power. 

Reading Confucius’ words, one may be struck by the antiquity of this message.  As scholars Young-jin and Haeng-hoon note, Confucius’ governing philosophy may “seem a drawback [in that] the moral emotions of the people are actuated only by their rulers and social superiors." Additionally, they question the feasibility of a governance model so heavily dependent on human nature. To what degree is Confucian philosophy applicable in modern societies today, then? In passage four of chapter 14 of the Analects, Confucius’ students' collection of his dialogues and aphorisms, the philosopher expresses succinctly his notion of an upright community and an individual’s responsibility therein, a model of governance that would stand in for a legalist government like the ones that nations employ today:

4-14 子曰:「不患無位，患所以立;不患莫己知，求為可知也。」

The Master said, "A man should say, I am not concerned that I have no place, I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known, I seek to be worthy to be known."

This passage, in tandem with others that focus on individual familial responsibility, high ethical standards, and devotion to ritual by citizens, comprise a core message of conformity and obedience that is to be reflected in the leaders of men, as expressed in other, similar verses in the Analects.  Young-jin and Haeng-hoon note, however, that “despite these problems, the Confucian theory of the ideal society is not just an obsolete idea of premodern society…[and due to political violence today] the Confucian theory of the ideal society is full of suggestions for both criticizing modern society and groping toward an alternative idea that we urgently need."

That political violence that Young-jin and Haeng-hoon discuss in Philosophy East and West reflects the tendency for people to be “violent and lack order” having as a basic feature of humanity a propensity to do evil unless instructed otherwise, as Chinese philosopher Hsün-tzu explains in his seminal work, the Xunzi essays. Arguing that mankind is evil and therefore incapable of upholding the principles of Confucius’ teachings, Hsün-tzu writes, “It is man’s emotional nature to love profit and desire gain."  And while the exposition is of ancient origin and paints with a broad brush a picture of the human mind, one would be hard pressed to argue that the historical evidence has borne at least some evidence of this propensity. For these reasons, a more cynical approach to developing governing philosophy centered around law and order, like those that inform modern governments today, are most appropriate for a 21st century civilization.

Confucius and his pious philosophy, although anachronistic, represent an idyllic philosopher-king styled society where reciprocal altruism and devotion to a ritualized lifeway form a core for utopian ideologies.  But in a global society of 8 billion people, all with diverse and many-varied aspirations and lifeways, the real value in Confucian secular political philosophy may lie in how individuals receive and act on its core message.  The Master best articulated this message when, in the Analects chapter 12 passage two, he admonished citizens “not to do to others as you would not wish done to yourself.”

References

Hay, Jeff T. "Confucius (ca. 551 B.C.—479 B.C.)." The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of World Religions. Edited by Linda Holler. Greenhaven Press. 2007.

Mo, D., X., Han, F., & Watson, B. Basic writings of Mo Tzu, Hsün Tzu, and Han Fei Tzu. New York. Columbia University Press. 1967.

Young-jin, C. & Haeng-hoon, L. “The Confucian Vision of an Ideal Society Arising out of Moral Emotions, with a Focus on the Sishu Daquan.” Philosophy East and West. Vol. 66, no. 2. 2016.