Confucian Cortegiani and Fluttering Sages

After the fall of the Ji family at the end of the Western Zhou, the Zhou clan began its steady descent from the heights of real power into the trappings of nominal rule. The centuries following, called the Eastern Zhou, were marked by a steady growth in the increasing power of smaller principates and kingdoms once held under the centralized power of the early Zhou. 12 powerful rulers (十二諸侯) directed the most important affairs of the continent. As the years wore on, the Zhou clan receded from the forefront of power as military mights such Qin, Jin, Qi, Chu and Wu rose to prominence. These states thrived off of the consumption of smaller neighboring states and the volatile dealings of foreign diplomacy between one another. With the Zhou remaining merely as a puppet suzerain, the infighting between the these powerful states threw society into centuries of unrest. The chaotic conditions of life, however, created the conditions under which innovation was possible. It was toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period (722-481BC) and the beginning of the Warring States period (476-221BC) that Kongzi or Confucius was born and would initiate a cultural revolution that would shape China for millenia to come.

Confucius was part of a new emerging class of minor, poor nobility (士) who were involved in the active formulation of new cultural paradigms for China and who peddled their intellect and virtue as a means for their own physical and existential sustenance. Amidst the turmoil of these times, men of superior intellect wandered from court to court seeking audience and offering their services to (mostly corrupt) officials. Though he would become the most well known, Confucius was hardly the only important figure of this intellectually vibrant period. In fact, the period is also known today as that of the 100 schools of philosophy (諸子百傢). Alongside Confucius, equally important figures in their times were Mozi, Laozi, Han Feizi, Zhuangzi and Mencius. Each of these figures would present their own versions of what constituted a harmonious society and an ideal rulership. Each philosophized their own way (道) of personal and communal cultivation to the establishment of harmony and order, that eagerly sought after point of natural repose. In our readings we look behind the philosophy to the role of the philosopher in the pitching of the way to the achievement of repose. We will read excerpts from the Analects (Confucius), the Mencius, Mozi, the Laozi and the Zhuangzi as we seek to formulate how the role of the philosopher evolves and effects and is effected by his philosophies of social and inner harmony.

Readings:
Analects (Book 1 and 2)
Mencius (Book 1.1)
Mozi (Book 4.1 and 5.1,2)
Laozi (Ch. 29-39)
Zhuangzi (Ch. 7)

Questions:
(1) How would you characterize the character or tones of these different philosophers?
(2) What are some of the details of their way or dao (道)?
(3) How are these philosophers implicated in their own philosophies or in the societies they hope to establish?

Links:
(1) Slides for 100 Schools

Secondary readings: