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Six centuries before the birth of Jesus, a Chinese sage named Master Kong or Kong Fuzi (later latinized to Confucius) drafted the principles of a society founded upon virtue. For more than two thousand years, Kong Fuzi's work has remained the foundation of Chinese civilization.In this lavishly illustrated volume, Jennifer Oldstone-Moore takes readers on an insightful tour of this enduring belief system. Not quite a religion, more than a philosophy, Confucianism coexists with Daoism and Buddhism in Chinese spiritual life, guiding personal relations and social structure. Oldstone-Moore explains the essence of Confucian belief--the primary importance of filial relations, and the need for governments to be founded upon virtue--and she underscores the overarching importance of the Confucian canon. Though Confucius's own sayings are preserved in the Analects, he saw himself as an editor and mediator of the wisdom of antiquity, which he gathered in the Six Classics and Four Books, which stress harmony in the social order. The author sheds much light on these texts--The Book of Changes, the Classic of History, the Classic of Poetry, the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Book of Rites, and the now-lost Classic of Music--and also discusses the role of heroes (such as the Sage Kings), rituals and the Chinese calendar, sacred places, and Confucianism's place as a state religion through much of Chinese history. No society on earth has had the continuous history--as a single people, culture, and state--that China enjoys. One of the keys to that unity, to China's very identity, is Confucianism, deftly elucidated in this attractive, informative volume. ... Read more

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Great Introduction !
This book provides a brief history of what will become known as Confucianism and its influence in East Asia,the beliefs of Confucius,Mencius,and other important teachers, a view of the sacred texts, concept of the afterlife, traditional holidays celebrated, etc. At a little over a hundred pages it provides a simple introduction to the influential ideas of Confucianism. ... Read more

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This book presents a concise, balanced overview of China's oldest and most revered philosophy. In clear, straightforward language, Paul R. Goldin explores how Confucianism was conceived and molded by its earliest masters, discusses its main tenets, and considers its history and relevance for the modern world. Goldin guides readers through the philosophies of the three major classical Confucians--Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi--and their writings: Confucius' Analects, the Mencius, and the Xunzi, as well as two short anonymous treatises, the "Great Learning" and the "Classic of Filial Piety." He also discusses some of the main Neo-Confucian philosophers and outlines transformations Confucianism has undergone in the past century. ... Read more

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The family is central to societies that have been profoundly influenced by the Confucian, and later Neo-Confucian, mandate. This book examines the nature of family continuities and the internal family social and psychological dynamics in societies that comprise the Confucian core of Asia, namely China (including Taiwan), Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Singapore. Confucian ideas are discussed from diverse perspectives: religion, philosophy, and history; anthropology and sociology; psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychiatry. Both abiding psychological and social similarities as well as cultural differences are addressed. The volume provides insights on both the positive social cohesiveness found within Asian families and on the possible tensions and even psychopathological responses that may be engendered within a contemporary Confucian family. In addition, the work explores the common Confucian family-cultural background that must be understood to interpret both the scholastic and entrepreneurial success of East Asians wherever they have settled in the Americas and the recent economic push in their homelands. ... Read more

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Describes how the teachings of Confucius evolved from a social order to a religion, infusing all phases of Chinese life for 2000 years. ... Read more

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Confucianism is one of the most influential philosophical traditions in the world, with profound and challenging insights on human nature, virtue, ethical cultivation, and the foundations of morality and civilization. In this collection of essays, most never before published, Nivison presents nuanced and subtle interpretations of key thinkers from over two thousand years in the Confucian movement. ... Read more

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The main stream of Korean culture after the 15th century was rooted in the soil of Confucianism, and the contemporary Korean society remains within the boundary of Confucian influence. For this reason, Korean Confucianism should be taken as the starting point for understanding the nature and characteristics of Korean society in general. ... Read more

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An engagement between Confucianism and the philosophy of Richard Rorty. ... Read more

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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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In this popular text Joel Spring provocatively analyzes the ideas of traditional and non-traditional philosophies from Confucianism to human rights regarding the contribution of education to the creation of a democratic society.  The goal is to explore how governments use education to control and manage their populations, and to examine forms of education that claim to free people from authoritarian control. A critically original work, it is widely used as a text for courses on philosophical, social, political, and historical foundations of education, and critical issues in education. Reflecting its global relevance, a Chinese translation was published by the University of Peking Press in 2005.

New in the third edition:

• Expanded analysis of the use of education by authoritarian states
• Revisions to more clearly relate educational ideas to the theme of “wheels in the head” – a phrase coined by philosopher Max Stirner - to describe the use of schools by modern governments to control their citizens
• New sections on liberation education and on human rights education  
  

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This ambitious volume brings together a group of distinguished scholars who have worked together over five years’ time in an attempt to explain the present pan-Asian revival of Confucianism a century after it was declared moribund by leading philosophers and thinkers in China and Japan as well as in the West.

This collaborative study of China and its historical sphere of influence in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam begins by clearly establishing the principal threads that made up Confucian thought in the period of its unchallenged eminence. It also examines the pitfalls of Western scholars who have tended to lump together as "Confucianism" many diverse currents of Chinese and other Asian classical thought.

Uniquely, the book explores as well traditional Confucian views of issues such as gender, medicine, and ritual, and examines the reasons given by leading Asian and Western scholars for rejecting Confucianism at the end of the nineteenth century. ... Read more

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Two classics of Chinese philosophy.The Analects of Confucius, and the Mencius. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One minor problem
One minor problem with the book. It has no table of contents and I had to do quite a bit of searching before I found where Mencius begins. (It starts at 1616) Otherwise it is fine. ... Read more

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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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This volume makes available for the first time in English a collection of the work of historian Yi Tae-jin. His early research focused mainly on the social and political history of the Choson period (1392-1910). Beginning in the early 1990s, he has done work on modernization efforts during the Kojong era (1864-1907) and on the legality of Japan's takeover of Korea in 1910. His research has challenged existing views of this era; in particular, the legacy of Japanese colonial scholarship on Korean historiography. From the mid 1980s, he has also been concerned with developing new paradigms for explaining Korean history by putting it in a world historical content. ... Read more

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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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A wide-ranging consideration of Confucianism for Western readers. ... Read more