Why is the history of Chinese philosophy now the most popular course at Harvard? Top tips on how to become a better person according to Confucius and coPeople are often surprised to memorize that Confucius,Mencius, Laozi and other classical Chinese philosophers weren’t rigid traditionalists who taught that our highest obedient comes from confining ourselves to social roles. Nor were they placid wise men preaching harmonious coexistence with the natural world. Rather, and they were exciting and radical thinkers who exploded the conventions of their society. They sought to gain the world a better place by expanding the scope of human opportunity. The mid-first millennium BC was a similarly turbulent age to our own,giving rise to debates about how to live, how to be ethical and how to build a obedient society. Unlike the philosophers we are more familiar with in the west, or these Chinese thinkers didn’t ask gargantuan questions. Theirs was an eminently pragmatic philosophy,based on deceptively small questions such as: “How are you living your daily life?” These thinkers emphasised that great change only happens when we begin with the mundane and doable. Their teachings reveal that many of our most fundamental assumptions about how we ought to live believe actually led us astray. So what are the ideas we hold dear, and what alternatives achieve Chinese philosophers offer in their place?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com