Chapter 4 blog

When I think of Chinese history, one of the first things that come to my mind are Confucius’ pacifist and accepting teachings. So I was shocked to learn that immediately before Confucius, Legalist philosophers were allowing China to run on a drastic, harsh system of rewards and consequences. The Legalists had an extremely pessimistic view of human nature, and almost, it seems, operated under an underlying belief that humans do not have positive intentions by nature. Strayer describes “most people, they believed, were stupid and shortsighted. Only the state and its rulers could act in their long-term interests” (150). As these philosophies were being used to govern China, Confucius was born and began forming his ideas. Confucius’ main political idea was the idea of “social harmony through moral example” (151). Confucius narrowed hierarchy down to relationships, and discussed how most relationships were unequal. The then advocated that if the person in “power” acted from a place of kindness instead of from their ego, the inferior party was more likely to cooperate which would lead to social harmony down the life. 

I’ve mentioned this in previous posts, but I love that Strayer consistently provides us with the perspective of inequality and of understanding the ways in which social inequality has evolved since the creation of mankind. This was a great example of how inequality was reinforced (Legalists) and how it was reduced (Confucianism).