Before diving into the Analects of Confucius, I want to briefly acknowledge some of the history of Confucius that was provided courtesy of the BBC documentary titled Genius of the Ancient World Confucius. Although born in a war period in 551 BC, Confucius did not believe that violence was a solution to the problems that the government faced. He believed that one of the main problems with the Chinese government was their use of weapons and murderous habits. While Daoism focused on the natural laws of the world, connecting with nature, and living in harmony with the world, Confucius preached that society must return to their high standards. He thought that the ruler should treat his people as his sons and love them, and others would be destined to follow him. Confucius is quoted as saying, “What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.” I believe that governments would be better off if they all followed this philosophy.
Confucius also preached the importance of family relationships and recognizing your place and role in the household so that you may fulfill your responsibilities. The main excerpt that I want to discuss from the Analects of Confucius is [13:18], where Confucius tells the Duke of She that the father and son should conceal each others wrongs. When the Duke of She tells Confucius that a righteous man in his land would testify against his father if he caught him stealing, Confucius says that this is not the way in his land. Instead, the correct way is for the father to conceal the wrongs of his son and for the son to conceal the wrongs of his father. To me, this goes against Confucius’ other teachings of the importance of being a noble and righteous man. Excerpt [4:11] reads, “The noble man cares about virtue; the inferior man cares about material things. The noble man seeks discipline; the inferior man seeks favors.” A noble and righteous man should seek discipline for his wrongs, while an inferior man seeks favors, such as your son concealing your wrongs and not testifying against you. I believe that this goes to show that all of us may experience conflict between our core values and beliefs, but we must prioritize what is of the most importance to us.