Hey Everyone! today I’d like to talk about the BBC documentary Genius of the Ancient World Confucius. This documentary was really interesting because it filled me in on the life and teachings where I wouldn’t have been filled in otherwise. Confucius had a very top down architecture for governing both families and societies. “It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well ordered” (The Great Learning 14). Confucius’ ideals spoke of mutual respect between young and old and it’s through this ideal is how a just society functions. Confucius also valued education and merit as a basis for leadership. This ideal requires the leader to be an expert in their trade in order to lead. This is not how modern day society is run. Compared to Confucius’ ideal modern society today’s society is often governed by people who don’t have the educated background.
This documentary, as well as the reading on was very interesting because it allowed me to brush up on the aspects of Confucianism that I had learned before. This material also taught me more about Confucius background that I never considered before.