The purpose of this research is to examine the key ideas of the Confucian tradition in East Asia. The plan of the research will be to set forth brief descriptions of such features of Confucianism as filial piety, righteousness, propriety and self-cultivation, benevolence, perfect virtue, and moral and ethical character, and then to discuss institutions that were developed in Imperial China from the third century B.C. to the twentieth century A.D., to make Confucian ideas politically workable and effective. As well, the Confucian influence on the political and social institutions and culture in Japan prior to 1868 will be discussed, with reference to the key ideas of the tradition.
The key ideas of Confucianism are set forth in short narrative texts designed to illustrate those ideas. And it is important to realize that these ideas have a societal function. Consider ancestor worship or filial piety, which plays an important role in both family and society. As the Classic of Filial Piety notes,
He who loves his parents will not dare to incur the risk of being hated by any man, and he who reveres his parents will not dare to incur the risk of being contemned by any man. When love and reverence of the Son of T'ien are thus carried to the utmost in the service of his parents, the lessons of his virtue affect all the people, and he becomes a pattern to all within the four seas: this is the filial piety of the Son of T'ien.
The reason the family is so important to Confucius is that he realizes this unit will mold, for good or ill, the future rulers and teachers of the society. Additionally, in a well-constituted family structure, there is no ambiguity about the way all members will function. If society could mirror the ideal family, it, too, would be ideal. Thus the implications of all social and political structure, are contained in the detailed concern for family structure. This point is summarized by Schirokauer, with reference to...