Mencius
Many books that we have read this semester have to do with Confucianism. Before taking this class, I had heard of Confucianism, but thought of it as a religion. I have come to understand that it is more of a philosophy or attitude that deals with human beings. It has to do with a persons achievements and interests in life. Confucianism says that man is the center of the universe. Mencius believed that human nature is intrinsically good, and each person should try to recover the original good nature. By doing these things one is able to become a good leader. He believed this, especially in government, and explains this fact to the many important people he comes across. Mencius had gone to see King Hui of Liang in the beginning of Book 1 Part A. King Hui believed that Mencius had traveled the long distance because he believed that he would be able to profit from this state. This thought was incorrect as Mencius tells the King "those above and those below will be trying to profit at the expense of one another and the state will be imperiled."(Mencius p.49). He continues to explain that the only thing that matters in life is what is good and right. King Hui should not worry about profit when ther
Mencius also talked to King Xuan about leadership in his kingdom. Through this education people will learn to respect each other and their king. No matter what you do, there will always be a person that will think that the deed that has been done was not good. If you are true to yourself, you can never lie about who you are and you will show your true goodness to others. Through this, Mencius also said to treat others the way that you would like to be treated and that would be the quickest way to goodness. Mencius sees that being true to yourself is the greatest thing you can do. I didn't like this example for bringing peace to his people. From my point of view this doesn't seem like the attitude a tr!ue gentleman would take on. The example that Mencius gave to King Hui was a better example of how to bring peace to a nation. For Mencius an education was more important than a good government because people love education but at the same time fear government. Apparently Mencius would not see him as a good man, though the people that he was helping would be most grateful for the deeds. If he punishes these princes for their actions then there will be no one to oppose the king.
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Acceptance Essays
