On the Notion of Person in Confucianism

Abstract

The article presents the notion of person in Confucianism in the context of biographical background of Confucius (551-479 B.C.). As an itinerant sage Confucius taught the practical significance of moral values in the social and political life. His disciples collected his teachings in Analects, in which Confucius noticed that at his age of 50 he knew the will of Heaven (A 11:4). He began to teach Humanism with respect to Transcendence (T’ien).According to the great specialists, Prof. Tu Wei-Ming (Harvard University) and Prof. John Berthrong (Boston University), “the social dimension” of the human person in Confucianism is important and the person is conceived as “a center of relationships” and as a self of personal development (selfhood as creative transformation). There are five universal ways in human relations which are governed by five moral principles. The five ways are those governing the relationships between ruler and minister, between father and son, between husband and wife, between elder and younger brothers, and those in the intercourse between friends. The core of the human person is humanity (jen or ren).Just as “compassion” is the greatest Buddhist virtue, and “love” the Christian, jen is the ultimate goal of conduct and self-transformation for the Confucian. According to Confucius, education reforms a personal life as well as a social and political life in order to realize a universal love and a personal development of man (juncy).