Abstract
The paper contains an analysis of the conception of personality concentrated in the ideal of exemplary person (jun zi) in classical Confucianism as it is shown in The Analects of Confucius. An attempt is made to discover what unique features, according to Confucius, are characteristic of such an exemplary person. So the meaning and significance of the two interrelated ethical categories of classical Confucianism, ren and li, is shown. In the second part of the paper, author tries to expose how, in accordance with The Analects, the ideal of jun zi may be reached. Thereto author analyzes the meaning of ke ji in The Analects and offers a new translation of the term, claiming that his approach contributes to a better understanding of the conception of personality in classical Confucianism.
Highlights
The paper contains an analysis of the conception of personality concentrated in the ideal of exemplary person nun zi) in classical Confucianism as it is shown in The Analects of Confucius
Thereto author analyzes the meaning of ke ji in The Analects and offers a new translation of the term, claiming that his approach contributes to a better understanding of the conception of personality in classical Confucianism
Sinologists do agree that the ethical ideal of jun zi in classical Confucianism cannot be reflected separately from the two fundamental ethical conceptions
Summary
The paper contains an analysis of the conception of personality concentrated in the ideal of exemplary person nun zi) in classical Confucianism as it is shown in The Analects of Confucius. The very notion of ke ji we will suggest to translate and to conceive rather as "to overcome one's limits (one's personal boundaries)" than "to overcome one's self' or "to subdue oneself' In this text, we are going to reach our goals through a critical reconstruction and analysis of the ideal of personality as it was recorded in Lun Yu i~i-B- - The Ana/eets of Confucius. In the thirteen-century-Iong tradition of civil service examinations, the basis for the selection of government officials was individual merit rather than race, creed, economic status, sex, or age"4 Such a practical implementation without any doubt had to be legitimated by some kind of theoretical basis Such a basis was provided exactly by classical Confucianism, first of all by The Ana/eets of Confucius. Our question is: what are the qualities a person should exhibit to earn him the name of the exemplary person,jun zi?
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