Confucius

Confucius was born in 551 B.C. in the Lu state of China. He is considered to be one of China’s greatest philosophers. Confucius lived in a time of great poverty and war in China. It is unknown who Confucius’ teachers were, but he was a master of the six arts: ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and arithmetic. Confucius believed that people become better human beings by education, so he started a school and taught his beliefs to his students urging them to become men of character. His teachings became more recognized and Confucius became more and more popular around China, so he got involved in government. As a governor, his policies were to feed the poor and elderly at the state’s expense. After being run out by other warlords he spent the remanding part of his life traveling Eastern China teaching his philosophies and about peace. Confucius died believing that he was a failure and that he did not have any influence on anyone. Little did he know that Confucianism is to the single most influential philosophy that drives the indirect approach to communication, particularly in Asian countries such as China and Korea. (Ding, 2006)

Confucius teachings contributed a lot to the study of ethics. His teachings, which are referred to as Confucianism, is viewed as both philosophy and a way of religion. Confucianism ethics are labeled as humanistic ethics. The main principles of Confucianism is ren, which means humaneness or benevolence, yi, (righteousness or justice) , li, (proper rite), zhi, (knowledge) and xin (integrity). Confucianism considers proper human relationships as the basis of a harmonious society. Confucius identified five dual relationships: monarch and subject, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger, and friend and friend. (Zhu, 1995) An important teaching of ethics that Confucius came up with is the teaching of filial piety, which is a virtue of respect towards ones parents, elders, and ancestors. Filial piety is still an important part of today’s society, especially in Asian cultures. The main concern of Confucius was with the fundamental principles of humanity. Confucius developed his ethics around two things; that society can only be in harmony and at peace under the guidance of wisdom and that goodness can be taught and learned. (Yao, 2000) In Confucianism, the ultimate goal is individual happiness.

Confucian ideas and philosophies can definitely be used in media ethics, especially today. One of Confucius’ most famous philosophies is, “What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.” That quote still hold up to this day, for example this quote relates to the News of the World phone hacking scandal of 2011 and the 2014 celebrity photo hack. In the News of the World case, the newspaper had hacked the phone of a missing schoolgirl (who was later found murdered) and deleted her voicemails giving out false hope that she was still alive. If you worked for the News of the World, how would you feel if that was your daughter? Or sister? How would you feel if you found out that a tabloid hacked her phone giving you the false hope that she was still alive? You wouldn’t like that, you would be angry and sad. The same goes with the celebrity phone hacking scandal this past summer, what if someone hacked your phone and took your private photos off your phone and put it on the Internet for everyone to see. Maybe if they thought of that the Confucian way maybe they would not have done that.

Ding, D. (2006). An Indirect Style in Business Communication. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 87-100.

Yao, X. (2000). An Introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge, United Kingdom: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.

Zhu, X. (Ed.). (1995). Annotation of four books. Taipei, Taiwan: Culture and Book Press.