Summary of Intellectual Foundations of China

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Reflection Paper 1 Ancient and Imperial China September 19, 2014 Summary of Intellectual Foundations of China In his book, Intellectual Foundations of China, Frederick Mote discusses the importance of the various schools of thought that appeared in the years leading up to the imperial period of ancient China, and how their influence impacted Chinese intellectual thought that persists to this day. Confucius began the legacy of intellectual thinking by lighting the torch that would be carried on to create Confucianism. Taoism ran parallel to Confucianism, and acted as a polar opposite, but not an adversary. Mote describes both in detail, dedicating a great deal of his book to the two ideologies specifically. Mote describes Confucius as the first self-conscious philosopher that we know of in the Chinese tradition. Following his establishment as an intellectual figure, others soon appeared who held more or less different philosophical views, which together formed a spectrum, with Confucius and his school dominating one side, characterized by social conservatism and reminiscence of days long past. The school of thought itself was known for its strong ethical sense, social responsibility, and constructive, rational undertaking of the problems of man at that time. Confucianism made its mark in the history books with three important innovations that did not exist prior to Confucius. Firstly, Confucius is heralded as the founder of private teaching, as the Zhou society had yet to develop one. He did this so effectively that his methods quickly became the standard throughout society, and was never questioned, even upon the appearance of another method. Secondly, in association with the first, Confucius established the curriculum, it’s methods, and it’s ideals, aimed specifically at a liberal arts format. Finally, by admitting students from all social backgrounds and

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