Confucius Vs. Laozi

Confucius vs. Laozi

Confucius and Laozi were two great Chinese philosophers whose philosophies were the bases for the Chinese community. Confucius was born in the province of Lu, in 551 B.C.E. He was an orphan. He started to learn from a very early age, which gave him the capability to understand the world around him. Confucius is best known for the Analects. The Analects for the Chinese is very similar to the bible for Christians. The Analects is a compilation of the sayings and teachings gathered by Confucius' former students. A curious aspect of Confucius is that he taught everything he was taught. For example, in his own words he says, "I have transmitted what was taught to me without making up anything on my own. I have been faithful to and loved the Ancients" (Davis 569). Confucius' philosophy says that people should set aside self-interest for the good of others such us their immediate family, their province, and their state. Like Confucius, Laozi also came with his own way of thinking about the world. The life of Laozi is unknown and uncertain to many scholars. However, it is said that Laozi was born in the sixth century. Laozi's main work is the Dao De Jing. The Dao De Jin was written by Laozi as a poem. Compared to Confucius, Laozi was mysterious; he believes in individual, subjective truth, inaction, and a life lived in harmony with the Dao. Confucius and Laozi, although they both believed in the Dao, had different philosophies regarding the way of approaching salvation, the status of women in society, and the way we should live our daily lives.

The means to find salvation is one of the mysteries of life in all philosophies, and these two Chinese philosophies are not be exceptions to this. Confucianism, which was developed by Confucius, has its own definition for the Dao and its own way of following it. In the Analects, the Dao means the virtuous life, the Way of heaven. According to Confucius, following the Dao takes effort, a conscious striving for betterment and, above all, instruction (Davis 569). On the other hand, Daoism, which was developed by Laozi, believes the Dao is an interrelated system where all the part fit together harmoniously, and this system is moving throughout time. How does Laozi recommend approaching salvation? In the Dao De Jing, Laozi says, "Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force; they feel no wear, they feel no tear, they need no mending, no repair" in other words. This quote from the Dao De Jin is clearly telling us to go with the flow of the world, the flow of nature. On the contrary, Confucius says that in order to find salvation someone has to faithfully observe the rituals properly. Some of these rituals are love between parents and children, the honesty, the righteousness, the benevolence, and the loyalty to one's state. Therefore, Confucius and Laozi believed in the word "Dao", but they both define it differently.

The status of women in China has been set based on Confucius and Laozi's philosophy. Confucius and Laozi have different ideologies when referring to women. For Confucius, women are socially inferior to men. This idea creates a degrading image for women in Chinese society. How does Confucius talk about women? For example, According to Confucius, the ideal and perfect home is where women are expected to demonstrate obedience before all other virtues,