CHINESE CONFUCIUS

In the film, Confucius plays a philosopher who uses moral philosophies to solve some of the problems that arise in the Chinese world. For example, he opposes the practice of burying staff alive alongside their deceased masters. According to Chinese culture, as kings died, they needed the services of their servants, so this civilization buried both the workers and the dead kings alive (Clarke, 2000). Apart from burying royal staff alive, Confucius battled other evils he believed were caused by greed. Although Confucius ideas on solving problems in the society are appropriate, it is challenging for such an approach to work in the current society.

In the movie, Confucius argues that it is important for the society to consider morals over wealth. It is important to note that acquisition of wealth is one of the factors that have negatively affected the level of morality in the world (Lagerwey, 2004). When everyone in the world focusses on using moral means of wealth creation, there will be few cases of crime in the society. However, this proposal by Confucius is unattainable because of commercialization of most aspects in the world. Notably, currently, people evaluate success from the perspective of the wealth status of a person. For instance, people nowadays look at education not from the knowledge and wisdom that one acquires but how education grants someone some of the lucrative employment opportunities. Commonly, most students shun courses such as philosophy or literature because apparently, these disciplines do not have employment opportunities that pay highly. Further, the society also has a tendency of focusing on the outcome rather than the means that an individual used in wealth creation. Therefore, it becomes hard for the society to use morality when evaluating richness because a property has become the yardstick of determining the success of a person in the society.

Confucius also argues that human beings should focus on the good that creates a positive outcome for the community rather than an individual. According to Confucius, when people concentrate on universal goodness it reduces cases of immorality. For instance, it is hard for one to engage in crime to satisfy the needs of the entire community. However, individualism could motivate a person to engage in crime. Markedly, the assertions that Confucius is making, in this case, are valid but again the situations in the current society cannot sustain communalism over individualism. Yao (2000) indicates that at the moment the ideology that thrives in many communities is capitalism; under capitalism competition for resources is the underlying principle. One of the examples of this is the entrepreneurial spirit where an individual takes advantage of any business-oriented opportunity to make huge profits. In such cases, these entrepreneurs do not focus on the interests of the society since profitability drives them. A good example is the case of environmental degradation where people engage in activities that make the environment vulnerable. People do not care about the demerits of global warming but focus on the individual interests.

Confucius' activities in the movie are good in making the world a better place. However, the current situations make his proposals untenable. Currently, commercialization of various aspects is a threat to Confucius' way of living; most people perceive things from a monetary perspective. On the other hand, there is too much individualism, and this reduces cases where people act for the common good of the community.









References

Clarke, J.J. (2000). The Tao of the West – Western Translations of Taoist Thought. London:

Routledge.

Lagerwey, John. (Rd.). (2004). Religion and Chinese Society. Hong Kong: The Chinese

University Press.

Yao, Xinzhong. (2000). An Introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge University Press.