Confucius
Explore the life and teachings of Confucius — the Chinese philosopher whose ideas about ethics, education, and governance shaped East Asian civilization.
Confucius (Kong Qiu, 551–479 BCE) is the most influential philosopher in Chinese history and one of the most consequential thinkers in human civilization. His teachings on ethics, education, family, and governance created an intellectual framework that shaped Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese societies for over two and a half millennia.
Confucius lived during the Spring and Autumn period, a time of political fragmentation and interstate warfare. He spent much of his career as an itinerant teacher and political advisor, seeking a ruler who would implement his vision of ethical government. He never found one. His teachings, recorded by disciples in the Analects (Lunyu), present not a systematic philosophy but a collection of conversations, aphorisms, and situational wisdom.
At the heart of Confucian teaching is the conviction that social harmony begins with individual moral cultivation. The junzi — the 'exemplary person' — leads not through force but through moral example. Good governance mirrors good parenting: rulers who treat their subjects with benevolence earn loyalty; those who rely on punishment breed resentment. Education is the key to both personal development and social improvement. These ideas, seemingly modest in their origins, became the organizing principles of the world's longest-lived civilization.