Three corners for one: Creativity and tradition in the analects

• Main Author: TAN, Sor-hoon
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2008
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2596
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Confucius (Master Kong or Kongzi) is China's first great teacher and the life's blood of what it means to be Chinese today. His spiritual outlook is very different from that of the Christian West or of other Eastern traditions such as Daoism or Buddhism. Confucius crafted a view of human beings that was basically optimistic and encouraging because it held that all humans could improve themselves and their conditions through diligent effort. He maintained that self-improvement by means of education should be open to everyone without discrimination. To be a superior person is something, not determined by birth or rank, that each individual should aim for. The writers of this book have all contributed to the blossoming new awareness and understanding of Master Kong, putting Confucius back on the radar screens both of academic philosophers and of thoughtful inquirers outside academia. Confucius Now gives us the best of today’s cutting-edge scholarship aimed at recovering the authentic voice of Confucius.