In Person Event: Confucius (Kongzi) on Ritual, Duty, Tradition, and Humaneness

(Note this is an in person event. An online event is scheduled here) It is almost a cliche to observe that Western culture, since at least the 17th century, has moved toward a more and more individualistic conception of the nature of the human being and their relation to society. In contradistinction to old conceptions of society as an organic body with each part playing its subordinate role to the whole, modern western thinkers have been profoundly focused on the notion of the self actualization and the rights of the individual person. With the exception of certain forms of Marxism, certain religious thinkers, communitarian critics, and various forms of reactionaries, the mainstream of Western thought has been focused on the idea of the autonomy, privileges, and rights of the individual human being. Libertarianism, whether political or ethical, whether of the right or the left, has in this way been a potent part of the western moral imagination. The image of the maverick, the innovator, the person who lived their truth at the expense of social norms, and of those who smash oppressive structures that bind individuals from living out their preferences and aspirations are deeply engrained in our collective mythology and our psyche. In our own recent discussion on Kierkegaard, we see this individualism in action when Kierkegaard suggests that any submission to the noisy collectivist thinking of the crowd is a form of falseness and inauthenticity.
At the same time, anxiety has grown in recent years in the west about a fracturing social fabric, a breakdown of civil society and of public trust, and, while to a significant extent, we are all individualists now, some have wondered whether this commitment to individualism has not come at a certain cost, that there might be some sort of balance between social responsibility and personal freedom that has to be recalibrated. At the same time, both tradition and collectivism are often dirty words in western moral and political thinking and it is difficult to frame the responsibilities we have to society in anything but the most abstract terms. And such terms that are often hotly contested.
In such situations where it is hard to even frame the terms of debate, because common assumptions are lacking, It is often helpful to study the work of a great philosopher who challenges mainstream assumptions and who is distant enough in time and context to give us the objectivity necessary to meditate on these ideas calmly. Such work can function as a mirror for us to get appropriate distance and perspective on the issues at hand. And there have been few philosophers in the history of the world who have argued for the subordination of the individual to the social fabric more eloquently than Kongzi or Confucius, and the tradition of social and political thinking which emerged out of his teachings.
Born into one of the most difficult periods in the history of China, the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius diagnosed the troubles of Chinese society as emerging from a falling away from the traditions and rituals that bound Chinese society together. While the rituals were often practiced, they were done so with insincerity or with a view to personal profit and advantage. The problem for Confucius was about how to teach the proper attitude towards tradition, to see tradition as both a manifestation and a training ground of the supreme virtue which Confucius called ren. An untranslatable word, ren has been variously translated as humaneness, human-heartedness, goodness, perfect virtue, love, etc. It conveys above all else the idea of a sympathetic attunement to others that is based on a comprehension of our common humanity. As such it is a way of being as much as it is a feeling, and for Confucius to attain to ren is the highest actualization of a human being, and indeed the highest actualization of one’s humanity.
Confucius, looking at the chaos and division of 6th century BCE China, was convinced that the only way to realize our humanness was within the context of the family on one hand, and tradition on the other. It is by learning the various conventions, manners, and institutions that bind us to each other that we learn the capability to love each other and to value ourselves. Because of this discipline, duty and the proper observance of social traditions, far from being arbitrary conformism to a group mind, when performed with sincerity and conscientiousness, are the necessary conditions of a life worth living and of social harmony, peace, stability, and order.
In this way, Confucius became one of humankind’s greatest intellectual defenders of tradition, of respect for institutions and customs, and for the collectivist orientation of many traditional societies. And while such a mindset may seem very foreign to us today, there is no doubt that it forms an important part of the human story and one whose aftermath we still must contend with today, with our own anxieties about the relations of individual freedom and social responsibility.
In this meetup, we wish to discuss, examine and evaluate Confucius’s celebration of tradition, of duty, of a certain notion of social responsibility, and of its role in the cultivation of a humane attitude. Our reading consists of selections from the Analects, or sayings of Confucius, Linked here and from the great learning, a short but important Confucian text where Confucius lays out his vision for the restoring of harmony and order to society.