Extended Analyses of the Analects

Extended Analyses of Writers and Documents: The Analects

The Analects, a collection of Confucius’ aphoristic sayings about his beliefs regarding personal virtue and political life, was written down by his followers after his death. It describes the personal virtues that would lead to a solid political life and is a “window” with which we can look to see what the Chinese of the fifth century BCE and onward strove to achieve. Confucius’ teachings focused on right action, modesty, reverence for tradition, obedience and respect, knowing one’s position and in general, as seen in The Analects, were a system of ethics rather than religious ideologies. The short excerpt from the Analects gives a view of Confucius’ idea of filial piety, goodness, the ideal gentleman, education, government and religion.
Filial piety, or obedience and service to one’s parents, was one of Confucius’ key concepts. Obedience and service should not be done purely out of obligation ...