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Spring 2011 Topic:
Filial Piety and
Confucianism in American
Society
Essay may
discuss, among
other issues:
-
If or should
filial piety
and
Confucianism
have a role
in American
society?
-
Examples of
its
applications
-
How society
might
benefit from
its
principles?
The philosophy of
Confucianism has had a
deep impact on the Asian
way of life from ancient
times right up into our
present age. The
practice of filial piety
within Confucianism
still influences a vast
amount of people today.
Filial piety (xiao
shun) is the primary
duty to one’s parents -
a fundamental virtue for
the Chinese way of life.
Throughout the Analects,
Confucius talks a
great deal
about the virtues for
particular types of
human relations, such as
the virtue of filial
piety (xiao)
between parent and
child. In classical
Confucianism filial
piety was commonly
understood to consist of
three key moral
obligations; respect for
one's parents, honoring
(or not disgracing)
them, and supporting
them financially.
From the Confucian point
of view, familial
relations (parents and
children,
husband and wife, and
elder and younger) are
more important than the
ruler-minister or
friend-friend relation.
The latter may end
voluntarily, but
familial relationships
can never be
deliberately forsaken.
Kinship is consequently
a crucial prerequisite
in the Confucian notion.
As Confucius claims,
"filial piety and
brotherly love are the
roots of humanity” It is
filial piety, above all
other concerns, that
inhabits the dominant
place in Confucian
belief. It could be
safely claimed that
filial piety is the
essential force flowing
through the entire
structure of
Confucianism.
-- Excerpt from
www.bukisa.com/people/Lysianassa
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