Welcome to this course on Confucian philosophy. Over the next six weeks, I would like to explore with you the teachings of Confucius, especially as they are preserved in the Analects of Confucius. I will need to provide some historical background in order to situate Confucian philosophy in his own context. I will keep this part of the course short. This is not because the background is uninteresting or unimportant, but our primary concern is to engage some of the key concepts in Confucian philosophy critically. This will enable us to not only understand Chinese culture better, but also assess the possible contribution of Confucian philosophy to global issues today. The first part of the course will give a brief introduction to Confucius and the world in which he lived and taught. The text of the Analects will be introduced next. Then we'll jump right into the more philosophically meaty part of the course, which is to discuss some of the key concepts that I think are of particular importance to understanding Confucian philosophy. These concepts have been given sustained attention throughout Chinese history. We will look at how they were interpreted by some of the major champions of Confucian teachings in traditional China, beginning with Mencius and Xunzi. Their views on human nature are especially important and have given much impetus to the subsequent development of Confucian philosophy. Some mention of Neo-Confucianism, however brief, will also be important in my view. Neo-Confucianism came onto the Chinese scene during the Song Dynasty. Much of what we refer to as Confucianism today really reflects the interpretation of the Neo-Confucians. Here I will focus especially on the 12th Century thinker, Zhu Xi. Methodologically, we will need to be historically imaginative, asking ourselves what we would have done if we were in Confucius position or as Confucius disciples. We will also need to exercise analytical rigor. This course is not about how great Confucian philosophy is or how terrible it may be, but an exploration in meaning and value of ideas and ideals that are important to Chinese culture and may have universal significance. In our approach, one of the key points I will be emphasizing is that Confucian philosophy is not a rigid set of doctrines, but rather it harbors a diversity of views which accounts for its vitality throughout Chinese history. The label Confucianism is convenient, but it remains an abstraction. We will need to be careful not to reduce a rich and complex tradition to something uniform or monolithic. There's always a tension between the desire to forge an orthodoxy, the right interpretation, which entails intellectual closure, and the need for innovation and renewal. The story of Confucian philosophy is also set in that context. Confucianism is a living tradition. In the last section of the course, I would like to explore the place of Confucianism in Chinese culture today. The 20th Century Christian theologian Karl Rahner proposed a theory of anonymous Christians. Now of course, the context is very different, but I have always wondered whether the Chinese are as it were, anonymous Confucians. The influence of Confucianism is pervasive. It seems to have left an indelible mark on all aspects of Chinese thought and culture. This is an issue that obviously we will need to look at very carefully. Now, however, let's get back to our studio. It's time to get down to work.