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 Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:11 pm
In my World Religions class we got into a debate over whether Confucianism is a religion or a philosophy. It does have certain qualities which would suggest that it's a religion, such as ancestor veneration and ritual, but much of this can be traced to Chinese folk religions before Confucius. So, what do you guys think? (Of course, this question is largely dependent on your definition of religion...)
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Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:31 am
I would rather think it's a philosophy. It doesn't have much emphasis on the aspects of spirituality or deities, does it? But I must admit I know very little about Confucianism.
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Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:32 am
How come that my reply is showing above the first post now...? eek
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Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:13 pm
Luz Melian How come that my reply is showing above the first post now...? eek No idea. It's doing that in a ton of other threads too for some reason.
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Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:15 pm
Julri Luz Melian How come that my reply is showing above the first post now...? eek No idea. It's doing that in a ton of other threads too for some reason.
I just now realized that it wasn't the first post. XD
EDIT: I guess it's happening in other guilds too, so it's not just us.
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Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:49 pm
Luz Melian I would rather think it's a philosophy. It doesn't have much emphasis on the aspects of spirituality or deities, does it? But I must admit I know very little about Confucianism. Technically, depending on what definition you use, religions don't need emphasis on spirituality or deities.
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Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:28 pm
I do believe we should define religion first. I'll be back after I finish my paper for the same class which gave me access to all the relevant information.
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Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 7:12 pm
It is a matter of perspective. If you define religion as a certain set of beliefs in which to base your everyday life off of, the it can be called a religion. But if you view religion as following a certain god or gods or spirits, then it would be closer to a philosophy. But if you look at the main purpose of any religion, its to serve as a moral guideline in which to follow in order to be a good person.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:47 pm
I think it has snowballed into a religion, personally. It may have been based on folk religion, but still....
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:20 am
Jewelshard69 It is a matter of perspective. If you define religion as a certain set of beliefs in which to base your everyday life off of, the it can be called a religion. But if you view religion as following a certain god or gods or spirits, then it would be closer to a philosophy. But if you look at the main purpose of any religion, its to serve as a moral guideline in which to follow in order to be a good person. If you define it that way, it sounds like philosophy could be the same as religion. The reason this argument is hard to finish is because religion is just a common philosophy among many people. Religion teaches us to be good people, philosophy is when we hold certain views.
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:19 pm
hmm; religion is defined as a belief system used to govern ones life, so confusism(?) could be technically a religion. id file it under atheistic religions, like Buddhism.
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Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 1:48 pm
It's worth mentioning that in Asian culture there's not this "all or nothing" mentality in regards to religion that there is in Western culture. It's often said that a person could be Confuscion in a public ceremony, Buddhist for their wedding and funeral, and then a mix of native religions or Daoism for their own personal spiritual life. So I think a lot of the worship of ancestors comes more from other religious structures than anything.
I think Confuscionism is more of a social structure than anything. (Also apoligize for spelling Confuscion wrong, I'm not on my laptop and have no spell check gonk )
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Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:03 am
freelance lover It's worth mentioning that in Asian culture there's not this "all or nothing" mentality in regards to religion that there is in Western culture. It's often said that a person could be Confuscion in a public ceremony, Buddhist for their wedding and funeral, and then a mix of native religions or Daoism for their own personal spiritual life. So I think a lot of the worship of ancestors comes more from other religious structures than anything.
I think Confuscionism is more of a social structure than anything. (Also apoligize for spelling Confuscion wrong, I'm not on my laptop and have no spell check gonk ) This. You could technically call it a religion but Confucianism was more guidelines for how people should behave within society with the paternal family line the ultimate example of how social structures should be set up and governments lead. It put emphasis on education and reverence of the father, leading to reverence of the community leader, so on and so forth. I do believe in China Confucianism wasn't so much viewed as religion and spiritual beliefs as it was a guideline for how to behave within society. For the type of spiritualism most religions focus on the Chinese either turned to Buddhism or to the more obscure Taoism. Either way, most Chinese happened to go by a mix of the three after the Warring States period when Chinese philosophy flourished. (Granted, I know I'm replying to a very old thread but ohwell.)
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Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:52 pm
the way i define religion, is a codified system of belief in a particular moral viewpoint, and which has rituals and prayers.
a philosophy would be a system of opinion or belief in a particular moral viewpoint with or without rituals and prayers.
Confusionism is definitely a Philosophy. i would think that it seems to qualify as a Religion as well, except that it's rituals and prayers are actually from Spiritual practices of Taoism rather than of Confusionism itself. the Religious behavior of Confusionists does not come from Confusionism. so i don't think it is a Religion.
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 4:00 am
Confucius says he does not "murmur against heaven", citing that "one who does so has no one to whom he can pray" indicating that what he teaches is not intended to be taken as a religion. I own a copy of the Analects, and have done a book report on them for my own purposes. Alas, I've misplaced it. xd But this site does a pretty excellent job of summing up his teachings.Definitely an admirable man.
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