Discussion # 5, 1.1 MW: Confucius

Topic: Confucius

Confucius was born around 551 B.C.E. in Shandong province. He lived during a tumultuous time when China was divided into various warring states. He became a professional teacher who emphasized proper ethical behavior, the need to observe proper respect for the past, and filial piety. He believed that if a ruler adopted these ideas and properly emulate a past golden age, he would rule wisely and benevolently. He spent much of his life traveling from state to state looking for a ruler to adopt his ideas. Many of his philosophies were written down after his death in a collection known as the Analects.

Directions: Two Points of View

Read your textbook, notes and Confucius Document, do some careful research, and watch the videos. This involves some role-playing: Pretend you are an Chinese official at the court of a ruler during the age of Warring States and Confucius has arrived at your court asking to become an adviser to your ruler. You believe this is a good idea and you ask your king to consider hiring Confucius. What do you tell your king to convince him to keep Confucius at your court? What are the benefits of Confucian philosophy? How would they help a kingdom such as yours?

This post is your opinion and there is no right or wrong answer. Your points will be based on completion of the assignment (based on the rubric) and whether you use support from the text, lecture, or internet. 6 points total, 3 for your initial post and 3 for replying to someone's post. Your post should be about a paragraph long and your reply to someone's post should be a paragraph as well.

I recommend that you create your initial post by Feb 16, at 11:59 pm so that others may have an opportunity to reply.

You must also contribute a Response to 1 classmate's post: Read another student's post and pretend you are another court official and you believe it is a bad idea to hire Confucius. What do you say to the official and your king to convince them that the philosophies of Confucius would do nothing for your kingdom? How would Confucianism actually weaken your kingdom? Do you believe that there is a better philosophy to follow?

Posts can have more than one reply. Follow the netiquette guidelines below and use evidence to support or disagree with the original post. This is not a place for insults or arguments so use proper language such as "Yours is a wise proposal, but I think that ..."

Your Response is due by Feb 17, at 11:59 pm.

• Turning this assignment in late will result in loss of 1 point per day, up to 3 points.
• Click on the Reply button below to begin

Purpose:

To evaluate student's critical analysis of historical events.

Rubric:

To view the rubric attached to this discussion, click on the gear box in the upper right and select Show Rubric. 

Netiquette:

• Be kind and respectful to others
• Use full sentences
• Avoid jargon and acronyms
• Use language that supports others