I found Dr. Melissa Inouye’s recent presentation about Confucianism both engaging and thought provoking. The way in which she opened the seminar – by asking us to memories lines of Chinese without indicating the meaning of the words or the purpose of the exercise – was particularly captivating, as it set me up with an overwhelming sense of confusion that made me all the more eager to hear more.
One thing that Inouye placed an emphasis on in her presentation was the way in which Confucianism stresses the importance of people as collective. An example of this is her contextualisation of Confucianism, in which she stated that the practice came to prominence at a time of violence and social disorder, with the solution to this being “person to person-ness.” By this she meant that the key is acknowledging the humanity of others, and the idea that virtue is in people.
This text appears to be written from the stance that all humans can innately be good, and have a sense of morality within themselves. Due to this, I believe Confucianism to be imbued with a slight utopianism – I feel that this “human philosophy” presents an ideal that is unattainable for humankind. This seminar really made me think about the notion of progress, as I believe that as humans it is far more feasible, and indeed healthy, for us to strive to progress as individuals and as a collective, rather than to aim for high-minded ideals that teach us that by “cultivating the self, one can save the world.” This conclusion is why I believe Inouye’s research matters – to emphasise to people the importance of striving for progress, and not perfection, an idea that I believe can be applied to any number of aspects of life, and not just the big picture!
