The Confucian Mengzi and His Context

Рет қаралды 9,035

3 жыл бұрын

In this lecture, Professor Van Norden introduces Mengzi (Mencius), who is considered the "Second Sage" of Confucianism, second in importance only to Kongzi (Confucius) himself. (Originally delivered on 14 June 2021 to Prof Nicholas Tampio's class at Fordham University.)
Previous Lecture in this Series: "Confucius on Language: How NOT to Rectify Names" kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gZl1l6ehlr_Tipc.html
Following Lecture in this Series: "The Greatest Daoist Philosopher: Zhuangzi" kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i7SaqJirrMzImn0.html
0:16 Introducing Mengzi
2:49 The Warring States Period
5:50 Searching for the "Way"
8:27 From the "Hundred Schools" to Confucianism and Daoism
13:05 Who was Kongzi (Confucius)?
18:37 Mozi: The First Major Critic of Confucianism
23:31 Mozi, "Heaven," and the Quest for Impersonal Ethics
28:56 Mozi and Impartiality
30:28 Yang Zhu, Egoism, and "Human Nature"
37:24 "Robber Zhi Dialogue"
39:52 Mengzi and His Philosophy
42:53 A Brief Video to Illustrate Mengzi's Philosophy
44:35 Mengzi's Child-at-the-Well Thought Experiment
45:29 The Sprout Metaphor
47:21 Summary: Mengzi vs. Yang Zhu
49:57 Mengzi Debates the Mohist Yi Zhi
52:41 Mengzi Argues against Consequentialism
56:06 Suggestions to Learn More

Пікірлер: 27

@mitch6151 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for posting such an amazing lecture! Mengzi and Mozi. Mozi is practical but Mengzi is the Second Sage of the East.

@BryanCheong 2 жыл бұрын

What a wonderful public resource. Thank you for sharing your lectures!

@PoetryETrain 5 ай бұрын

I admire this... Thank you Bryan... Subscribed.

@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for your kind words!

@PoetryETrain 5 ай бұрын

Weclome Bryan@@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy

@PoetryETrain 5 ай бұрын

@@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy again thank you, and welcome..

@kaalalong8967 3 ай бұрын

TY for posting your lectures, benefiting humanity.🙏

@CedricAyres 3 жыл бұрын

Great lecture, professor. I whole agree with your assessment of the proximity of Confucius and Plato's project at 15:00 but I would say that they are even closer than you portrayed. That's because Plato doesn't actually forbit poetry 'per se' but only the dramatic poets which are detrimental to properly educating one's soul. Even so, he still allows for poetry which sings for virtue, heroism, and truth, specially for the education of children. Besides that, he still claims that he is willing to hear out good arguments((even if written in prose) in defense for the educational use of poetry, especially of Homer.

@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy 3 жыл бұрын

I agree that Plato's views are more nuanced than I let on in the lecture. I just wanted to stimulate people to start thinking about the potential role of poetry and other kinds of imaginative literature in ethical cultivation.

@CedricAyres 3 жыл бұрын

@@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy You're right, professor! Lectures have to be simplified, otherwise we get lost on details and never progress. Thank you for posting them and keep em' coming, because they are are great.

@raykos4257 Жыл бұрын

Great lecture. Thanks for sharing!!

@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for your kind words!

@marywiza Жыл бұрын

Great class, great video. Really was needing that. I constantly argued with myself about most of those topics and a few days back I was searching about the philosophy of human being good. And suddenly I realized how not much people in the west agrees and even questions about it. :( Which led me to the confucionism and Mengzi teachings. Which I myself agree pretty much.

@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@user-sl9tn4in5o 2 ай бұрын

Hi, Prof. Norden. I'm studying Mengzi in class, but I'm still confused about 「自賊者也；謂其君不能者，賊其君者也。」What does 賊 mean here in English instead of "steal"? probably "damage"?

@CaptainFluffy1000 2 ай бұрын

I think it almost means "underestimate" or "demean."

@undertaker9991 Жыл бұрын

T'ien Ming (Decree of Heaven). I consider "T'ien" as a metaphysical allegory for morality in it's purest state present in all of man. That's just my take of that term. In a Confucian sense of course.

@Qwuiet 10 күн бұрын

japan is the country whose culture best represent the teaching of Confucious, sadly even more so than modern China

@sol6835 2 жыл бұрын

It seems @8:30 “two surviving schools” ignores Han Fei’s legalism which was somewhat Dao De Jing linked and criticized the Confucian school. We know it survived, though perhaps quietly, because of the CPC today. Without legalism, ruism is too one-sided to run society. You need both morality and law.

@linfenghuang2115 2 жыл бұрын

Legalism didnt exist as a school after the fall of Qin dynasty.

@undertaker9991 Жыл бұрын

I'm a Neo-Confucian and I'm going to say something that can be seen as heresy. In The Analects, Confucius claimed that righteousness is the most standard rule of the rites. And also how it's almost irrefutable. But he's my argument towards it, what if a malevolent sovereign comes into power and makes his wicked rule law? So if any were to oppose it It would be considered unrighteous ... because it's law. I think one should always pursue what's morally just then of who is in power would consider "right".