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As a professional philosopher, the author is interested in philosophical interpretation of Analects. Actually, he has given the first such reading of Confucianism in the West. That is, he has touched upon subjects in Confucianism that a philosopher in the West will pay attention to. In order to understand the Confucian classic, Herbert Fingarette did not stop at reading many translated versions of Analects, he went further (or back) to studying the original text. By so doing, he has managed to surpass the "interpretations" already done by scholars from theology, psychology, anthropology and other fields of study, and to grasp the suggestiveness of the original, thus stepping closer to the heart of the Confucian teaching. This report is based on my recent reading of Herbert Fingarette's Confucius -- the Secular as Sacred and my own understanding of Confucianism. What enables Fingarette to approach Confucianism as a philosophy and Analects as a philosophical book (not a "Bible") is that he has found that Confucianism is more concerned with human life, human relationships and social order. The teaching of Confucianism has provided the basics of the world outlook, modes of thinking, values, and behavioral norms for the Chinese since it came into being some two thousand years ago. In this sense, Confucianism is the most influential philosophy in China. Confucius, as the founder of the teaching, becomes the greatest thinker, philosopher, and educator in Chinese history. Confucius's disciple and the following Confucians and Confucianists have made contributions by editing, commentating, and developing the teaching. However, the many schools of Confucianism all base their theories on Analects, and look upon the book as their common scripture. As a philosophy, Confucianism explicates how to make the many dimensions of man's existence more reasonable. What Confucius was mainly concerned with is how to revive and maintain an ideal society. He felt a sympathetic understanding for the traditional institutions, rituals, music, and literature of the early Zhou Dynasty, and tried to rationalize and justify them in ethical terms. Confucius lived in a time of upheavals. He believed that only by restoring the Zhou Li (rituals) could an ideal human society be achieved. On the one hand, the unnamed Zhou religion constitutes part of Li -- "holy ritual" and "sacred ceremony." Confucius interpreted the religious rituals of the Zhou Dynasty not as sacrifices asking for the blessings of the gods, but as ceremonies performed by human agents and manifesting the civilized and cultured patterns of behavior developed through generations of human wisdom. Li embodied, for him, the ethical core of Chinese society. On the other hand, Confucius applied the term "ritual" to actions beyond the formal sacrifices and religious ceremonies to include social rituals: courtesies, accepted standards of behavior and social relationships. He saw these time-honored and traditional rituals as the basis of human civilization, and felt that only a civilized society could have a stable, unified, and enduring social order. However, the society is not mechanically composed of men. Men become a truly human as their raw impulse is shaped by Li, the specifically humanizing form of the dynamic relation of man-to-man. According to Confucianism, all human relationships involved a set of defined roles and mutual obligations between the prince and officials, and fathers and sons; each participant should understand and conform to his/her proper role. If each one does what he is supposed to do according to Li, the society will run very smoothly. As a ruler, one must follow the ruler's rule; otherwise he will lose his position. Force, threats, and punishment were thought to be the unwise ways to solve problems. Starting from individual and family, people acting rightly could reform and perfect the society. Therefore, Confucianism was the affirmation of accepted values and norms of behavior in primary social institutions and basic human relationships. Confucian values are so closely linked with everyday life that they sometimes seem trivial. Everyday life is so familiar that we do not take its moral content seriously. We are each a friend to someone, or a parent, or certainly the child of a parent. On the other hand, Confucians remind us that the familiar ideals of friendship, parenthood, and filiality are far from trivial; in real life we only rarely attain these ideals. We all too often just go through the motions, too preoccupied to give our full attention to the relationship. If we consistently and wholeheartedly realized our potential to be the very best friend, parent, son, or daughter humanly possible, we would establish a level of moral excellence and our society would develop into a "utopia". Thus it can be seen that Confucianism is a philosophy that takes the actions of everyday life as the arena of moral and spiritual fulfillment. In this sense, Confucianism is a kind of religion. Confucius thought that humans are not born to be blessed with Li. However, Li can be achieved by hard study and one's strong will to achieve Li. Therefore, Confucius stressed the significance of educating people. As an earnest practitioner of his teaching, Confucius is said to have taught more than 3,000 students, 72 of whom became distinguished scholars. Fingarette notices that, as a starting point of a philosophy, Confucianism does not answer questions about the reasons for various forms of natural and human existence. Therefore, it avoids arguing about whether there are spirits and "supernatural forces". Not a few passages in Analects reflect this idea, such as "Devote yourself to man's duties, respect spiritual being but keep distance (6:20)," and "Until you are able to serve men, how can you serve spiritual being? Until you know about life, how can you know about death? (11:11)." These sentences indicate that Confucianism is more a social and moral philosophy than a religion. The themes of Analects are to reject the superstition and heavy reliance on "supernatural forces". Confucius did not believe the moral and spiritual achievements of man just can come from the amount and quality of study and good hard work. In order to become a fully and truly human being, you should participate in society. So we can conclude that the basic idea in Confucianism is anti-magical in outlook. Confucius's ethical vision ran against the grain of the legalistic mindset of his day. Only under the Han Emperor Wu (r. 140-87 B.C.), did Confucianism become accepted as state ideology and orthodoxy. From that time on the imperial state promoted Confucian values to maintain law, order, and the status quo. Efforts were made to encourage the practice of Confucian values: respect for parents, loyalty to government, and keeping to one's place in society. Thus, Confucianism served as conservative state orthodoxy to bolster established institutions and long-standing social divisions. The tensions between social and political realities and the high-minded moral ideals of the Confucians were an ongoing source of concern for scholars, politicians and rulers. The dangers of moral sterility and hypocrisy were always present. Throughout the Chinese history, the moral, intellectual, and spiritual vigor of Li was repeatedly revived, renewed and appreciated at times when the society was stable and a strong government was desired, but it was periodically attacked, denounced and abandoned at times when radical social change was required. Confucius's teaching as a philosophy has been largely ignored in the West partly because people there have failed to grasp the existential point of that teaching. However, Herbert Fingarette has seen that the ancient and alien teacher anticipated some points close in substance and spirit to some of the most characteristic of the modern Western philosophy. Herbert takes a unique approach of philosophical study and provides some insightful interpretation of Confucianism. He often uses everyday examples from Western life to illustrate the teaching of Confucianism, and his analysis is quite convincing. He focuses on Li because he has found that as manifestations of reciprocal loyalty and respect, Li is the most important concept in Confucianism. Bibliography: Word Count: 1412
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