Confucianism Vs Daoism Analysis

Ethics have a place in every society in the world. One will find a system of what is considered morally right and wrong regardless of the location or culture being observed. What does depend on location and culture is the nature of each ethical system. The way in which a society or culture views the world shapes its ethical system and determines which aspects of that system are emphasized. What happens, however, when two ethical systems are being introduced to the same culture at relatively the same time? Confucianism and Daoism both emerged in China during the Zhou Dynasty, and although there are similarities, there are also several differences in the values each philosophy emphasizes, as well as the methods used to enhance one to

Coinciding with this hierarchy were the opportunities available to receive a quality education; in this way, the scholars of the society were also the ones who had control over the politics of the government. As a result of these politician-scholars being mostly concerned with the political matters of the state, they did not have time to even attempt to spread new philosophical ideas of their own. In addition, the politicians could not outwardly express any ideas of philosophical, ethical, or societal reform that were radically different than the existing system if they wanted to stay in power. It was not until the latter years of the Zhou Dynasty that ethical and societal reform began to take place, allowing others lower in the social ranking to become elite scholars. As a result, many new philosophical and ethical thoughts came to light, including Daoism and

It was at this time that the aristocratic feudal system fell, and those who earlier had no chance to gain political power were now in a position to do so. Coinciding with the increase of opportunities for power was the increase of educational opportunities. In this state of political and social change, many new philosophers attempted to combat the chaos and disorder of society by spreading their own ideas of ethics and how people should act in their daily lives. For Confucius, this meant producing an ethics system in which the main goal was to create harmony within the state by adjusting the morality of the already powerful elite running the government, through values such as xiao, or filial piety. In the case of Daoism, the goal was to guide others in acting in accordance with the Dao in order to create a society in which all men naturally behaved in a way that was genuinely virtuous. The difference here lies in the method of each ethic system; Confucianism attempts to correct behavior through persuading others to follow certain virtues, while Daoism teaches that in following the Dao, one will naturally gain the necessary