I am exploring Eastern and Western thought on my morning commute. ( )

I listened to this book today at work. Although not an in-depth study of Confucius, it does hit on the main points. Religion is seen as superstitious, but ritual can be a good thing. Confucius saw the do unto others philosophy many years before it turns up in the West. His thinking was to do good simply for the sake of doing good. The whole reward or eternal punishment idea is noticeably absent in his philosophy. Education, working for the benefit of all, setting the moral example were cornerstones of his teachings. In his real life, Confucius practiced what he preached, although this is the cause of his long streak of unemployment. On the positive side, he was honest and accepted no bribes. This book is not the complete teachings by any means. Women's rights and roles are simply noted as Confucius being politically conservative. This will be enough for the reader to get a foothold if he or she wants to further their studies. ( )

Continuing the trend of good, informative summaries of philosophers, with just the right bit of sardonic wit to keep it light and entertaining. ( )

Confucius lived a mostly unremarkable life, but became an occasional advisor to Chinese warlords, wandering throughout the various states after a self-imposed exile away from the disgraced Duke of Lu. Throughout his travels, he became a respected teacher, his disciples branching off to what was to be called the "100 schools of thought" era. As in Greece with Socrates, much of what we know of Confucius is refined writings and teachings collected after his death. Confucius' tenets were often little more than a code of conduct to help give more noble purpose to often brutal warlords, but his philosophy as such was a very practical, reasonable sort.

Inexplicably, this book ends with the same timetable of WESTERN philosophy that I suspect all books in this series contain. I think I would have rather had it placed in the context of eastern philosophies...or the timeline expanded to be more inclusive. All in all, I learned more than I knew before about who Confucius was, but no more than I knew before about his philosophy or influence on others. ( )