Answer to Question 1
The ancient Chinese regarded the natural order as the basis for spiritual life, political stability, and the social order. To know one's place within the order and to act accordingly were essential to the well-being of both the individual and the community. The Chinese describe this ethical imperative with the word li, which translates variously as propriety, ritual, and arrangement. The teachings of the philosopher Kongfuzi, better known as Confucius, helped to codify these concepts.
Confucius was China's most notable thinker and his teachings are recorded in a collection of writings known as the Analects. In the Analects Confucius focuses on questions of conduct: the proper behavior of the individual in the society at large. They articulate the ancient Chinese conviction that human beings must heed a moral order that is fixed in nature, not in divine pronouncement. Confucius confidently maintained that human character, not birth, determined the worth and status of the individual. He taught the importance of tradition, filial piety (respect for one's elders), and the exercise of li. In doing so, he formulated the first expression of the so-called Golden Rule: What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.
Answer to Question 2
B
Confucius (551–479 B.C.E.)
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