Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Question B
Confucious said that there needed to be a balance between li, respect for ritual and custom and jen, good will and benevolence. He said that we can't just love each other and therefore all the problems disappear. The social stability can't be purely based on love. There needs to be some discipline and someone to lead us. If there is a leader then some people are bound to hate him/her because of the choices that leader must make for the good of the public. It is not possible to make everyone happy, someone is bound to disagree. Although the world would be a better place if everyone just loved each other. I suppose there would be no wars or fights and everyone would be happy because everyone was loved. Although this sounds nice, it can only be imagined because people are bound to hate. Not because they are bad people but because their strong opinions can result in hating those with different opinions. So civil and social stability cannot only be based on love. You need a leader as well and you need acceptance. People should accept other cultures and traditions. But overall I think that there cannot be a society based on love. Someone is bound to hate because of different opinions. There are so many people in the world with so many different opinions and cultures that it is impossible to agree with everyone on everything.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
But, why can't you love and disagree with somebody? Why can't the world all just get along, love each other, but disagree on how tax dollars should be spent. Maybe, if we didn't believe in this definite notion that people are bound to hate, we could actually base our society on love and it could work. Doesn't the conviction that hate is omnipresent and unavoidable affect the behaviour just at least just as much as the actual hate that does erupt in the world? Doesn't that conviction allow hate to erupt in the first place?
ReplyDeleteI agree, it is not natural to always portaray love and kindness. People would just walk all over each other is deception and rule did not take place. our own individual personalites makes us unique. Your idea of wars and hate is very mind grabbing. It would be great to experience to wars or casualties but that is not the state of mind in which we live in.
ReplyDeleteAll of you have somewhat missed the point of the question. I didn't ask if you thought a society based on love was achievable. What I asked was even more fundamental and hypothetical in nature: would a harmonious society necessarily follow from everyone treating everyone else lovingly? Would the result be civil and social stability or not?
ReplyDeleteThe question of whether we can achieve it or not is secondary to the question of whether or not it would produce the desired result. I want to know if a society governed solely by love and kindness is even worth trying to achieve. See where I'm coming from? Visualize what a society would be like if everyone was taught from birth to be nice and to think about others before themselves. Would there be things like laws and schools (civil order)? Would there be things like families and dating (social order)?
Also, don’t forget about the other part of my question: if love isn’t enough, then what else is needed? Was Confucius on to something when he spoke of li?