A Comparative Study Of Confucius And Socrates' View Of Life And Death

There are a considerable phenomena in the universe,and since human beings began to explore and transform this world,they also started to reflect on this unpredictable world,to probe into the secrets of the universe and nature and then to explore themselves.What mankind means,where they come from and where they will go;what is the meaning of human being's existence,whether there is a soul after a person's death and how should people response to life and death? In the process of exploring these questions,they kept reflecting summarizing and researching and gradually formed many thoughts and concepts,which gave rise to the emergence of philosophy.And as a significant matter in researching into the philosophy of life,issues concerning life and death have always attracted sages who constantly pursue the truth.Nowadays,philosophical questions continue to emerge and science and technology develop rapidly day after day.It is necessary to begin probing into the significance of life if we want to solve the conflicts and ethical problems caused by the interaction of universe,nature,society and mankind and know better about life and death so that we will be able to pursue truth and perform our mission,set up the correct ethical and moral concepts and realize the value of our life.Taking a panoramic view of sages at all times and from all lands,we can find that they more often than not hold a serious and cautious attitude in the discussion of the philosophy on life and death.How should we deal with this problem and transcend it is overriding to all living creatures.As far as China is concerned,the discussion on issues concerning life and death by Confucianism,Taoism and Buddhism is highly representative.While as to the West,there are a host of thinkers as well as several major religions.The development of modern civilization is closely related to the inheritance and influence of the Chinese and Western traditional culture.Therefore we should trace back to the cultural source to explore the views on life and death.In terms of the space-time and cultural system,as two great thinkers of China and the West who have enriched each other's thoughts,both Confucius and Socrates can be referred to as the precursor of their own culture.Thus this paper will proceed from the views on life and death by Confucius and Socrates in order to help us make better choices in livelong life.The first chapter of this paper begins with teasing out the origins of the formation of Confucius' and Socrates' views on life and death.It discusses and analyzes the reasons of the formation of the two's views on life and death from the perspectives of historical factors,the origin of thoughts as well as personal experience and thus help us sort out the general content of the two's views on life and death.The second chapter mainly discusses the two's knowledge about life and death.Proceeding from the perspective of “Heaven” inheritance,Confucius is cognizant of the subjectivity of mankind in the universe.He showed great emphasis on life through advocating cherishing everything,opposing human sacrifice and being cautious in conduct and attaching great importance to life.Therefore,a person's life and death are extremely important.While Socrates proceeded from autognosis,took rational thinking as the prerequisite and constantly reflected on his own life and propounded that “Death might be better than life.”The third chapter mainly analyzes the moral connotation of life and death.Proceeded from making the society orderly,Confucius took “benevolence” as the highest pursuit of life,and demonstrated his moral concepts in his views on life and death through the extreme manner of “Die for benevolence's sake”.Socrates regarded “kindness” as the final target of life,constantly reviewed himself and pursued a better life,and advocated achieving “supreme kindness” through such a virtuous way of life as “sacrificing oneself for kindness”.The fourth chapter mainly analyzes the two's thoughts of transcending life and death.Confucius proceeded from “three eternities”,realized the transcendence of spiritual civilization.He supported building a family bloodline through “filial piety” and funeral etiquettes so as to carry forward this life's will and finally realize the final transcendence of “unity of heaven and man” and make the universe,society and life be together harmoniously.While Socrates advocated moral pursuits for the sake of “kindness”,he supported getting rid of physical desires,and obtaining virtues and pursuing truth in a pure and rational way so that the soul will reach the other side of happiness and mankind will be immortal after death.The fifth chapter through discussing Confucius' and Socrates' views on life and death propounded cherishing life,promoting life's value and establishing a sense of mission so as to realize the transcendence of life,help us deal with life and death better and enlighten us on the meaning of exploring the pursuit concerning life and death.