Sublation Of Tradition In The Analects Of Confucius:Reexamining Confucianism From A Mythological Perspective

As a great thinker in China and the founder of Confucian school,Confucius has exerted a profound and ever-lasting influence on Chinese.The Analects of Confucius,which records his dialogues with his disciples,is the most direct and reliable text to interpret his thought.There have been numerous interpretations of the Analects,but most of them explain it from the perspective of exegetics.This thesis,based on reading of the Analects,intends to interpret the generative process and overall structure of Confucius’ thought drawing on the latest achievements of Confucian Myth.Chinese mythologists,represented by Ye Shuxian,put forward the proposition of Confucian Myth.They argue that in the emergence period of Confucianism,myth thinking was still prevalent in all aspects of the society and influenced Confucius so that he worshiped God,believed in spiritual beings,and sought to be the mediator between the God and human beings.However,a close reading of the Analects reveals that Confucius developed his own systematic thought based on sublation of mythical tradition.Therefore,this thesis draws on the perspectives of Confucian Myth to analyze Confucius’ thought but findings turn out to be partial revision of the theory.Specifically speaking,Confucian Myth intends to analyze Confucianism in terms of the philosophical key word,the life realm,the ideal personality,the rite and the imagery,which in essence corresponds to the worldview,the realm theory,the personality theory,the methodology and the imagery theory.This thesis analyzes how Confucius sublated mythological traditions and formed his thought by employing these five perspectives based on the Analects.In terms of worldview,Confucius developed the connotation of Tian by taking it as physical entity from previous personified God.Tian Ren He Yi became his fundamental worldview.In terms of the realm theory,the highest realm Confucius pursued transformed from to In the personality theory,the ideal personality of Confucius shifted from Sheng Ren to Jun Zi.In terms of the rite,Confucius regarded Ren as the essence of Li while Li became the externalization of Ren;Ren became the ultimate purpose while Li became the means to Ren.In terms of the imagery theory,what Confucius discussed changed from mythical creatures to natural imageries,endowing them with corresponding qualities that Jun Zi pursued.Through the analysis of these five aspects,this thesis comes to the conclusion that through sublation of mythical tradition,Confucius constructed a holistic system of thought:Tian Ren He Yi as worldview,Ren as the highest realm,Jun Zi as the ideal personality,Li as way to cultivate morality,natural imageries as carriers of qualities that Jun Zi pursued.Ren is the core idea of Confucius thought,around which all parts are connected with each other.This corresponds to what Confucius said:A core idea runs through my doctrine.