Confucian Humanism and Religion












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            * Confucian Humanism and Religion
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            On December 15, 2017, the Faculty of Arts of Charles University hosted a lecture “Confucia

            and Religion“ by Professor Ming-huei Lee from the Institute of Chinese Literature and Phil
            Academia Sinica in Taipei, the national academy in Taiwan. In the popular lecture series o
            National Central Library of Taiwan and the Taiwanese Center on Chinese studies, this is th

            held at Charles University‘s Faculty of Arts since its start in 2015.
            As the small room in Celetná 20 building fills up, lecturer Ming-huei Lee who is a Chinese
            mostly dealing with religion and European philosophy begins to grab the audience attention

            German and Greek definition of humanism.
            German philosophers such as Niethammer and Lessing defined humanism mostly in the context 

            (Education), striving for the intellectual, physical and moral betterment of the human bei
            However, ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras went even further when writing that “man is 
            all things”, implying that rather than God, the individual human being is the absolute sou

            This was a quite controversial statement for his time and remains heavily discussed even i
            philosophical debates.
            Lee went on to clarify the two major periods of humanism. The first period, he explained, 

            and 16th century with philosophers such as Erasmus of Rotterdam and Franscesco Petrarca de
            called Renaissance Humanism. Whereas German Humanism had its peak in the juncture between 
            century with minds such as Humboldt, Hölderlin or Goethe contributing.

            However, both humanistic traditions demonstrate the strong preferences for the ancient wes
            hellenic and roman alike - and heavily emphasize the importance of classics in personality
            Lee went on to introduce the viewpoints about religiousness in Confucianism. Confucius, he

            be seen as a representant of a “moral religion”. Religion here is meaning morality, aiming
            such for all mankind. Such ideas are reflected in Kant’s concept of “moral religion“. Lee,
            thesis in German on Kant, demonstrated how moral religion must be founded on the basis of 

            it neither needs church, nor the revelation or blessing of (a) God. Kant's concept represe
            ideal beyond the temporal and spatial boundaries, Lee stated.
            Similarly, Thomas Luckmann argues in his book “The invisible religion” (1967) that the “Ef

            basis of the modern scared cosmos is to be found in neither churches, nor the state, nor t
            system.”
            But what specifically does Confucian humanism argue? It is the concept of respect, the foc

            spirit. Confucius contributed to Chinese Humanism in many ways; for example he did not cha
            primary concept of heaven face to face, rather he internalized it humanised with moral con
            Interestingly, many scholars such as Yu Ying-shih describe Confucianism today as a “wander

            Ying-shih and other believe that Confucianism at present is not much more than its input t
            discourse of such.
            As Lee ends his presentation and the discussion round is opened up, such statements are fu

            Here it is significant to note that Confucius‘s birthday – a celebration held annually on 
            pay homage to Confucius, China’s ‘First Teacher’ – used to be a public holiday in China in
            it is no longer celebrated officially as such. Nevertheless his birthday would be celebrat

            other, but not officially, as a public holiday.