Ancient · 551–479 BC
Who did Confucius influence?
Students and legacy
China's master of ritual and character: order begins with the rectification of names.
Confucius influenced Mencius and Xunzi. That is 2 lines of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Read on Wikipedia Portrait: Anonymous Chinese painter of the Western Han period, Public domain See the whole map
Who was Confucius?
Born Kong Qiu in China's Spring and Autumn period, Confucius saw himself as a transmitter of older values he thought his age had abandoned. His teaching, later called Confucianism, centred on personal and governmental morality, harmonious relationships, sincerity and rule by virtue, with filial piety and a strong family as the base of good government. He taught the Silver Rule: do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself.
His sayings were gathered in the Analects only long after his death. His ideas suffered under the Qin, won official sanction under Emperor Wu of Han, grew into Neo-Confucianism under the Tang and Song, and returned in the 20th century as New Confucianism.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who did Confucius influence?
2 thinkers on this map draw directly on Confucius.
Contemporaries of Confucius
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of Confucius, with no direct line between them.
- Theano 6th c. BC
- Heraclitus c. 535–475 BC
- Pythagoras c. 570–495 BC
- Xenophanes c. 570–478 BC
- Laozi c. 6th c. BC
Confucius by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 0
- Direct followers
- 2
- Thinkers upstream
- 0
- Thinkers downstream
- 2
- Wikipedia languages
- 241 — #1 of 54 among ancient philosophers
- Card rarity
- Legendary
Schools and lineages
- Non-Western: Confucius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Mencius, Xunzi, Nagarjuna, Adi Shankara, Ramanuja, Dōgen, Kitarō Nishida, Muhammad Iqbal
Questions about Confucius
- Who influenced Confucius?
- No earlier thinker on this map is recorded as a direct influence on Confucius.
- Who did Confucius influence?
- Mencius and Xunzi.
- When did Confucius live?
- 551–479 BC. The map files Confucius under the ancient world.
- How rare is the Confucius card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on Confucius in 241 languages, which makes it a Legendary card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More ancient philosophers
- Aristotle 384–322 BC
- Plato c. 428–348 BC
- Socrates c. 470–399 BC
- Pythagoras c. 570–495 BC
- Laozi c. 6th c. BC
- Cicero 106–43 BC
- Thales of Miletus c. 624–546 BC
- Marcus Aurelius AD 121–180