Explain this Confucian Virtue and discuss the ways in which this does Essay

Explain this Confucian Virtue and discuss the ways in which this does or does not exist in contemporary American society. Use concrete examples. Make sure that you adequately define this Virtue - Essay Example Thus, the core of the teachings of Confucius oscillated around the right individual ethics, values and virtues that are morally healthy and socially upright. Confucianism refers to an ethical, virtuous, moral and as well as psychological system of thought that was introduced by Confucius (Sun, 37). This system borrows its origin from the periods of Autumn and Spring in the Han Dynasty. During that period, Confucianism was majorly used as a tool for ethical and sociopolitical teaching. The teachings of Confucianism majorly revolve around humanism. Such teachings mostly espouse the importance of family relationships and disregards beliefs in gods. The teachings further depict that human beings can be taught through personal as well as communal endeavors. In addition, the teachings of Confucianism maintain that individuals are improvable as well as perfectible relevant to their personal as well as communal endeavors (Smith and Huston, 51). This can be realized mainly through self-creation as well as self-cultivation of morally upright virtues alongside lending credence to ethical maintenance. Confucianism’s teachings majorly revolve around four main ethical concepts. These include ren, yi, li and zhi. Ren observes the virtue of humanness and altruism whereas yi obligates righteousness and moral responsibility to do good (Smith and Huston, 47). Li determines the way a person should conduct himself or herself with regards to certain norms. Zhi regards the ability to identify what is considered either wrong or right relevant to how an individual relates to others in the society (Wong, 67). It is of critical significance to acknowledge that the teachings of Confucianism can bring good results when incorporated within the governance policies and rules of any country. Confucius argues that for a leader to govern his subjects effectively, he must start with