The Confucian Notion of Heaven - Tian vs the Daoist Notion of the Way - Dao - Essay Example

A comparison between the Confucian notion of ‘Heaven” (Tian) with the Daoist notion of the “Way” (Dao) Introduction Daoism and Confucianism are two great native philosophical traditions based in china. Considering Daoism as an English term, it corresponds to Daojia or dao family, which is an early dynasty of the Han and describes philosophical texts. Daoism thus encompasses practice and thought that are sometimes viewed as “religious,” “philosophical,” or as a combination of the two. Confucianism on the other hand traces itself to the biographical fragments and sayings recorded to the text called the Analects. It is the traditional source of information on Confucius’ teaching and life. Several philosophical views and themes can be extracted from the Analects and they are ethical rather than metaphysical or analytical in nature. Arguably, Confucianism shared some emphasis with Daoism including self-cultivation and a this-worldly alarm for the actual details of life as opposed to ideals and abstractions. However, Daoism largely represented a critical and alternative tradition different from that of the Confucius. Even though some of these critics are clear, most of them are controversial. The Confucius assert that “Heaven” or Tian is associated with moral order though dependent on human negotiators to actualize its will; its concern for ritual property (li) as the instrument by which the state, the family, and the world can be allied with Heaven’s moral order. Confucianism is all about the belief in the “infectious” nature of forces of morals (de), through which moral leaders diffuse morality to subjects, and how moral parents bring up their children. The master depicts, “Yung is fit to take up a ruler’s seat. He will do it but he is so easy going. He asks, for a strict man to be easy in behavior in the surveillance of his subjects, should that be allowed? One who is easy going in both private and public is surely absolute laxity.” (Confucius 27) Daoists teach that human discrimination like morality (bad or good) and aesthetics (ugly, beauty) generate the problems and troubles of existence (Tzu 35). The clear insinuation is that an individual following the duo should stop ordering his or her life in accordance to distinctions made by humans. It is only when a Dao withdraws that such demarcation emerging since they are a kind of disease. Daoists consider that the Dao is unraveling life knots, blunting the jagged edges of problems and relationships, and spinning down the light on hurting occurrences. It is best to exercise the “way” in all undertakings, to act naturally rather than willfully attempt to oppose or interfere with the movement of reality. Confucians wanted to change the universe and be practical in setting things instantly. They wanted to interfere, develop, educate, plan, orchestrate, and propose solutions. Daoists on the other hand do not temper with life matters unlike their counterparts who want to touch everything. From this comparison, it is evident that if the aim of the Daiosts is to be like a natural wood, then the goal of confusions is to be a carved sculpture. Daoists place the piece in front of us just as it is found, while the Confucians shape it, polish it, and decorate it. The two great philosophical traditions differ in the concept in which persons must approach life. Confucians believe they can coax reality, name it, understand it, and control it. In their view, Daoists believe that such endeavors are the foundation of our fragmentation and frustration. They think the Confucians construct a gulf between nature and humans, that weakens and demolish us. To Daoists, the Confucian scheme is similar to a cancer, which saps our life. “Let intelligence, perspicacity, wisdom, and shrewdness be guarded by foolishness, and the possessor’s service will affect the world as a whole; let complaisance guide them and their strength and dating will shake the age; permit timidity to guide them, and their wealth will be within the seas; let humility guide them, and they will be diminished completely.” (Tzu 35) The way or Dao may be said to be the “truth.” Confucianism regards these truth or way as concordant with a specific approach to politics, tradition, and life held as equally important and well looked upon as virtue and humanity. Confucians puts forward a humanistic argument by only speaking of the way of heaven. A significant early Confucian noted these contrast but acknowledged the celestial and existence usefulness of the way of heaven by insisting that the Dao concerns human affairs. To Confucians, human beings are perfectible, improvable, and teachable through communal and personal endeavors especially in self-creation and self-cultivation. They focus on maintenance of ethics as most vital and humanness for others in the society. They do not believe in a personal god or a supernatural. In contrast to Confucianism, Daoists are propagated as an option way to social harmony, as illustrated by Laozi, “eliminate the sage, abandon the wise; and people will be advantaged a hundredfold; eliminate kindness; discard righteousness, and people will be filial.” (Tzu 75). Withdrawing from the chaotic and corrupted society, Daoists disseminated a natural way of life where there was no purposeful action and competition. From the above arguments, Confucianism and Daoism philosophical theories have a few concepts in common. However, they contrast in various ways. Confucians believe that the society can be transformed by moral cultivation of influential rulers because virtue has natural transformative effects on other people. This potential or inner moral power is brought about in an individual by heaven, yet it is this that heaven responds to, rather than the outward show of exercise of force or ritual. (Confucius 30) By setting a moral example, the government is more effective in its undertakings as compared to the regime that uses force or the stern application of punishment and law. It refers to the power of a leader to influence and attract subjects. This innovation is to moralize an idea that is ethically neutral. In contrast, Daoists focus on the “way,” that underlies that the world is harmonious and peaceful in its natural state. Disorder is a result of manipulation and human aggression, a tendency that is expressed in Confucianism as warfare and cruel punishment. Indeed, all these perspectives are relative and limited, conditioned by the anxieties and interests of species, individuals, and social positions. The idea is to affirm and understand the relativity of views and harmonize them. The ultimate truth in the “way” and “heaven” lies in changes and transformations and can provide chances for one to delight his or her participation in what is essentially real. In lieu to the above moral principles, they can be applied to understand the financial crisis of 2008. The year 2007-2009 presented a very difficult financial period. There was a huge financial crisis that threatened to cripple the world economy. However, for the benefit of those who are not conversant with the international financial trends and aspects, it is better to review them. One of the aspects to be discussed is when and why central banks buy their currencies or currencies of other countries to control exchange rates. The time central banks buy their own currencies or currencies of other countries is when there is a lot of currency in circulation. When the currency in circulation is in excess, central banks buy the excess currencies in order to reduce money circulation. The reasons why the central banks do this is to stabilize the currencies as well are reduce inflation. When there is less money in circulation, the value of currency goes up and this helps stabilize it against other currencies in the world (Dasgupta, 2007). Inflation occurs when there is a lot of money in circulation. Buying currencies by central banks, therefore, helps to reduce inflation. During the 2007-2009 financial crisis, central banks reduced interest rates to almost zero to aid easy borrowing from financial system (Skrobot, 2010). This eased borrowing by commercial banks as they could easily repay their loans because of the low interest rates. The world economy is currently at its worst with most countries hit by the pinching global recession. Economists define financial crisis as a significant downturn in activity that affects all the economic segment, the decline in activity normally last for a certain period, which could be more than months or years. Effects of economic recession or financial crisis are usually witnessed in employment, industrial production and in real estate income (Magdoff and Bellamy 41). The technical economic indicator associated with recession is economic growth which is negative which in quarters is two consecutive when measured by a nation’s GDP (Gross Domestic product). The 2008 financial crisis affected all financial institutions in the world. The financial crisis endangered the total collapse of financial bodies, the reduction in stock markets all over the world, world government tried to apply bailouts to financial institutions but still it had little effect. In certain areas such as housing was badly affected in that it led to foreclosures, evictions and unemployment among many people. In addition, the financial crisis was responsible for the collapse or failure of major business, decrease in consumer wealth and recession in economic activities all over the world resulting to the 2008 financial crisis and leading to European debt problems or crisis. The financial crisis in the US was sparked by the housing bubble that influenced the values of securities in US associated with housing prices to destruction of financial bodies in the world. Further, the 2008 financial crisis was activated by intricate interplay of government laws that motivated home ownership offering them cheap interests on house loans. In October 2008, questions emerged regarding the issue of bank solvency, downturn in availability of credit to citizens and the destroyed investors’ confidence which had a negative influence on the world stock markets especially in the US and Europe where securities experienced massive losses in 2008. During this time, global trade decreased as availability of credit tightened. The US government reacted to this phenomenon with fiscal stimulus packages for financial institutions, monetary laws expansion, and bailouts (Magdoff and Bellamy 72). The US financial crisis left many shocked because it severely affected their lives. The crisis ended in late 2008 and the beginning of 2009 in the US when the congress enacted the recovery and reinvestment Act of 2009. It is clear that the US financial crisis began in the housing industry specifically in the mortgage market known as subprime, which spread to prime mortgage, and other types of debts that mortgage firms in the US faced. Between August 2008 and October 2008, the subprime borrowers in the US have affected the availability of credit and decreased the repayment of loans. Subprime loans are risky because they are likely to suffer from default than loans offered to prime borrowers. Therefore, if a borrower makes timely repayment of his or her loan, the lender may claim the control of the property. In August 2008, the value of subprime mortgage borrowers stood at over $ 1 trillion with the total of over $ 7 million outstanding mortgage balance. This eventually led to the increase in lending of loans to subprime borrowers with the perception that the prices of houses will continue to increase with time. Further, this act was aided by the increase of non-bank autonomous mortgages, which regardless of their smaller share in the market contributed a lot to the housing industry. By August 2008, all the house loans in the US were either foreclosure or delinquent. The subprime mortgage stretched to government sponsored institutions such as Fannie Mae demanding bailout from the federal government as portrayed in the “Margin Call.” By September 2008, housing prices in the US decreased by over 19%. This decrease in the housing prices implied that many borrowers had negative equity in their respective homes; therefore, their houses were valueless as compared to their mortgages. Borrowers had an incentive to default on their house loans because mortgages or house loans are nonrecourse debts safeguarded against the property. In response, the federal government directed the treasury department to give $25 billion in their loans and purchased shares of Fannie and Freddie on the stock market. The subprime mortgage was activated by the influx of funds from private sector, the predatory lending behaviors of the mortgage providers and the banks entering into the mortgage markets. By October 2008, the Congress in the US passed the bailout bill in an attempt to rescue the financial institutions from collapse. Panic was high in that many people had lost their jobs in the previous month. Further, the Federal Reserve tried to increase the banking liquidity by accepting to lend $ 540 billion to money markets and lowering the Federal Reserve funds rate to 1%. Unfortunately, these methods did not succeed in rescuing the economy as LIBOR lending rates increased to 3.4% while companies such as Dow Jones reacted by plummeting 13% in the entire moth. At the end of October 2008, BEA announced that the US was in recession. The two movies shows real events that happened and these events triggered financial crisis thus affecting lives of many people. In order to stabilize the financial systems, the European Central Bank injected $90 billion dollars in the economy, the Bank of China a total of $16 billion dollars, and the Fed Bank $233 billion dollars (Barajas & International Monetary Fund, 2010). The efforts by these countries helped subsidize financial incentives as well as helped in availing loans that could be used to buy uneasy resources. Though central banks injected money in the economy, the major constraint that limited the amount of money injected in the financial system was the institutional practice and mutual practice (Skrobot, 2010). Even the US was faced with the same constraint. Although the actions by the central banks were meant to curb the financial crisis that was prevalent at the time, there are negative implications of such actions. For instance, in future people will be forced to pay high tax rates in order to pay off government debts that were incurred at this time (Kaar, 2009). This is likely to result in another financial crisis in future, at least at a personal level. The banning question among citizens is that what caused the financial crisis in 2008, and how would we think of the economic and social costs of the financial crisis. The crisis was triggered by some breaches in ethical reasoning by bankers and money traders. The cause of the crisis can be attributed to ethical breaches in the sense that there was poor control of risks, leverage was too high, and traders willfully gave in to bubble like states in housing markets. Many financial institutions misled borrowers in that they were satisfied with the unethical behaviors to get loans. Some borrowers did not represent their incomes and assets in a rational way while others gave false information about their intention to buy houses. Within an ethical platform, such behaviors would not have led to rewards as the banks and financial institutions needed to verify the data they got from borrowers, and denied to grant loans to those applicants who did not qualify. Unfortunately, financial institutions did the opposite thus leading to the financial crisis. The most pertinent ethical issue in the financial crisis of 2008 was evident in the actions and behaviors of the financial institutions and banks that gave easy loans to borrowers without verification if they were worth or not. They interpreted wrongly the terms and conditions of the mortgage loans to the borrowers and in some situations applied appraisals that were inappropriate. They ignored to follow correct and required procedure in registering loans, and when it was discovered that there was no documentation during foreclosures, some financial institutions fabricated documents. In many situations, the ethical abuses can be attributed to the poor or lack of training of low-level employees who were directed and assured that they were working in a correct manner. Such failures are associated to lack of code of ethics and poor ethical orientation by these financial firms. The problem is that such ethical issues have been ignored and that the practice still exists. It is apparent that ethical failures in the actions of some financial firms and consumers before the financial crisis struck. It is significant to not that bank and other financial bodies had they acted in moral or ethical manner; they could have avoided the unethical behaviors. It is because of lack of ethical guidance that led to the financial crisis in 2008. For a long time, the government has been behaving unethically in the sense that it promoted and encouraged home ownership among the citizens who could not afford to service their loans. Further, the government was adamant in holding accountable those people who engaged in unscrupulous activity that led to the financial crisis. The government held that it could not fine financial institutions because the financial sector was too delicate. This decision was unethical and it encouraged financial firms to continue with the behaviors. Works Cited Barajas, A., & International Monetary Fund. (2010). U.S. bank behavior in the wake of the 2007- 2009 financial crisis. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund. Confucius, William. The Analect- Thrift Edition Series Trans. Soothill, William. New York: Courier Dover Publications, 1995. Print. Dasgupta, Peter. Economics: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print. Kaar, Michael. A critical analysis of the 2007 - 2009 global financial and economic crisis and its implications for the travel industry and associated businesses. Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2009. Print. Magdoff, Fred and Bellamy, John. The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2009. Print. Skrobot, K. (2010). Monetary reactions to the global financial crisis 2007-2009. Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2010. Print. Tzu, Lao. Tao Te Ching. Trans. James Legge. New York: Digireads.com Publishing, 2009. Print. Read More