The Four Books of Confucius

Abstract

Confucius (5th century BC), like Aristotle, is one of those figures whose texts seem more like notes taken by one of his students than works by the author himself. He lived in a time of social upheaval, such as the Chunqiu, Spring and Autumn Period (771-481 BC) and the Warring States Period, Zhanguo. He shares with Plato the need to bring order to political disorder, but differs from the Greek thinker in declaring the continuity of the ancient, that is, the memory and wisdom of the ancient kings and regents of the Zhou period.