Abstract
Enquiry Into the significance of the term chun tzu
'gentleman' as used in the Analects of Confucius gives a
succinct and understandable notion of what Confucius and
his early disciples conceived to be the ideal man.
Preparation for a valid enquiry of this kind is made:
1. by a brief discussion of the nature of the Chinese/ language
and of some of the semantic problems posed by the translation
of ethical terms from one language and culture to another;
2. by reference to the factor of personality and background
in a summary of the life aid times of Confucius;
and 3. by reference to the factor of literary usage, examining the use of chun tzu in the Book of Odes of the pre-Confucian period.
The central section of the study examines the qualities
ascribed to the chun tsu, gentleman or ideal man, in the
Analects, including the transfer of the term from the hereditary and aristocratic sense, "man of gentle birth", to the
ethical sense, "gentleman", having reference to character and
conduct.
Comparisons and contrasts are then drawn with the chargoter
held to t>e ideal by the Greeks, with particular reference to
Socrates, Plato end Aristotle. A parallel is found in 9 the
middle way' admired by both Chinese and Greeks. The chief
contrast is not in any one quality, save perhaps In the
Chinese neglect of 'courage', but in the reasoned approach
of the Greeks and the intuitive approach of the Chinese.
In a similar way some comparisons and contrasts are drawn
with the Christian ideal. Though there is strictly speaking
no stereotyped Christian ideal in a similar form to the chun tzu, the quality of love is found to be the one most frequently
stressed by St. Paul. The contrast with the Chinese ideal
lies not only in this point of the emphasis on love, but
still more in the means whereby men are to seek to reach
the ideal.
