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[German Version] (551 bce Qufu, state of Lu [Shandong/Shantung] – 479 bce, state of Lu) was the founder of the ethico-political system of Confucianism. The Chinese form of his name is Kong Qiu; to the family name Kong was added the personal name Qiu, after Ni Qiu, a hill where people prayed for the gift of children. The syllable ni became part of the name Zhongni, which he received upon reaching the age of majority (20), Zhong literally meaning “second child” – his father having previously had a disabled son with a concubine. He was…

[German Version] (the Lat. form of Meng Zi, “Master Meng,” actually Meng Ke; probably 372 bce in the state of Zou, today Chinese province of Shandong – 289 bce), was the second great representative of early Confucianism. Like Confucius, Mencius travelled through the Chinese provinces in order to win over a ruler to his ideas. He was for a time an official in the state of Qi. Mencius's teaching is a further development of the ideas of Confucius. More clearly than in the latter, the Confucian norms (esp. ren, “co-humanity,” i.e. the integration of individuals, according to their posi…

[German Version] I. History (to the 19th Century) – II. Confucianism in the 20th Century – III. Confucianism outside China – IV. Ethics and Social Philosophy – V. Religious Elements in Confucianism – VI. Literature I. History (to the 19th Century) Confucianism is an ethico-political teaching with reli- gious elements (see V below), which originated in ancient China and which derives the order of the world from the moral qualification of the individual. Its basic inventory of norms and values was formed between the 6th and 3rd centuries bce. At first, this was derived from …