2 - The Beginnings of Ethical Philosophy

Summary

The classical traditions that we will study began in China with Confucius, and, in the West, with Socrates, who was born less than thirty years after Confucius died.

Both had a sense of divine mission although neither said a great deal about the divine. Both regarded political life as one of the noblest of vocations yet neither of them held political office. They were teachers. The task they set for themselves was to help others acquire the moral qualities they needed to live a worthwhile life. Both believed that there was no better qualification for political life than the possession of these qualities.