Episode 87, Confucianism (Part IV - Further Analysis and Discussion)
The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast
Jack Symes | Andrew Horton, Oliver Marley, and Rose de Castellane
4.8 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 18 October 2020
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Introduction
One day when Jack, Olly, and Andy were accompanying Confucius, Confucius said: "Why don't each of you tell me what you have your mind set on."
Andy was the first to reply, he said he wanted to be as profitable and the prestigious as the Duke of Zhou. Once he had profit and prestige, he could have all things his heart desired.
Jack, having suspected that Andy had given a poor response, said he wished to cultivate humanness by helping others to help themselves. He wanted to allow others to see how their selfishness prevented them from becoming truly human and from experiencing true joy.
Finally, Olly simply responded that he wished not to make any promises he couldn't keep but that he hoped to learn from the ancients, respect the roles he had been assigned, and care for his friends and family.
Confucius sat quietly for a moment and then said: "Andy, you have mistaken what made the Duke of Zhou so well pleased. Jack, you have said the right words but for the wrong reason. Olly, you can learn from the ancients but also from your less capable friends, see if you share any of their qualities."
Contents
Part I. The Life of Confucius
Part II. The Analects
Part III. Practices
Part IV. Further Analysis and Discussion
Links
The Analects (Oxford Classics).
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Confucius.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Confucius.
Confucius from the Heart, Yu Dan (Pan Macmillan).
The Great Courses, The Analects of Confucius (Audible).
Confucius: A Guide for the Perplexed, Yong Huang (Bloomsbury).
Confucianism: A Very Short Introduction, Daniel Gardner (Oxford).
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Pan |
| 0:02.0 | PAN |
| 0:03.0 | Psygast |
| 0:04.0 | Part 4 |
| 0:19.0 | How to Run a Granary. |
| 0:21.9 | Just kidding. It's part for further analysis and discourse on, of course. |
| 0:25.8 | There's loads of stuff we haven't had chance to talk about. |
| 0:29.1 | For all the women, some of the other Confucian scholars that come after Confucius, |
| 0:33.4 | some more stuff on government, how have you fulfilled life. |
| 0:35.5 | So before we get into our criticisms, our positives of Confucianism, our overall thoughts that are an overall analysis, |
| 0:42.5 | let's unpack some of these other things. |
| 0:45.0 | Do you want to kick us off, Andy? |
| 0:47.0 | I would love to, and we're going to start this discussion with human nature of things. |
| 0:52.4 | And we know that... |
| 0:54.1 | I'm generally excited. |
| 0:57.8 | Now, we hinted that Confucius himself had, I think, a reasonably positive outlook on human nature. |
| 1:04.6 | He was a firm believer that every single person could theoretically become a sage of all things, even though he said he'd never met one and never did. |
| 1:14.0 | Would you say he was more Russoian than Hobbesian? |
| 1:17.1 | I would absolutely say that, but I won't say it. |
| 1:20.7 | Because they weren't born yet. |
| 1:22.3 | Yeah, for a very, very long time. |
| 1:24.7 | Quote we hear from the analects. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jack Symes | Andrew Horton, Oliver Marley, and Rose de Castellane, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jack Symes | Andrew Horton, Oliver Marley, and Rose de Castellane and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

