Chinese Confucian thought shared in the development of Western egalitarian thought and political democratic thought during the 17th and 18th centuries. The resulting penetration of Confucian thought into western society naturally had a considerable ef...
Chinese Confucian thought shared in the development of Western egalitarian thought and political democratic thought during the 17th and 18th centuries. The resulting penetration of Confucian thought into western society naturally had a considerable effect on the formation of modern western thought as a whole.
In fact, China was one Asian country that undoubtedly stimulated the greatest in 18th Century France, and exerted the strongest influence on French philosophers.
The principal aim of this paper is to research how the thought of the Enlightenment arose in the French and to examine its relationship to Confucian thought during the course of its development.
This is because there exist many points in common between the libertarian and humanistic setting in which democracy grew and Chinese philosophical tradition of the "highest good".
Moreover, one can discover the value of human-heartedness, democratic thought and the spirit of equality espoused by the proponents of the French Enlightenment within the age-old thought of Confucianism itself.
Accordingly, this thesis will examine the philosophical implications of Confucian thought by the thinkers of the French Enlightenment as well as the process of its literary, philosophical and social development.