The Family as the Basic Social Unit

十九

~What is the extent of the family that Confucius considers as the basic social unit? What are the basic relations within this family?

~Why does Confucius consider the family as the basic social unit within which the chun-tzu must begin to operate?

~What role must the chun-tzu play within the family? How will the chun-tzu play his role within the family? What must the chun-tzu aim for as he operates within the family?

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The Godfather, Mario Puzo

“…and if I ever need any guidance, who’s a better consiglieri than my father?”

The superior man, who have finally cultivated himself through investigating things, therefore extending his knowledge, making his will sincere, and rectification of his knowledge can now finally move on to the next step: his family. A family, in the Confucian teachings, is considered as the basic and primary unit of society. It is where a child grows up to a man, and finally to a superior man and so on and so forth for his sons and their sons and to the rest of the future generation. The family is where all relationship starts and thus, a son’s relationship with his family is but fundamental. This, in turn, points out that filial piety is considered as one of the important virtues in the Confucian teachings. 

Introduction to Confucian Thought, n.d.

“In traditional China it was assumed by adherents of all schools of thought that government would be monarchical and that the state had its model in the family. The ruler was understood to be at once the Son of Heaven, and the father of the people, ruling under the Mandate of Heaven… Even today, under a different radically form of government, the Chinese term for state is “guo-jia” or “nation-family”, suggesting the survival of the idea of this paternal and consensual relationship…”

Love, sensitivity and consideration for each other, and respect are the conditions to establish a good Confucian family. Father and son should have a loving and reverential relationship with one another. Elder brother and younger brother should treat each other with gentleness and respect. The relationship between a husband and a wife should be good and attentive. A friend to a friend should be humble in all sense and from a ruler to a subject, a relationship where one puts great importance to loyalty is how to make it (“Oriental Philosophy: Main Concepts of Confucianism,” n.d.). The threefold relationship between father and son, husband and wife, brother and brother are genuine in its “familial” sense but the two, ruler and subject and friend and friend, can however be enclosed in the scope (Fung, 1948). When a father is a cultivated man, his son should follow his way. He must be respectful to him and do well in honouring him even until after his death. This kind of dedication to his family is what will make him a cultivated man like his father.

Doctrine of the Mean, 19

“Men of filial piety are those who skilfully carry out the wishes of their forefathers and skilfully carry forwards their undertakings.”

The Great Learning, 8

“Hence it is said, “People do not know the faults of their sons and do not know the bigness of their seedlings.” This is what is meant by saying that if the personal life is not cultivated, one cannot regulate his family.”

The disposition of the family is therefore dependent on the character of the people that makes up that family. If the son is brought up well in a family of superior character, then this trait will show once he becomes a man himself. By being a cultivated person, he in turn will bring this to the society and until he has a family of his own. But if a son grows up in a family with an inferior man for a father, then what goodness can he pass down to the society and his sons? A superior man rectifies the ways of his sons when he is not in accordance with what is moral and what is proper and right in line with the views of the society: “Our family relationship is projected into the life of the community and the world” (Zukeran, 2001). Keeping the family away from shame is also a way to regulate the family. 

Yao, 2000

“As the family is the basic unit of human community, harmonious family relationships are believed to be crucial for a harmonious society and a peaceful state… For those who are of the ruling class, their virtues in family affairs are even more significant, because it is believed that when these people feel profound affection for their parents, the common people will naturally be humane…”

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