The State as a Big Family

二十

~What is the extent of the state for Confucius? What is its difference from the family?

~Why does Confucius consider the state as a big family? What elements of the family must the state imitate?

~What does Confucius mean when he considers the ruler as the parent of the people? In what ways is the ruler like the parent in a family?

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In the previous entry, The Family as the Basic Social Unit, the family was introduced in a broad sense that it included with it the state with the ruler as the father of the people and that the state was designed in a way that it reflects the “nation-family” form of government. The chapter nine of The Great Learning opened with the idea that the need to regulate the family is a first before being able to govern the state. That is, and asking the question of, “how can one govern or rule a state when he cannot even supervise the affairs of his family?”: 

“There is no one who cannot teach his own family and yet can teach others. Therefore the superior man (ruler) without going beyond his family, can bring education into the completion in the whole state.”

Having said this, now that the superior man has finally cultivated himself and in turn was able to regulate his own family, we now turn into the outside layer: the state or the family state. To be a ruler means to govern but that is only one side of the coin. To be a ruler means that one should also be of service to his people, equally. The Great Learning emphasises the qualities of what it takes to be a ruler— of how it is to become a parent of the people. Like a family, a ruler should know how to treat the elders with respect and treat the youth and those without means in a good and right manner. As he is the parent of the people, he then becomes the role model of his people. If his conduct towards the young and the old are right, then the people shall too.

Analect 13:6

“Confucius said, ‘If a ruler sets himself right, he will be followed without his command. If he does not set himself right, even his commands will not be obeyed.’”

A good ruler is also one who is perfectly in tune with his people. Just as a father who knows when his son is happy or sad, a ruler should also know his people in this sense. Knowing the right time to intervene when your child is in trouble and knowing when to just stand on the sidelines while still supporting him defines a good parent who knows his child. Knowing your people will help you in making the right decision in terms of what is good for them and what is not, understood already that the ruler is a superior man. If such bad things within the state already exist, the ruler should do well in either eliminating or correcting them. He should be sensitive to the needs of his people and rules with the virtue that to govern is to rectify (Analect 12:17). Such superior ruler will, in turn, earn the support and love of his people wholeheartedly. 

Schuman, 2015

“In Confucian thinking, then, the state became an enlarged photocopy of the family. If the state operated the same was a family did, good government would be achieved and order maintained in society. The Great Learning…states simply that “from the loving example of one family a whole state becomes loving.” At the top of the family stood a commanding yet benevolent father, controlling yet caring for his children; at the top of the nation stood the emperor, enjoying unrivalled authority over the people, yet committed to serving the best interests of the common man…”

The chapter ten of The Great Learning greatly expounds on the ideal characteristic of a superior man as the ruler of the state. As a ruler is the model of everyone, he should do good deeds behind and outside doors. As he both a superior man and a ruler, he takes care of his own attitude and knows that Heaven will do justice to him if he is unjust. He is one who brings and keep justice and peace throughout the community (Analect 14:45) and worries when security and peace are lacking:

Analect 16:1

“Confucius said, ‘…I have heard that those who administer a state or a family do not work about there being too few people, but worry about unequal distribution of wealth. They do not worry about poverty, but worry about the lack of security and peace on the part of the people. For when wealth is equally distributed, there will not be poverty; when there is harmony, there will be no problem of there being too few people; and when there are security and peace, there will be no danger to the state…’”

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P.S. -I think this is interesting but it is beyond me: https://fractalontology.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/family-contra-the-state-problematizing-aristotle-and-confucius/