September 29: The Sayings of Confucius – Prophet of 400 Million People Confucius was a Chinese magistrate in 500 b. c. He lost the favor of the Emperor and wandered from city to city, teaching and giving counsel. After his death, Emperor and people alike bowed before his shrine. Read from Sayings of Confucius Vol. 44, pp. 5-14
Although there were many quotes from Confucius in today’s 15-minute reading, one quote caught my attention:
The Master said: “Guide the people by law, subdue them by punishment; they may shun crime, but will be void of shame. Guide them by example, subdue them by courtesy; they will learn shame, and come to be good.”
The above quote reminds me of a theme in Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov” that laws and punishments alone are insufficient for cultivating a good society. In the same book, Dostoyevsky shares that guiding moral authority is important to inspire individuals to internalize virtue and regulate behavior from moral duty rather than fear of punishment.
For Dostoevsky, the guiding moral authority (the Orthodox Christian Church) would inspire a higher ethical consciousness that the state alone could not achieve. Additionally, a key character, Father Zosima, advocated for moral introspection in which shame played a role in moral development.
A similar philosophy is also apparent in Plato’s “Republic” where internal regulation cultivates personal virtue and a harmonious society.
Something that always fascinates me is that problems that modernity might think are unique to our times, in fact, are not. In this case, Confucius (551 BCE) and Dostoevsky (1821) were both thoughtful on the topic of “the law” and morality. I’d recommend giving Brenee Brown a watch on Shame and how it relates to the interconnections of individuals and behavior (watch on YouTube here).