Confucius, 559-479 BC, and Plato, 428-347 BC, were both philosophers in their respective times and eras, Confucius being alive during the warring states period in Ancient China while Plato existed during the golden age of Athens in Ancient Greece. Plato, when he was studying and writing about the ideal government, had just seen Athen’s disastrous loss to Sparta at the end of the Peloponnesian War and the execution of his mentor Socrates by democratic trial, fostering his antipathetic sentiment for democracy. Confucius, on the other hand, lived in the midst of the warring states period and had a first-hand perspective of how corrupt kings led to corrupt kingdoms, contributing to his visions of virtue. They each had their respective attitudes that can be contrasted and compared in many ways; both Confucius and Plato believed that with an adroit king at the helm and the right laws, the people would fall in line and the kingdom would flourish, but how such a thing came out differed for both men.

Confucius’ main philosophies revolved around the idea that if a virtuous king, referred to as the superior man in his writing, was put in place to set a good example, the rest of the people would bow to his will and strive to be as virtuous as he was. As Confucius describes such a figure, “A superior man never leaves ren for even a single meal.” (Confucius Analects 4:5) Ren was referred to also as dao, or the “way” that the people followed, and the ultimate force of moral behavior. In embodying this behavior, rulers would “[a]dvance the upright and set aside the crooked, and the people will follow [them].” (Confucius Analects 2:19) His idea had to do with the fact that the king was a superior man and the people the inferior men, and if the superior man acted a certain way the people would fall in line and crime would cease to exist. In other words, the ideas that Confucius touted were abundantly based on a hierarchy, with a virtuous king at the peak, and he was a person who believed that a caste-like system was meant to be upheld.

Plato, on the other hand, was of the idea that a philosopher-king — a superior, virtuous, educated king — should be put in place, and with strict laws, no corruption on the throne, and the sharing of property by the people, crime would cease to exist as there would be no motive for stealing or murder, and society would prosper. “Democracy begins when the poor, by war or by persuasion, give civil rights to everyone.” (Plato’s Republic) Plato disapproved of democracy because he believed it gave too much power to the poor. In his system, all the people would be equal, rather similar to communism in some ways, so none of them would want or need, both of which, in his opinion, were the seeds of crime. “They will have no private property. They will eat together, and their houses will be open to all.” Plato’s utopia would have all crime gone because there would be no need to commit crimes.

Plato and Confucius, though their ideas were similar in that they believed a good king and strict laws would lead to the creation of a utopia, had differing ideas on how such things would happen. Confucius believed that it would be the presence of a virtuous king that would lead the kingdom to happiness. “If you govern them [people] by means of virtue and control them with proprietary, they will gain their own sense of shame, and thus correct themselves.” (Confucius Analects 2:3) With a good king, he believed, the people would bend to his views like grass bends to the wind. Plato, on the other hand, thought that a lack of desire for more and equality for all would help the kingdom prosper, not a good king. “Justice is keeping what is properly one’s own.” (Plato’s Republic) For him, desire was the root of all crime and bad things in Ancient Greece; without desire, there would be no need for crime. Confucius did not want to remove desire but rather thought that even with desire the people would not long for what they could not have in their class system because doing so would go against the virtuous example that their king set.

Both Plato and Confucius had views that differed and were akin in some aspects when it came to the ideal government and world in their respective time periods. Plato believed that a lack of desire would lead to a prospering and functioning society, while Confucius thought that a virtuous king who led by example would right society as a whole. Both philosophers believed in a utopia free of crime because of well-made laws and examples, though they had their differences.

Sources

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/confuciu/.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/plato/.

Confucius, and Edward G. Slingerland. Analects. Hackett Pub. Co., 2003.

Plato, and A. D. Lindsay. Plato’s Republic. J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1935.