Plato and Confucious

Confucius and Plato

Confucius and Plato are two of the most respected and most widely studied teachers of history. There philosophies of how people should be governed and what characteristics make for a good leader. Both men's ideas are good for the civilizations that they lived in, and they shared many similarities in their ideas. My own ideas of an ideal leader are a mixture of these two men's ideas. The personal experiences of both men also play a key role in how they shape their ideas.

The best way to create a strong society has been discussed in depth by each of these men at great length. Plato believed that philosophers should be the ones to lead since they were those who understood absolute truth. He believed that a philosopher-king would be the ultimate leader because he had the great knowledge combined with leadership qualities to govern the people. Therefore he could effectively rule a civilization with both his moral views and his intelligence of military and economic issues.

Confucius believed a similar aspect to an extent but differed in a way. He too believed that a well-rounded moral man should be the leader of a civilization whether or not he was of noble birth. He felt that if a leader was of the utmost of moral goodness, no matter his upbringing, then he could be the best kind of leader because he would be a great example of how his people should live their own lives. He also placed much importance on how a leader should act very reverently and respectful to anyone he encountered, because if you approach someone with dignity, they will return it.

Both teachers differed in opinion as to whether people are led by moral example because they are basically good or if they need a leader to control the evil that lives within. Confucius believed and taught that all people are basically good and can be taught to be virtuous if they are educated. He felt that it was just a matter of tapping the inner resource of morality within each individual through good upbringing and teaching. Plato on the other hand believed and taught that people need a leader to curb the evil within them because humans too often fall victim to tyranny and greed. He felt that people needed to be carefully led by the better-educated class because they could not trust their own intuitions.

Plato and Confucius differ on the questions of human nature and leadership in that they both take opposite ends of the argument as to what a leader can be, because of human nature. Confucius believed that if people could have a consistently good moral leader on whom to base their actions, then everyone could live in peace and harmony. He had great faith in the human nature and in people's ability to act humanely to all others in order to create a harmonious universe. Plato, on the other hand, did not have this same faith