ABSTRACT
Confucian Ideals For Confucius, the foundation of an orderly society was the educated individual, who was committed to continual learning as a process of cultivating the virtue of jen, or humanity. Jen expressed itself in rituals of proper conduct and relationship with others. Thus, the individual’s relationship to the social group was of great importance in Confucian thought. Social order ensured
success and continuation; an individual’s goal was to harmonize with the social order through a proper sense of duty to family, elders, leaders, and emperor. This network of relationship could become quite intricate as traditional Chinese homes often housed an extended family, and living members had obligations to dead ancestors as well. However, the Confucian “golden rule”—do not to others what you would not have them do to you-was the primary motivation for all conduct, making consideration of others a moral imperative, part of possessing jen.
