Confucianism
An East Asian philosophy of right relationship — that we each have duties to the other. For instance, even a ruler protected by the Mandate of Heaven who fails the relationship loses the mandate — and the right to rule with it.
How We Say It
kən·fyoo·shə·niz·əm
Where It Comes From
Named for Kong Fuzi — Latinized as Confucius — the Chinese teacher who lived around 551–479 BCE. The system is more accurately called Rujia in Chinese — the school of the scholars. The English term was coined by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century.
How It's Been Used
Functioned as the official state philosophy of imperial China from the Han dynasty through the early 20th century — shaping bureaucracy, education, and family structure across East Asia. Suppressed during China's Cultural Revolution, then officially rehabilitated. Often contrasted with Western liberalism in debates about governance, hierarchy, and social harmony.