Harmony as a Virtue in Confucianism

Abstract

Harmony is a foundational concept in Confucianism and it still resonates strongly with the world-views of many people in East Asia, where Confucianism has had a large influence. This chapter investigates Confucian harmony as a virtue. The first section presents the idea of harmony as a philosophical concept in the Confucian tradition. The second section presents Confucian harmony as a cosmic virtue. The third section elaborates on the idea of harmony as a personal virtue and social virtue, as well as harmony as a virtue in relation to nature. The end of the chapter reflects on the discussion and considers the implications of one of the core Confucian convictions: that harmony is a process.