Confucian Communication Ethics in Media: A Short Introduction

Anthony Le Duc (2023)

1. Introduction

Confucianism, the system of thought that has been variously described as a philosophy, a way of life, a worldview, a religion, a culture, and so on, is named after Kung Fu-tzu, or Kung the Master. Confucius was born in the sixth century BCE in the principality of Lu in the modern Shandong Province of China. The socio-religio-cultural worldview that is identified as Confucianism and has characterized the way of life of a large segment of people in Asia and beyond for the last several thousand years began with an intellectual who was convinced that he had a divine mission to re-establish the social order of his time. Although Confucius attempted for many years to propagate his teachings through official government channels, his efforts were often not justly rewarded. Nonetheless, Confucius never gave up on teaching his disciples and also spent the last years of his life editing the classics of China’s past – all in the effort to provide a vision and way out of the state of social and political conflict due to human moral decline, especially among those in power. 

Confucius’ pedagogical regiment consisted of lessons in civics, literature, mathematics, history, music, propriety, divination, and sports. This represented a comprehensive and integrated method for human beings to transform themselves from the inner core, starting with the individual undertaking a self-effort that would contribute positively to the entire society, indeed the world. In terms of communication style, Confucius shared similarity with Socrates, preferring to engage his students with questions and carrying out conversations rather than giving lectures (Smith, 1991, p.174).