Eastern philoso

Eastern Philosopher

Confucius

Yan Hui

Greetings

I am writing you today chiefly concerned about the perceived compromised wellbeing of your townsfolk . Reading through your letter , it is not without good reasons that I suppose , that the present state of affairs of your town constitutes a great source of concern not only for me , but for your chieftain and members of the town-council as well . It has come to my attention that many of your people are suffering from , if not are themselves to be blamed for an array of despicable

occurrences happening in your town - helpless people being victimized by criminals and goons petty disputes transpiring between and among neighbors that compromise mutual co-existence , cases of fraud being reported in the marketplace and trade-places , infighting plaguing members of the same household among many others . With much sadness and regret , I strongly condemn these practices . As a matter of principle , there is simply no moral justification whatsoever for such evil practices to continue or be tolerated therein your place . Nevertheless , I still brim with a fair amount of hopefulness as well . Do not be misled your cause necessitates help , and not abandonment . For every crisis , when sufficiently addressed , leaves room for self-defining moments . Through this letter therefore , allow me address certain ethical issues which , I believe need to be forcefully emphasized to your townsmen and women in the hope of getting your town out of such a miserable subsistence

You have to firstly remember that in for a community to thrive peacefully , all members must conduct themselves in a manner being morally upright . When a community does not recognize an ethical system which applies to all , without exemption , people will begin to think that they are licensed to do whatever they . This results to anarchy and such is a grim picture of a decadent society . Instead , people need to observe ethical norms in their lives for the sake of living peacefully others inasmuch as they need to conduct themselves properly for the sake of goodness itself . I may not be entirely wrong to assume that your many of your townsfolk have had their own share of misgivings and ill-motivated actions . Which is why , I see it absolutely proper to remind you of an ethical norm which I consider to be of no little importance and I call the philosophy of reciprocity

I have long subscribed to the wisdom embracing the concept of reciprocity . Many people have come to regard this concept as the golden rule and surely , there are good reasons to think so . But it is for me , fundamentally , nothing less than the supreme measurement unto where all our actions must be leveled . Once , Tsze-kung asked me this tall question : Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one 's life ' In response , I simply quipped , Is not reciprocity such a word ' The idea behind it is in fact very simple but surely quite telling : what you do not want done to...