The Dominion. SATURDAY, APRIL. 8, 1916. "THE SUPERIOR MAN"

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2741, 8 April 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, APRIL. 8, 1916. "THE SUPERIOR MAN"

.Since the beginning of the war the world lias been hearing a great deal about German Kultur in theory and practice. Attention has frequently been drawn to the vastness of the gulf which separates the German glorification of brute force from the moral teaching of the Now Testament. The Teutonic methods of warfare have provided a lurid illustration of the closeness of the connection between faith and works. Frightfulness is the natural outcome of the "superman" ethics .of Nietzsche and Bernhardi, and the teachings of a host of professors and schoolmasters who have created the faith that Germany is destined to rule the world. The ''superman" takes the shape of an inhuman monster when compared with the Pauline conception of the fullgrown or perfect man, and he also looks very- ugly when contrasted with the picture of "the superior man" drawn by Coneuoius, the ancient sage who went about doing good some five. hundred years before the beginning of the Christian era. A book on The Ethics of 'Confucius (published .by G. P. Putnam's Sons) brings within the reach of the general .public a, well-chosen collection of the sayings of Confucius and his disciples'on the conduct of "the superior'man." These sayings have been "arranged according to the plan of' Confucius, with a running commentary by Miles Menander Dawson, member of the Confucian Society of China," a foreword being contributed by Wu Ting Fang, late .Minister to the United State* from' China. The hook gives a useful summary of the teaching of the Confucian classes on_ ethics.. and statecraft. "The superior man" is a gentleman in the best sense of the word. He is magnanimous, generous, benign, grave. Ho is always mindful of the rights of others, a-lover of truth, and ready to serve. He thinks more of righteousness than of gain. A passage in the Analects, tells us that "the man who in view of gain thinks o'f righteousness,: who In view of danger is prepared to give up his life, 'and who does not forget an old agreement, however far back it'extends—such a man may bo reckoned a complete men."" "The superior man" is h\imble, yet dignified, and is willing tp give placo to others aijd take the last nimself.

How different is the Confucian "superior man" to the'overbearing German superman with his mailed fist. "Be a gentleman," says Confucius; "be a bully," says the Prussian Junker. "A new table, oh my brethren, I put over you," writes Nietzsche; "become hard." No'more weak parleying'about the rights, of man. "We are the superiors, we are the strongest. The best things belong to me and mine, and if "men give us nothing, then we take them; the best food, the purest' sky, the strongest thoughts, the - fairest women." This exaltation of might over right would have been regarded as sheer barbarism by_ Confucius, who regarded reciprocity in welldoing as the standard of human conduct. But the ethical system of Confucius does not go deep enough. One of its weakest points is its failure to make due allowance for the frailty of_ human nature. It ia lacking in spiritual insight. It- is too cold-blood-:d. It seems to know nothing of the agony of that moral which almost drove St. Paul to despair. It does not meet the case of the • man—the ordinary man—who lacks the moral power to live up to his ideal-.;. Sr. Paul showed how thoroughly ho knew the human heart when ho said: ''The good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do." This feeling of moral impotence drow ■ .from him tlio cry oJ anguish,. "Wretched man that I am.

who shall deliver me?" "The superior man" of Confucius—like tho "philosopher king" of Plato, tho "expert" of Aiustotle, and tho "wiso man" of the Stoics—is but the imaginary embodiment of an ideal. Christianity goes much further than this. Christian ethics, as Dn. Archibald Alexander, reminds us, "is unique in this respect, that it presents, not merely a code of morals, but.an ideal of good embodied in a person, who is at once the pattern and inspiration of the new life." ' Confucianism in its original form is a system of morality, not a religion. Confucius did not claim to have attained tho ideal of the complete man, and he realised the need for a perfect example. "How great is the path proper to the sage," he said. "It waits for the proper man and then it is trodden. Only by perfect virtue can the perfect-path be made a fact." Mr. Dawson is not sufficiently cri* tical and discriminating in his comments on the Confucian sayings. ,The obvious and commonplace are obvious and commonplace even when uttered by great Confucius, and it is just as well to frankly acknowledge this fact. It is no use trying to read into the Sage's maxims-ideas which they do not contain. Mr. Dawson's comments on the following passage provide an illustration of nis tendency to over-estimate the insight and foresight of the Chinese sage: L —

If the seasons of husbandry be not interfered with, the grain will bo more than can be eaten. If close nets are not allowed to enter the pools and ponds, tha fishes"and turtles will be.more than can be consumed. If the axes and bills enter the hills and forests only at the proper time, the wood will be more than can ba used. When the grain and fish and turtles aro more than can. be eaten, and there is moro wood than can be usod, this enables the people to nourish their living and bury their dead, without any feeling against any. This condition in which the people nourish their living and bury their dead is the first step in kingly governniont. ' Thcro is a certain ammmt of rather obvious commonsense in this, _ but it requires a very lively to discover in the passage a startling precedent. "for modern agricultural departments and experiment stations, and yet more recently instituted and still suspiciously regarded conservation movements." In a-n-> other part, of the book Mr. Dawson tells us that the sage's acute percepti()n of .the most delicate distinctions was evidenced no more strongly, perhaps, in any of tho marvellous sentences which have ; come down to this generation than in tho following: "Of all people : girls and servants are tho most difficult to. behave to. If you are familiar with tliem, they loso their humility; if you maintain a reserve toward them they are discontented."

ll' Confucius had nothing more "marvellous" to say than this, his fame would never have travelled beyond the narrow limits of his own family circle. But if Mb. Dawson is incliped to be ovc'r-'generotis in his estimate of the merits o 1 the Oonfu-i eian literature, tho "sayings," nevertheless, contain much pure gold, and the book just'published in handy form should bo read with both interest and profit. Opinions differ as to tho greatness of Confucius. • Dn; James Legge, who won a world-wide reputation by his translation 'of the Chinese classics, did not regard Confucius as a great, man. Hb was not before his age (writes Dt. Legge), though ho was above the mass or the officers and scholars of his time. He threw no new light on any of the questions which have a world-wide interest. Ho gave no impclse to religion. He had no sympathy with progress. His influence has been wonderful, but it will henccforth wane. Ity opinion is that tho faith of the nation iji him will speedily and eitensively pass away. One cannot holp feeling that' Db. Legoe's judgment is unduly harsh. Confuoius's claims to greatness cannot be so easily brushed aside._ He may have, been placed on too high, a pedestal, but he may be fairly described) m "tho words of finothor <iuthority, as "a bold and well-denned figure, full of grandeur and individuality." This he may have been without being supremely great. "Twenty-three centuries of fame, of influence, of adoration—of how few men can there be said as much.