AboutMaciej St. Zięba Expertise I can answer questions concerning Eastern (Oriental) philosophies and philosophers (Indian, Tibetan, Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese: Hinduist, Buddhist, Confucianist, Taoist and other; alas not Islamic or Jewish) - both in terms of notions and facts (history of their development). I can write in English, French, Esperanto, Polish and Russian, German, Dutch and Norwegian. I can also understand questions in Spanish and Italian.
Experience I have been teaching Indian and Chinese philosophies since 1987 and in 2000 I started a project on Oriental philosophies within the scope of the Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Powszechna Encyklopedia Filozofii) published in Polish by SITA-PL (7 volumes, A-Pan, published 2000-2006, containing ca. 300 entries in Eastern philosophies, written by a team of a dozen of Polish scholars).
Organizations The Catholic University of Lublin (KUL), Poland, History of Philosophy Department
Publications Several publications in Polish; in English: The Origin of the World according to Rigveda (Montreal 1996), Contributions to the History of the Buddhist Classifications of Dharmas: Pancavastuka of Vasumitra (Bulletin, Polish Institute and Library, Montreal 1997)
Education/Credentials philosophy (KUL, Lublin, 1976-81); M.A. in history of Indian philosophy (KUL, 1981); Ph.D. in history of Indian philosophy (KUL, 1989); other studies: Indian and Chinese philosophies (Institut Catholique, Paris, 1985-6); Tibetan language (INALCO, Paris, 1985-6); Chinese language (McGill University, Montreal, 1995-7)
Question What does he mean when he says "A gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias. The small man is biased and can see a question only from one side.
or
A gentleman takes as much trouble to discover what is right as lesser men take to discover what will pay
Answer Dear Carmen,
If you read both quotations very carefully you will find yourself the answer. Confucius distinguishes between two classes of men: "gentlemen" (or "noble men" - Chinese junzi) and "petty men" (or "small men", or "lesser men" - Chinese xiaoren).
[NB. - do not take the word "classes" to mean the Marxist sense, or anything similar that has to do with the occupation, job, source of employment (economical-political-sociological meaning, like European medieval states) nor else with inheritance, birth, belonging to a clan, (genealogical-sociological meaning, like Indian castes).]
Gentlemen are those for whom the virtues and the knowledge (learning, culture) form the basic the basic guidance in life and the goal of actions.
Small men are those for whom the emotions and the profit form the basic guidance in life and the goal of actions.
Therefore gentlemen try every effort to understand the things (the situations) in depth and to discover what is the right thing to do in a given situation - and next follow that line of action, even if it does not pay (if it gives no profit). This is called the virtue. The basic virtues are humanity (love for others, compassion; especially the love to one's superiors or parents [filial piety], love to one's inferior or children, love to one's ), justice (being just - avoiding evil and following the good), rituality (following the customs of the cultural society, performing the rites and following the etiquette, knowing one's place within the hierarchy of the society, being humble and not overtly proud), loyalty (to one's superiors - especially to one's parents and elderly - as well as to one's own virtue) and wisdom (knowing how to distinguish good from evil, true from false, right from unfit etc.). Being a gentlement means being a cultivated person, honorable, virtuous, etc.
The petty men do not care for knowledge and virtues. They care only for fulfillment of their wishes, for giving satsfaction to theis senses ("emotions"), fo gaining material wealth ("profit") etc.
