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Confucius and Socrates: A Research on Analects and Apologia?

Abstract: The intelligentsia constitutes an elitist community typically representing a nation’s traditional culture and universal sense of values. All critical issues in the development of humanities are closely related to the intellectuals’ spiritual experience and historical destiny. Whilst exploring the national prospect, reflecting on the past and present, intellectuals are inevitably required to undertake self-examination of their own legitimacy. Given the scarcity and urgency of educational resources, a deliberate consideration of the intellectuals’ status quo and their maturity is both indispensable and significant for the national prosperity. Accordingly, this paper, through a comparative study of the image of Confucius in the Analects and that of Socrates in Apologia, aims to probe into the shared and varied sense of values between Chinese and Western intellectuals.


Key Words: Confucius; Socrates; intelligentsia; comparison


Zou Guangsheng is a Professor of literature at Chinese Department, Zhejiang University. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, Cambridge University and the University of Heidelberg.