What Is The Difference Between Daoism And Confucianism

Confucianism, a key idea to the Ancient Chinese culture, had a very rigid and hierarchical reputation. While this is a very dominant idea within the Chinese way of thought, it had a rival, Taoism. The Taoist idea was that one should live in harmony with nature, and by high school, we should all know this definition and be very familiar with it. However, one has to ask themselves: Why did Taoism originate in the first place?

Confucianism and its ideals stood for a rigid hierarchical behavior. A person had their set role in society, and one had many moral obligations to follow. Taoism, on the other hand, stood more for the person, and not for the society; closely related to the Greek and Western classical ideals. This stood in complete objection for the Confucian ideals, which is one of the reasons that Daoism originated, in opposition to Confucianism.
“The withdrawal from society, the antipathy toward ritual roles, traditional “morality,” and any social structures or traditional culture suggests a kind of Daoist “ethos” as an antithesis to Confucianism in China” (Daoism). This quote has the basic meaning that Daoism is a rejection of the rituals and culture of the Confucian tradition. As a conclusion, Taoism originated as almost a rebellion against Confucian thoughts and ideas, rebelling against the rigid hierarchy and roles that were required of the the Confucianist people, and withdrawing themselves from their society to go and be one with nature. The significance of this information may help us better understand the Daoist people’s values and reasons for origination, in opposition to