This lecture is part of a course from The Great Courses called Books That Matter: The Analects of Confucius taught by Professor Robert Andre LaFleur, Ph.D.. This course and over 300 other courses can be accessed with a subscription to Wondrium.
According to Professor Robert Andre LaFleur, The Analects of Confucius can be summed up in one word: imagination. As opposed to seeing Confucius as a “parochial moralizer”, Professor LaFleur sees the Chinese teacher as a visionary philosopher who taught that we must re-imagine “work” as something that goes beyond being a mere job so that it becomes more of an overall outlook on life. In this Great Courses introduction to an in-depth exploration of the Confucian Analects, Lafleur invites us to enter a discussion about how committed, life-long study can lead to a good life that is both self-fulfilling and inherently communal. Technical proficiency is not enough; as Confucius says, we have to live our work, and share it with others.