rise qin dynasty subsequent purge dissent book han lists ten major schools confucianism teaches human beings teachable improvable perfectible personal communal endeavour especially including self cultivation self creation main idea confucianism cultivation virtue development moral perfection confucianism holds one give one 's life necessary either passively actively sake upholding cardinal moral values ' 'ren'' ''yi'' legalism often compared machiavelli foundational traditional chinese bureaucratic empire
Humanities History Philosophical history Ancient philosophy