The Five Relationships
The fundamental relationships that structure society.
Confucianism identifies five key relationships: ruler-subject, parent-child, husband-wife, elder-younger sibling, and friend-friend. Each relationship has its duties. When all fulfill their roles, society is harmonious.
Let the ruler be a ruler, the minister a minister, the father a father, the son a son.
The five relationships form the basis of social order.
Analects
Written about in
- What Confucianism says about order in human life
Five bonds carry most of the weight: ruler and subject, parent and child, husband and wife, elder and younger sibling, friend and friend. The library draws this from the same passage as the rectification of names, where each party is told simply to be what they are called.
- What Confucianism says about leading others
This is the uncomfortable part. Four of the five relationships Confucianism names — ruler and subject, parent and child, husband and wife, elder and younger sibling — are ranked, and only friend to friend is between equals. Its model of leading assumes hierarchy rather than arguing for it.