Confucius’s views on administration and communication

Abstract

This article analyzes the formation of theoretical views on the nature, methods, and practice of the administrative and communication activities of public authorities in relation to the people of the state in the VI‒V centuries BC in Ancient China. Communication ideas are identified, first of all, on the basis of analysis of Confucius’ Lun Yu treatise. The adopted method of study here is a systemic approach and comparative historical analysis, allowing us to identify the elements associated with the views of the thinker and determine their significance in the history of the theory of administration and communication in Chinese documents. It shows the conditions of the political and economic life of Ancient China at that time, which promoted the emergence of the philosophical Confucian concepts of public administration and communication. It establishes the sequence and distinctive feature of the humanistic and moral, and ethical views of Confucius on the functioning of the communication models of a state, which are still relevant for the development of science and practice. The focus of the work is on the analysis of specific judgments of the thinker about the structure of communication in the administrative environment. It reveals the communicative content of the key elements of the cornerstone concept of his teachings ‒ Tao. The work considers the reasons for the propaganda of closed government and dosed information flows in the administrative field and in the communication of public officials with the masses. It analyzes the means proposed to make people (subjects) make proper decisions for the authorities in power. This task is still actively discussed in modern communication science. It also interprets some of Confucius’ statements that determine the moral and ethical framework of administrative communication and reveals the meaning of his communication model. It identifies the features of that ideal fragmented communication model as a sample limited for practical use by numerous objective conditions. It also specifies the time frame of the “Axial Age” in China’s history. And finally, it makes conclusions about the role and significance of Confucius’s views in the formation and development of the methods and ethics of communicative action in public administration in the historical and perspective aspects.