When the world thinks of philosophy, it is Greek that comes to mind. It was that country that gave birth to the trio of Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. Although Greece has produced the greatest number of philosophers, other nations have also contributed to the field. Tamil Nadu gave Vanpugazh Valluvan. China gave us the scholar Confucius. During the time when all these people lived, philosophy was a joke. Society branded those who spoke of philosophy as blind men wandering in the dark looking for a black cat. Many philosophical geniuses who are admired by the world have made their mark beyond all those insults. We are about to learn about one of them who was worshiped almost to god status. He is Confucius, the great gift of the Chinese nation to the world.

Confucius was born about 2500 years ago in 551 BC in Shandong Province, China. His father remarried at the age of 70, and Confucius was the eldest son. His father died when he was four years old. So the family fell into poverty and at that tender age the responsibility of carrying the family burden came to him. He earned money by doing many jobs. Why does a person suffer because he was troubled at an early age? He started thinking about the reasons for people's ignorance. At the age of sixteen he began to wander in search of truths like Socrates.

At a young age he studied history and architecture and became an excellent historian. He got married at the age of 20. His married life was not very fulfilling for him as his thoughts were about social welfare. However, he brought up his three children with good character. He wandered around looking for work as he needed income to take care of his family. Recognizing his intelligence, the government employed him as a food warehouse maintenance officer. The government was pleased to see that he introduced many changes in it and used him in other government jobs as well.

Confucius hated politics, but political administration came to him. He created the principles necessary for a government to function well and thus gained his reputation. He was asked to formulate development plans for the country. Believing that education is the backbone of a country's progress, Confucius started an educational institution with the support of the government. It functioned as an arts academy similar to the Lyceum Academy founded by Aristotle. In it, he taught subjects like government administration, social progress, life characteristics and morals to the youth.

The basic philosophy of Confucius is that 'real knowledge is the use of knowledge to admit our ignorance'. The Chinese began to revere him as a deity after witnessing his prowess in eradicating ignorance, inculcating the importance of hard work, and emphasizing independent thinking. But Confucius didn't like it because he didn't believe in religion. Confucius made it clear that he hated religion when he said that people were drowning in religious rituals and becoming superstitious, that religion turned people into demons instead of alleviating their ignorance, and that fanatics refused to think.