Tamara asked:

I am interested in finding ways in which Aristotle and Confucius can be compared and contrasted in
any aspect of their life, and teachings. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated.

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Confucius was principally concerned with teaching, state craft, music, literature — that sort of thing.
So his philosophy expresses a humanistic attitude to the cosmos in which we live and revolves in
particular around the idea of Man in society. Aristotle was concerned with the same principles in
those parts of his philosophy which relate to the same subject area, e.g. his Ethics, Rhetoric, Politics
and Aesthetics. The idea of a "Golden Mean" occurs in both, and this is because it is true, as you
seem to have noticed, that in many respects they pursued the same goal of an "achievable
philosophy of life", which is obviously political. The main difference between them is therefore based
on the fact that in the China of Confucius, the structure of society was royal, so that Confucius'
teachings are designed to turn his humanism to account from the top down.

These are similarities worth pursuing. I've named some Aristotelian titles to help you, but with
Confucius owing to the imperfect state of authentic transmissions, you'll need to rely more heavily on
the secondary literature. There are several good accounts of Confucius, but if you want to stick with
Confucius, rather than Confucianism (which is quite a different thing), keep to books which depict his
philosophy in his own time.

Just a note on an important difference to conclude. Aristotle also wrote voluminous tracts on
metaphysics and various scientific disciplines. You'll find nothing like it in Confucius, so save yourself
the trouble.

Jürgen Lawrenz

Sydney