MIT values and Confucianism
By ET
In a recent address, MIT’s president Susan Hockfield talked about Ben Bernanke PhD ‘79, who was nominated to be the Chairman for the Federal Reserve. Hockfield summarized the values central to MIT that has been exemplified by Bernanke:
- Personal integrity
- Analytical rigor
- Uncompromising drive toward excellence
- Commitment to public service
I don’t know if these items are official or not, but I like them. It resembles the famous ‘"Eight Values" in the Chinese traditional confucianism:
A rough translation of the above is:
- probe into the element of maters
- strive to obtain the ultimate knowledge
- learn with faith
- cultivate a heart of honesty
- establish integrity
- support a family
- administer a country
- establish utopia
See the striking similarity between the two sets of values.
