Haberman and Stevenson’s diction is misleading. In saying that “morality is part of the very fabric of the universe”, what do they mean by the word “universe”?
The universe could simply be the earth, the planets, the moon, the sun, and the stars. Since the idea that planets rotate around the sun wasn't discovered until the 1600's and Confucianism began around 500 BC, it can be assumed that Confucius never thought that morality had anything to do with the course of the universe.
The term could also be very broad, including everything in existence. However, Confucianism has a foundation in the teaching and perfecting of human kind, which is a very humanistic trait. The main parts of Confucianism are the individual's perfection of benevolence and the Decree of Heaven. It seems that Confucius only really cares about human existence and the higher power of Heaven, which is most likely the definition of the universe that Haberman and Stevenson mean in their quote.
The physical universe and everything in existence aren't significant in Confucianism, but humans and the Decree of Heaven are what create Confucius' so-called "universe".
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