Confucius largely avoided cosmogonic speculation. 'The Master did not speak of prodigies, force, disorder, or gods' (Analerta 7.21). Focus on human relations, not cosmic origins. Later Neo-Confucians developed cosmological ideas (li/qi — principle and material force).

The Five Relationships (ruler-subject, parent-child, husband-wife, elder-younger, friend-friend) and the cultivation of virtue through study and practice.

To become a junzi (exemplary person) through moral self-cultivation, to create harmonious social order, and to fulfill one's roles and relationships properly. 'Bring order to the state, and peace to the world.'

Suffering is primarily a social and moral problem, not a metaphysical one. Disorder arises when people fail to fulfill their roles and cultivate virtue. Heaven (Tian) is a moral order, not a personal god to whom one directs theodical questions. Confucius acknowledged suffering but focused on ethical response rather than metaphysical explanation.

No developed eschatology. Focus is on creating an ideal society in the present through moral cultivation. The 'Great Unity' (Datong) is a utopian social ideal, not a prophesied end-time event. Ancestor veneration implies continued existence after death but details are deliberately unspecified.