12. Gentlemen’s Agreement: Confucian Virtue Ethics
Should the remarkable parallels between Aristotelian and Confucian ethics lead us to classify Confucianism as a type of “virtue ethics”?
Themes:
• S. Angle and M. Slote (eds), Virtue Ethics and Confucianism (New York: 2013).
• C.K. Chong, “Confucius’s Virtue Ethics: Li, Yi, Wen and Chih in the Analects,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 25 (1998), 101-30.
• Y. Huang, “Confucius and Mencius on the Motivation to Be Moral,” Philosophy East and West 60 (2010), 65-87.
• A. Olberding, Moral Exemplars in the Analects: The Good Person Is That (London: 2012).
• S. Kim, “Achieving the Way: Confucian Virtue Politics and the Problem of Dirty Hands,” Philosophy East and West 66 (2016), 152-76.
• J.J. Kupperman, “Confucius and the Problem of Naturalness,” Philosophy East and West 18 (1968), 175-85.
• H. Sarkissian, “Confucius and the Effortless Life of Virtue,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 27 (2010), 1-16.
• S.-H. Tan, “Imagining Confucius: Paradigmatic Characters and Virtue Ethics” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 32 (2005), 409-26.
• B. Van Norden, Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism in Early Chinese Philosophy (Cambridge: 2007).
• M. Sim, “Why Confucius’ Ethics is a Virtue Ethics,” in L. Besser-Jones and M. Slote (eds), The Routledge Companion to Virtue Ethics (New York: 2015), 63-76.
• C. Wee, “Xin, Trust, and Confucius’ Ethics,” 61 (2011), 516-33.
• D.B. Wong, “Early Confucian Philosophy and the Development of Compassion,” Dao, 14 (2015), 157-94.
• J. Yu, “Virtue: Confucius and Aristotle,” Philosophy East and West 48 (1998), 323-47.
• J. Yu, “Yi: Practical Wisdom in Confucius’s Analects,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 33 (2006), 335-48.
• J. Yu, The Ethics of Confucius and Aristotle: Mirrors of Virtue (New York: 2007).
Comments
How many more scripted episodes on Confucianism
Professor, how many scripted episodes left on Confucianism?
These were on your tentative list of episodes a couple of months ago
Kong Zi (Confucius) and the Analects
Key themes in Confucianism
The Confucian canon
The self in Confucianism
Mengzi
Cultivation
Moral action in Confucianism
The body in Confucianism
Xunzi
Music in Confucianism
Moral psychology in Confucianism
Confucian political philosophy
Women in Confucianism (and other traditions)
What you've covered so far in the podcast based on scripted material
1. Kongzi (Confucius) and the Analects
2. Reading the Analects
3. Confucian Role Ethics
4. Individual and Society in Confucianism
5. Confucian Virtue Ethics
I presume the tentative topic 'The Self in Confucianism' was covered via the episode 'Individual and Society in Confucianism' and the other topics of episodes that you released were based on the 'Key themes of Confucianism' tentative list.
What i'm trying to say in a roundabout way, how many eps are left as you are consolidating these topics so I can get a good gist.
In reply to How many more scripted episodes on Confucianism by dukeofetherea
Still to come on Confucianism
Right, plans have changed a bit. What we're planning now from here on out is:
Mengzi
Yang Zhu
Xunzi
Xunzi vs Mengzi
Confucian epistemology
Confucian political philosophy
Confucianism and religion
Confucianism and women
Plus several interviews.
Not sure about "role ethics"
As I was reading the Analects (intrigued by the previous episodes) I could not stop thinking of the many points of contact with Aristotle, suggesting a universal dimension for virtue ethics. There are differences, of course, but it seems to me the point is that virtue ethics is too rich to be exhausted by a single author, no matter how methodical. Thus you can expect to see variations in emphasis -- some will think more about eudaemonia, others might stress right conduct; some may focus on individual action, others in the communitarian dimensions. I don't see this as conflict or contradiction, any more than different football teams may try varying strategies but still play the same sport.
This said, and with a newbie understanding of the Analects, I get the feeling that focusing on "role ethics" as if this were opposed to a broader conception of virtue does not really do justice to Confucious' / Kong Qiu's meaning. Many of his sayings seem to imply that "virtue" (humanity, benevolence, etc., in Chichung Huang's translation) is broader than the role, even grounds the possibility of assuming most roles virtuously. Certain virtues may be needed for a role (as in the various occasions in which Master Kong is asked if so and so could be fit for office, and he describes a particular virtue or vice of that person). But this is not too different than when Aristotle compares the amount that a sedentary person must eat and a wrestler. Often he seems more interested in a person developing "the Way," humanity, benevolence and so forth, as a basis for, or even aside from, a specific role. (An example for me would be the first sections of Chapter 12, when Master Kong is "asked about humanity.")
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