Confucian Ethics and the critique of ideology

Asian Philosophy

Volumn 10, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 245-261

  Chan, Alan K L ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 60950418637     PISSN: 09552367     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09552360020011286     Document Type: Article

References (23)

1. HABERMAS, JÜRGEN (1997) A review of Gadamer's Truth and Method, in FRED DALLMAYR & THOMAS MCCARTHY (Eds), Understanding and Social Inquiry (Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press), p. 357. I would like to thank Kwong-loi Shun, University of California at Berkeley, and Kim-chong Chong, National University of Singapore, for their insightful comments on an earlier version of this paper.
2. GADAMER, HANS-GEORG (1975) Truth, and Method, WILLIAM GLEN-DOEPEL (Trans.), 2nd edn (London, Sheed and Ward, p. xxv; cf., pp. 249-250.
3. GADAMER, HANG-GEORG (1977) 'On the scope and function of Hermeneutical Reflection,' in DAVID E. LINGE (Trans. and Ed.), Philosophical Hermeneutics (Berkeley, University of California Press), p. 42.
4. The Lunyu is a composite work. For a concise introduction, see CHENG, ANNE (1993) Lun yü, in MICHAEL LOEWE (Ed.), Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide (The Society for the Study of Early China and Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley), pp. 313-323. In this paper, such convenient notations as 'Confucian' and 'Confucius' refer no more than to what can be gleaned from the Lunyu. In transliterating Chinese terms, I follow the pinyin system of romanisation.
5. Translations from the Lunyu are generally based on LAU, D. C. (Trans.) (1992) Confucius: The Analects (Lun yü) (Hong Kong, Chinese University Press, 1992).
6. Where modifications prove necessary, I have made use of the translations by WALEY, ARTHUR, (1938) The Analects of Confucius (New York, Vintage Books);
7. CHAN, WING-TSIT (1973), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton, Princeton University Press);
8. and LEGGE, JAMES (1971) Confucius: Confucian Analects, The Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean (New York, Dover).
9. and YANG, BOJUN (1980) Lunyu Yizhu. (Beijing, Zhonghua shuju). References to the Lunyu will be cited by their book and section number, following Lau's translation.
10. The passage is ambiguous. Lau translates: 'I was not born with knowledge but, being fond of antiquity, I am quick to seek it'. This explains Confucius' devotion to antiquity in terms of motivation. LEGGE, Lunyu Yizhu, op. cit., note 5
11. WALEY, s Lunyu Yizhu, op. cit., note 5
12. CHAN, op. cit., s Lunyu Yizhu, note 5, however, agree that knowledge is to be found in tradition.
13. FINGARETTE, HERBERT (1972) Confucius - The Secular as Sacred (New York, Harper and Row);
14. HALL, DAVID & AMES, ROGER (1987) Thinking Through Confucius (New York, State University of New York Press);
15. and the influential studies by WEI-MIMG, TU (1979) Humanity and Self-Cultivation: Essays in Confucian Thought (Berkeley, Asian Humanities Press,) The extent of this ethical extension of the meaning of li may continue to occasion debate, but there is little disagreement that the concept was lifted from the realm of religion to bear directly on a wider conception of the good life. This may be seen as a reinterpretation of ancient Chinese religion itself. The role of religion, however, does not affect the argument presented here.
16. It is interesting that the term feili, what is 'contrary to li', has come to mean 'molest' in modern Chinese. Compare MCINTRYE, ALASDAIR (1992) After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 2nd edn (London, Duckworth), pp. 39, and 233, for a discussion of the word 'immoral' in English usage.
17. On this point, see especially CHONG, KIM-CHONG (1998) The aesthetic moral personality: Li, Yi, Wen, and Chih in the Analects, Mommienta Serica, 46, pp. 69-90.
18. I have especially benefited from SHUN, KWONG-LOI (1993) Jen and Li in the Analects, Philosophy East and West, 43, pp. 457-479. It may be unwise not to discuss the various views on ren and other key ethical concepts in the Lunyu, which form the focus of much of the available literature. Nevertheless, in this paper, I wish to refocus the discussion on the question of tradition, which has not been given as much attention.
19. See HYMES, DELL (1975) Breakthrough into performance, in DAN BEN-AMOS & KENNETH GOLDSTEIN (Eds), Folklore: Performance and Communication (The Hague, Mouton);
20. as cited in CARLSON, MARVIN (1996) Performance: A Critical Introduction (London, Routledge), p. 15. Although beyond the scope of this present essay, recent studies on performance can contribute to an understanding of Confucian philosophy.
21. The concept of zhengming, 'rectification of names', is important in this regard. See especially MAKEHAM, JOHN (1994) Name and Actuality in Early Chinese Thought (Albany, State University of New York Press).
22. The idea that ren and li are but two aspects of the same thing is made most forcefully in FINGARETTE, op. cit., Name and Actuality in Early Chinese Thought, note 8.
23. The same logical point has been made by KUPPERMAN, JOEL (1995). The emotions of altruism, East and West, in JOELMARKS & ROGER AMES (Eds), Emotions in Asian Thought (New York, State University of New York Press), p. 125.