Confucius and act-centered morality

Journal of Chinese Philosophy

Volumn 27, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 331-344

  Hsu, Hsei Yung ^a  

^a FU JEN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY   (Taiwan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 61049221834     PISSN: 03018121     EISSN: 15406253     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/0301-8121.00020     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Unless otherwise indicated in the notes, passages of the Analects in this paper are from R. Dawson, Confucius: The Analects (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993). Here Analects 12. 1.
2. Moral theory is generally distinguished into two kinds: act-centered and agent-centered theories. The former is mainly concerned with what the agent does, and the latter is principally concerned with what the agent is. It is commonly said that Confucian ethics is mainly concerned with role obligation. One's being in a certain role makes one act in a certain way in which one can fulfill the duties and obligations prescribed by the role. See H. Rosement, Jr. , "Right-bearing Individuals and Role-bearing Persons," in Rules, Rituals and Responsibility: Essays Dedicated to Herbert Fingarette, edited by M. I. Bockover (La Salle, IL: Open Court Publishing Company, 1991), pp. 71-102.
3. D. C. Lau, Mencius (London: Penguin Books, 1970), 6A:15, p. 168.
4. Passages of the Republic are from D. Lee, Plato: The Republic (London: Penguin Books, 1987), 441 e and 486d.
5. Analects 16:13.
6. Plato, Republic, 444c-d.
7. Analects 17:2.
8. Analects 8:8.
9. J. Legge, The Works of Mencius (New York: Dover Publications, 1970), 2A:6, pp. 202-204.
10. Shu-hsien Liu, "A Philosophical Analysis of the Confucian Approach to Ethics," Philosophy East and West 22, no. 4 (1972): p. 420.
11. Analects 4:5 and 7:16.
12. P. A. Boodberg, "The Semasiology of Some Primary Confucian Concepts," Philosophy East and West, 2, no. 4 (1953): 331.
13. Analects 12:11.
14. Analects 13:18.
15. It is said in the Great Teaming that ". . . The Book of Odes says, 'How profound was King Wen! How he maintained his brilliant virtue without interruption and regarded with reverence that which he abided (chih). ' As a ruler, he abided in humanity. As a minister, he abided in reverence. As a son, he abided in filial piety. As a father, he abided in deep love. And in dealing with the people of the country, he abided in faithfulness" (Wing-tsit Chan, trans, and comp. ,y4 Source Book of Chinese Philosophy [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963], p. 88). Hereafter cited as Chan, A Source Book.
16. Wei-ming Tu, Centrality and Commonality: An Essay on Confucian Religiousness (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1989), p. 57.
17. Analects 4:2.
18. Mencius 6A:6
19. from Chan, A Source Book, p. 54.
20. Chad Hansen, "Freedom and Moral Responsibility in Confucian Ethics," Philosophy East and West, 22, no. 2 (1972): p. 175.
21. Yutang Lin, The Wisdom of Confucius (London: Michael Joseph, 1958), p. 25.
22. A. S. Cua, "Reflections on the Structure of Confucian Ethics," Philosophy East and West, 21 (1971): p. 132.
23. Lin, The Wisdom of Confucius, p. 49.
24. Cua, "Reflections," p. 133.
25. Analects 3:3.
26. Analects 8:8; 16:13, 20:3, respectively.
27. See Analects 2:5 and 2:7.
28. and Wei-ming Tu, "Li as a Process of Humanization," Philosophy East and West 22, no. 2 (1972): 188.
29. For an account of the historical development of Confucian altruism, see H. H. Dubs, "The Development of Altruism in Confucianism," Philosophy East and West, 1, no. 1 (1951): 48-55.
30. Fung Yu-lan, A History of Chinese Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953), p. 95.
31. R. S. Downie, Francis Hutcheson: Philosophical Writings (London: Everyman, 1994), p. 101.
32. Wei-ming Tu, "The Creative Tension Between Jen and Li," Philosophy East and West 18 (1968): 36.
33. J. Annas, An Introduction to Plato's Republic (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), p. 157.
34. J. Laird, "Act-ethics and Agent-ethics," Mind 55 (1946): 114.
35. Lau, Mencius 7A:4, p. 183.
36. J. Legge, Confucius (New York: Dover Publications, 1971), chapter 13, p. 394.
37. Dawson, Confucius: The Analects, p. 85.