Confucian ethics: Universalistic or particularistic?

Journal of Chinese Philosophy

Volumn 25, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 361-374

  Wong, Wai Ying ^a  

^a LINGNAN UNIVERSITY   (Hong Kong)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 61049408574     PISSN: 03018121     EISSN: 15406253     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6253.1998.tb00518.x     Document Type: Article

References (21)

1. Metaphyical assertions as well as views on human nature are closely related to the principle of jen, accounting respectively for Confucian ethics autonomous and altruistic characteristics
2. h (The Modern Interpretation of Confucianism), (Taipei: Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, 1997), pp. 115-132
3. Mencius made this point clearly in 4B:11
4. he has also cited examples from history, as in 4A:17
5. Mencius 4B:19. My translation and interpretation
6. i (Mr Mou Tsung-san and the Reconstruction of Chinese Philosophy) (Taipei: Wen Tsin Publishing Co., 1996), pp. 143-159
7. 1 (Caring About Morality) (Taipei: Dong Da Book Co. Ltd., 1995), pp. 116-120
8. As traditionally indicated in the Doctrine of the Mean, 27:3
9. in English see James Legge, The Chinese Classes, Vol.1, p.422
10. n ed., The Triadic Chord: Confucian Ethics, Industrial East Asia and Max Weber (Singapore: The Institute of East Asian Philosophies, 1991), pp. 203-220
11. For example, Stacey in her book claimed, "For more than 1,000 years it (Confucianism) was the dominant cosmology, political philosophy, and doctrine of proper ethics and comportment of the Chinese people; Confucianism is nearly synonymous with traditional Chinese civilization." See Judith Stacey, Patriarchy and Socialist Revolution in China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), p.30
12. The Commentaries on / Ching, "Appended Remarks", part 1, ch. 5
13. See W. T. Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (New Haven: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 266
14. Perhaps there are people who observe Confucian teachings and practices without identifing themselves as Confucians, just as a survey conducted in Korea has shown. (See Byong-ik Koh, "Confucianism in Contemporary Korea," in Wei-ming Tu ed., The Triadic Chord: Confucian Ethics, Industrial East Asia and Max Weber (Singapore: The Institute of East Asian Philosophies, 1991), pp. 184-196
15. q (Remembering when the Wind Whirlpools Water) (Taipei: San Min Book Co. Ltd., 1991), pp. 31-98
16. t, No. 12 (1995)
17. Zygmunt Bauman, Postmodern Ethics (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993), pp. 8-9 in passim
18. Zygmunt Bauman, Postmodern Ethics, p. 10. Maintaining an epistemological "foundation" for/of certainty is another feature of modern ethical thought which Bauman found unacceptable from a post-modern perspective. People believed that moral rules are well justified whereas Bauman thought that they are unfounded
19. "The thesis of universalizability requires that if we make any moral judgement about this situation, we must be prepared to make it about any of the other precisely similar situations." See R. M. Hare, Moral Thinking: Its Levels, Method and Point (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. 41-42, quotation here from p. 42
20. This was recognized by Hare as one of the battle-cries of situational ethicists. R. M. Hare, Moral Thinking, p.39
21. At least it is the case at the first level. We can also conclude that Confucian ethics at the other levels besides the first one is a certain sense "particularistic"