Confucian Role Ethics

Content

CLASSICAL CONFUCIANISM: A PHILOSOPHICAL OVERVIEW

Although there are a multiplicity of moral philosophies operative today – utilitarian, Kantian, virtue-based, pragmatic, religious, etc. – they all employ roughly the same vocabulary for discussing ethical (and political) issues in English: “freedom,” “liberty,” “public,” “private,” “democracy,” “justice,” “rights,” “evil,” “rationality,” “dilemma,” “choice,” and of course “ethics,” and “morality.”

None of these terms have close lexical equivalents in the classical Chinese language in which the early Confucians wrote and compiled the texts that have come down to us, hence it might be claimed, as a number of Western thinkers have done, that the Confucians have nothing to say to us today about issues of pressing moral and political concern.

But as their texts reveal with surety, the early Confucians thought long and hard about desired and undesired patterns of human interactions, about the distribution of material goods, the significance of human life, the importance of history and culture for that significance, and about the ideal human society. Moreover, the early Confucians linked these aesthetic, ethical, social and political concerns to the spiritual, and we shall examine how they endeavored to use ethics as a path to the religious life, sacralizing the secular.

These concerns are by no means merely relics of the past, and consequently the fundamental assumption of this seminar is that early Confucian texts are of relevance and importance today, especially as ethical and political issues must now take on international dimensions, and have strong religious overtones as well.

At the same time, the early Confucians are distant from ourselves in their spatial, temporal, cultural and linguistic contexts, and thus our examination of their writings must begin by focusing on the differences between their presuppositions and assumptions about the world, and our own, before taking up similarities. Their views are by no means “inscrutable,” but they are indeed different from those with which we are familiar, and consequently before we can consider seriously how the Confucians may be “just like us,” we must clearly understand the ways in which they are not.

On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings I will lecture on the themes outlined in the schedule below, with a 5-minute break in between each day. During these lectures I will welcome questions and comments at all times. It will be helpful if the readings are done before the lectures each day, although I will discuss materials at times that are not in the readings. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I would like to meet with half of the class from 2:15-3:00 pm, and the other half from 3:15–4:00 pm. These will be discussion sessions, with interactive participation strongly encouraged. Whenever possible, the readings for the day should be done before the class meets.

I look forward to an intellectually exciting and pleasurable week with you.

Schedule

Monday, November 3

I. Background

• 1. The Ancient Chinese Language, Reading: pp. 20-35, 305-310 of the Analects
• 2. The Classics, Reading: The excerpts from the ShiJing and ShuJing (Shoo King)

II. Reading The Analects (1)

• 1. Confucius and his Disciples, Reading: pp. 71-87, 102-105, 112-119, 146-147 of the Analects
• 2. On Learning, Reading: pp. 122-123, 126-127 of the Analects; on-line article “On Zhi”

Tuesday, November 4

Reading the Analects (2)

• 1. Family reverence (xiao), Reading: The on-line article in Dao by Rosemont and Ames
• 2. Consummate conduct (ren) and the exemplary person (junzi). Reading: the above, and pp. 188-189 and 218-221 of the Analects
• Discussion sessions 2:15 – 3:00 pm, 3:15 – 4:00 pm

Thursday, November 6

• On Governance. Reading: pp. 149-151, 162-163, 184-185, Analects; on-line article “The Early Confucians on Warfare;” “The Great Learning.”
• On Role Ethics and Spiritual Cultivation. Reading: “On the Non-Finality of Physical Death in Classical Confucianism.”
• Discussion sessions 2:15 – 3:00 pm, 3:15 – 4:00 pm

Friday, November 7

The Successors of Confucius

• 1. Mencius. Reading: The 3 pages excerpted from the Mencius
• 2. Xunzi. Reading: The 3 pages excerpted from the Xunzi

Reading material:

A folder with course reading material (for copying) is on the shelf next to Philosophica library (Siltavuorenpenger 20 A, 3rd floor). Some articles will be sent to the registered participants by e-mail.

Course work and forms of study

• Participation in lectures and discussion groups 3.-6.11. + Readings + Essay (5 pages) = 2 ECTS cr.
• Participation in seminars 14.-28.11. + Readings + 3 Essays (2 pages each) = 2 ECTS cr.
• It will be possible to earn more credits by writing longer or additional essays.