Confucian Ethics

Confucian Ethics

A Comparative Study of Self, Autonomy, and Community

The Chinese ethical tradition has often been thought to oppose Western views of the self as autonomous and possessed of individual rights with views that emphasize the centrality of relationship and community to the self. The essays in this collection discuss the validity of that contrast as it concerns Confucianism, the single most influential Chinese school of thought. Alasdair MacIntyre, the single most influential philosopher to articulate the need for dialogue across traditions, contributes a concluding essay of commentary.

   This is the only consistently philosophical collection on Asia and human rights and could be used in courses on comparative ethics, political philosophy, and Asian area studies.

Kwong-loi Shun is Professor of Philosophy and East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto.

David B. Wong is Professor of Philosophy at Duke University.

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Confucian Ethics

A Comparative Study of Self, Autonomy, and Community

Edited by

KWONG-LOI SHUN
University of Toronto

DAVID B. WONG
Duke University

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PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
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© Cambridge University Press 2004

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2004

Printed in the United States of America

Typeface ITC New Baskerville 10/13 pt.     System LATEX 2_e   [TB]

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Confucian ethics : a comparative study of self, autonomy, and community / edited by
Kwong-loi Shun, David B. Wong.
p.   cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-521-79217-7 – ISBN 0-521-79657-1 (pbk.)
1. Confucianism.   2. Confucian ethics.   I. Shun, Kwong-loi, 1953–
II. Wong, David B.
BL1853.C66    2004
170′.951–dc22       2004040409

ISBN 0 521 79217 7 hardback
ISBN 0 521 79657 1 paperback

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Contents

Contributors		page vii
	Introduction	1
SECTION I:  RIGHTS AND COMMUNITY
1	Are Individual Rights Necessary? A Confucian Perspective	11
	Craig K. Ihara
2	Rights and Community in Confucianism	31
	David B. Wong
3	Whose Democracy? Which Rights? A Confucian Critique of Modern Western Liberalism	49
	Henry Rosemont, Jr.
4	The Normative Impact of Comparative Ethics: Human Rights	72
	Chad Hansen
SECTION II:  SELF AND SELF-CULTIVATION
5	Tradition and Community in the Formation of Character and Self	103
	Joel J. Kupperman
6	A Theory of Confucian Selfhood: Self-Cultivation and Free Will in Confucian Philosophy	124
	Chung-ying Cheng
7	The Virtue of Righteousness in Mencius	148
	Bryan W. Van Norden
8	Conception of the Person in Early Confucian Thought	183
	Kwong-loi Shun
SECTION III:  COMMENTS
9	Questions for Confucians: Reflections on the Essays in Comparative Study of Self, Autonomy, and Community	203
	Alasdair MacIntyre
Glossary of Chinese Terms		219
Index		223

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Contributors

Chung-ying Cheng, Professor of Philosophy, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Chad Hansen, Professor of Philosophy, University of Hong Kong

Craig K. Ihara, Professor of Philosophy, California State University at Fullerton

Joel J. Kupperman, Professor of Philosophy, University of Connecticut

Alasdair MacIntyre, Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

Henry Rosemont, Jr., Professor Emeritus, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and Professorial Lecturer, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Kwong-loi Shun, Professor of Philosophy and East Asian Studies, University of Toronto

Bryan W. Van Norden, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Vassar College

David B. Wong, Professor of Philosophy, Duke University

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Confucian Ethics

A Comparative Study of Self, Autonomy, and Community