Abstract
What can remain unchanged while the Ru tradition (Confucianism) is continually passed down generationally and passed on geographically to non-Chinese Asian countries and beyond? Does the answer to this question hinted by the tradition itself, viz., the ethic of Three Guides and Five Constant Virtues, still work in contemporary society? As intrigued by these fundamental questions on Ruism, scholars have debated on the nature of the ethic and its adaptability to the contemporary world. One side of scholars condemned it as an outdated, premodern ethic of power which urges unconditional obedience to hierarchy, while another side championed it as a modern ethic which aims to strengthen the autonomy of each individual in reciprocal relationships. While presenting two cases of Ru business practice, viz., Shibusawa Eiichi in Meiji Japan and Peter Drucker in the contemporary U.S., the article treats the controversial ethic as a hypothesis, and assesses it using an empirical method to reinforce views of scholars who have furnished a favorable interpretation of the ethic.
Highlights
What can remain unchanged while the Ru tradition (Confucianism) is continually passed down generationally and passed on geographically to non-Chinese Asian countries and beyond?
Ru praxis in a different realm of human living at a different country and in a completely new period of time vis à vis how Ru governmental officials typically made their living in imperial China. With all these methodological points taken into consideration, I will select the following two cases as the data to substantiate the hypothesis: the development of capitalism in Japan after its Meiji Restoration, as it was exemplified by the business practice of an eminent Ru merchant, Shibusawa Eiichi (1840–1931), and the advocacy which the American business consultant and thinker, Peter Drucker (1909–2005), made of the fundamental role of the ethic of TGFV in modern business ethics in general
During the contemporary debate on the ethic of TGFV, one side of scholars critiqued it as demanding unconditional obedience of inferiors towards superiors for the sake of authoritarian hierarchy, while another side interpreted it as championing the reciprocal autonomy of each individual for the sake of social harmony
Summary
If we put the contemporary migration of the Ru tradition in a historical perspective, we’ll find that the Ru tradition should not lack an answer to what remains unchanged about individual and communal human life despite inevitable changes in society. In the Han Dynasty, Ma Rong (79–166 CE) commented upon Analects 2:23 to say that what Kongzi referred to as the unchanging basis of civilization is the ethic of Three Guides and Five Constant Virtues (He 1792, vol 1), and this was the first time that TGFV was formally phrased in the intellectual history of ancient China. These spontaneous reactions speak to the fact that every ordinary human being has an inner moral sense of right and wrong These four interconnected feelings, viz., the one of commiseration of alarm and fright, the one of shame and disgust, the one of respect and deference, and the one of right and wrong, were thought of by Mengzi as the manifestation of four character traits, viz., four virtues, which define the good part of human nature distinguishing human from non-human beings. A caveat needs to be added that the following Section 1.2 is my interpretation of the ethic of TGFV which succumbs to scholars’ further scrutiny, and all the remaining parts of this article can be seen as how I defend my interpretation amid the ongoing scholarly debate on the ethic which I will engage more substantially later
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