Confucian Ethics Research Articles

A sociological (Re)construction of the reflexive self: A convergence between Foucault and classical Confucian ethics

The emergence of a body of work on ethics since the 1990s with a special interest in the self in the Western academia, inspired by Michel Foucault's earlier work, resonates with a concomitant renewed scholarly interest in classical Confucian ethics both in China and internationally. An emphasis on culture and the rejection of a Euro‐centric universalist self in these bodies of work accompanies the disavowal of the very possibility of a generic reflexive self. This article seeks to critically examine the ontological positions on the self of these bodies of work, of Foucault's later thoughts, and of classical Confucian ethics. It is argued that there is a theoretical affinity between Foucault's later thoughts and classical Confucian ethics, with both philosophers acknowledging reflexivity as a universally inherited nature of self and making a special consideration of cultural equality and commonality. The examination includes advocacy for a more nuanced approach to notions of cultural equality that relies on targeted research and intercultural dialogue to avoid any predetermining of cultural differences, to allow better‐informed appreciation of differences, and to develop a more dynamic conceptualization of culture. This article concludes by initiating a discussion about the design of an integrated approach to cultivate reflexivity through training practices that bring together Foucauldian and Confucian ideas.

Humean Elements in the Teachings of Itō Jinsai

The present article juxtaposes selected elements of the Humean position on moral motivation with the ethical teachings of the Edo period Japanese Confucian scholar Itō Jinsai—especially the latter’s critical reading of the notion of structural coherence li, his defence of human feelings as the fundamental ground of moral motivation and his views on the origins of moral sentiment. In doing so, the article aims to show that there is an interesting line going through Jinsai’s work that might be argued to bear, within the philosophical project of Confucian ethics, similarities to certain of Hume’s more famous positions, which it actually predates.

Models of Humanism in Ancient China: An Explanation Centered on Early Confucian Ethics

In China, humanism, especially within the framework of Confucian ethics, developed quite differently from humanist discourses in Europe. Therefore, it is important to understand the origins and development of Confucian ideas that place human beings at the center of culture and the cosmos. Through the lens of the cultural particularities of humanism, this knowledge can help us gain a more complex and multi-layered insight into the universal factors that make up human nature. This paper critically examines the foundations, development, and distinctive features of traditional Chinese humanism, which emerged within the framework of classical Confucian teachings. Beginning with an analysis of the Confucian view of the relationship between the individual and society, the author explains the conceptual origin and historical development of various models of humanism in the Chinese tradition. The paper then sheds light on the reasons for the transition from religions to humanities that took place in China during the Axial Age, and highlights various implications of this transition manifested in Confucian ethics and its search for a better social order.

Особенности вьетнамской конфуцианской этики

Confucian ethics, being adopted in Vietnam, lost its originality and was adapted and supplemented in accordance with the historical practice of the people in order to meet their needs and correspond to changes in the feudal society of Vietnam. In other words, Confucian ethics was “Vietnamized”. The article analyzes the process of implementing and developing Confucian ethics in Vietnam and defines its specifics. According to the author, the Confucian ethical principles are reviewed from the view point of the national interests of Vietnam.

Changing the Image of Woman and the Family Model: Rethinking the Traditional Way of Life in the Current Realities of Japanese Society

The paper focuses on the study of the image of Japanese mothers in modern Japanese society in the context of rethinking the traditional way of life. In the course of the research, there was made an attempt to establish what underlies the value model of modern Japanese women and to analyze the degree of influence of habitual traditional gender stereotypes. The author considers the phases of the formation of the family institution in Japan and states that the principles of Confucian ethics, manifested in the presence of moral norms of behavior, attitudes and prescriptions, can be traced in the minds of modern Japanese. However, in the conditions of accelerated socialization of women and the ongoing process of atomization of families, the burden of responsibility from traditional expectations put on a woman increases, leading to adverse consequences in the form of “neuroses in the background of raising children”. The article discusses the changes in the structure of female employment over the past decades, in order to identify problems associated with the distribution of gender roles and the changing position of Japanese women in society. As a result of the study, it was suggested that despite the tendency in Japan to shift the value model towards individualism, the features of traditional family ideology are preserved, as evidenced by the presence of numerous proverbs and idioms of the Japanese language dedicated to family relationships and based on Confucian ethics. In such a society, social roles and labor functions are still divided and consolidated, the observance of the hierarchy is maintained, despite the disintegration of traditional ties, social division, separation from the clan and large family groups.

Confucian Ethics and Confederate Memorials

As self-conscious curators and critics of moral history, the early Confucians are relevant to the contemporary debate over the fate of memorials dedicated to morally flawed individuals. They provide us with a pragmatic justification that is distinct from those utilized in the current debate, and in many respects superior to the alternatives. In addition to supplying this curative philosophic resource, the early Confucian practices of ancestral memorialization suggest preventative measures we might adopt to minimize the chances of establishing divisive and oppressive memorials in the future.

Robots, Rebukes, and Relationships: Confucian Ethics and the Study of Human-Robot Interactions

The status and functioning of shame is contested in moral psychology. In much of anglophone philosophy and psychology, it is presumed to be largely destructive, while in Confucian philosophy and many East Asian communities, it is positively associated with moral development. Recent work in human-robot interaction offers a unique opportunity to investigate how shame functions while controlling for confounding variables of interpersonal interaction. One research program suggests a Confucian strategy for using robots to rebuke participants, but results from experiments with educational technologies imply a different and potentially opposing account of shame’s role in personal development. By digging deeper into the details of Confucian theorizing about shame, I identify a unifying explanation for these apparently conflicting results. I conclude by offering suggestions for future empirical research in human-robot interactions to further investigate shame’s role in moral development.

Confucian ethics and law order-- Centered on the "national origin struggle" of the Wanli Dynasty

Confucian ethics and law order-- Centered on the "national origin struggle" of the Wanli Dynasty

The influence of the ethical principles of the philosophy of Confucius on Chinese cinema

The article examines the films of Chinese cinema of the 20th — early 21st centuries, which reflect the main ethical principles of Confucianism. It is noted that in contrast to the processes of commercialization of cinematography, when, first of all, emphasis is placed on the vivid visualization of the film, many outstanding Chinese directors pay attention to ethical principles in the life of society and an individual, relying on the teachings of Confucius, which continue to play an important role in spiritual life of China. The films "Goddess" (1934), "Spring Waters Flow to the East" (1947), "Hero" (2002), "The Horn is calling" (2007) were selected for analysis, which allow us to explore the ethics of Confucianism presented in them in historical discourse. The behavior models of the main characters, which were formed under the influence of Confucianism and are characteristic of Chinese society, reproduced in the films are considered and analyzed. It is noted that although the commercialization of films is taking place in Chinese cinema under the influence of globalization processes, there is a tendency to preserve the ethical principles of Confucianism and embody them in artistic works of cinema.

杜亞泉과 陳獨秀 논쟁의 검토

This thesis examines the debate between Du yaquan, Editor-in-chief of 『Eastern Miscellany(東方雜誌)』 and Chen duxiu, leading figure in the New Culture Movement-. In Spetember of 1918, Chen raised suspicion and argued through the pages of 『New Youth(新靑年)』, that 『Eastern Miscellany』 is supporting the idea of revival of hereditary monarchy. Du countered this suspicion on 『Eastern Miscellany』 three months later. This exchange of arguments through the pages of their own magazine is often regarded as starting point of ‘East-West (Cultural) Debate’ in later studies.BR In 1990s’, studies on Du yaquan began, From the early 1910s’, media activities of Du yaquan were mainly focused on political proposals. He was concentrating on how to establish constitutional politics in China. After the establishment of the Republic of China, Du focused on developing discussions on the relationship between individuals, society and state, during this process he often emphasized the importance of Chinnese civilization. On the other hand, one of the main activities of the New Culture Movement was a critique on Chinese civilization, especially Confucianism political ethics. Among them, Chen duxiu was the one who had the most severe criticism on effect of Confucianism ethics in republic of China.BR Previous studies on this debate, mainly focused on how Du and Chen had differed in understanding of the Chinese civilization. In this thesis, by I pointed out that ‘debate’ between Du and Chen was not a result of their diffenrence in understanding of Chinese civilization, but it was rather Chen portraying Du as a person opposed to republican politics in order to emphasize the discussion he had argued through his journalism activities. In this process, Chen formed his argument by ignoring the context of Du’s media activity. Du was one who constantly supported the idea of settling republican politics in China. But in the debate, Du only pointed out the logical fallacies of Chen. In response to Du’s argument, Chen raised the question again and labelled Du as one who opposed republican politics. Image of Du yaquan, as an opposer of Chen duxiu and New culture movement was maintained for a quite long time.

承認理論的創造論重構——質疑和反思

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.
 唐文明教授以〈承認理論的創造論回歸〉為題，批判了近現代以黑格爾(Hegel)和霍耐特(Axe lHonneth)為首的承認理論，指出其核心缺失在於僅僅將人視為關注必死性的欲望主體，從而無法實現人與人，人與世界的根本承認。唐教授代之以創造論的承認理論：通過解讀奧古斯丁(Saint Augustine)的思想，提出了應該將人視為重視降生性的感應主體。唐教授並指出，重視天地創生的儒家思想，其人倫體系恰恰是建基於這樣一種重視降生性的感應主體。通過感應主體對創造源頭(上帝，或者上天)的感恩和體認，人與人，人與世界之間才可能有根本且不可缺失的承認。(撮要取自內文首段)
 In his paper, Tang Wenming notes that a fundamental flaw of modern recognition theories is seeing human beings as being a desire subject. Tang suggests that a recognition theory based on protology, which recognizes God's genesis of human beings and the world, has a much better prospect of realizing fundamental recognition. In this response, discuss two concerns with Tang's proposal: the essentially contested nature of religious faith in modern societies, and the unequal relationship between God and human beings. I also suggest that Confucian ethics can be interpreted to emphasize the equal participation of Heaven and humans, which consequently underpins an alternative understanding of Confucian recognition theory.

Worthy of Recognition: The Confucian Ethics of Recognition

Abstract This paper provides a Confucian account of recognition. In contrast to contemporary recognition discourse (inspired by the Hegelian account of recognition) which emphasizes equal and reciprocal recognition, Confucianism regards the virtuous agent as one who affords recognition to others without seeking recognition for themselves. There is reason to take seriously the Confucian alternative to contemporary recognition discourse. Critical scholars of colonialism have pointed out how the politics of recognition between colonizer and colonized perpetuates the structure of unequal recognition. The comparative perspective on recognition that Confucianism offers will highlight the problematic assumptions that, I argue, actively shape misrecognition in practice.

CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES OF INTERCULTURAL ETHICS IN THE THEORY OF GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

The development of the global market has created a need for global management ideas that can be overcome in practice by solving complex problems. The formation and development of global management ideas is strongly influenced by different cultural traditions and values of Eastern and Western cultures, which determine different management methods. The ability to organize production and manage processes on a global platform is critical to creating and maintaining high living standards. The vital foundation on which sustainable decisions in the field of management are based can have a strong impact on the fulfilment of humanity’s expectations for well-being and prosperity. The reasonable question therefore is: what value system could become the universal ethical framework that integrates different cultural traditions and worldviews and underpins the field global management? Intercultural ethics is one of the most recent research projects to analyze a wide range of ethical issues arising from the multidisciplinary perspective of societies and cultures. Intercultural ethics seeks to identify the existing different cultural, value beliefs, to define universal ethical principles on the basis of which intercultural decisions and agreements on the development, implementation, management and use of digital technologies are made. Different cultures disagree on common universal moral decisions because they are based on unique worldviews and value systems, and there is no universally accepted epistemically sound way to resolve such moral disagreements. The question is, what are the basic assumptions underpinning the impact of intercultural ethics on the theory of global management that would enable the common development and application of a system of universal ethical principles governing the development of global management processes in different regions and cultures of the world? The article hypothesizes that a synthesis of classical Aristotelian virtue ethics, Confucian ethics, and African ubuntu philosophical ethics could underpin intercultural ethics, embodying the universal ethical values of Western and Eastern cultures in global management theory.

A Preliminary Study of The Ethical of The Spirit of The Chinese Women's Volleyball Teamfrom The Perspectiveof Traditional Chinese Taoism and Confucianism

The spirit of Chinese women's volleyball team in the new era, in which the motherland comes first, unity and cooperation, tenacity and perseverance, and never giving up, is a concentrated expression of the spirit of sports of the Chinese nation and a manifestation of the pursuit of the values of modern sports civilization. It is thought-provoking whether traditional Chinese culture has the ethical system to support the formation of the Chinese women's volleyball spirit. This study takes this as the base point and uses theories related to history, ethics, logic and culture, as well as literature and interviews, to analyse the traditional Chinese Confucian ethical system behind the spirit of women's volleyball. The study concludes that traditional Chinese Confucian ethics is closely linked to the spirit of Chinese women's volleyball, and provides the inner logic for the formation of the spirit of Chinese women's volleyball, the basic guidelines for the practice of the spirit of Chinese women's volleyball, and multiple forms for the expression of the spirit of Chinese women's volleyball. The inner logic of the spirit of Chinese women's volleyball team is rooted in the Confucian idea of "establishing virtue, merit and speech"; the basic guideline for the practice of the spirit of Chinese women's volleyball is the Taoist core idea of "doing nothing and "Defending the center"; The spirit of Chinese women's volleyball is manifested in various forms, including a positive attitude towards life, respect for the elderly, respect for teachers and a sense of righteousness in the face of profit, the pursuit of the spirit of "If a man in the morning hear the right way, he may die in the evening without regret", and a sense of national responsibility to "love the motherland and build a successful career".

Unpacking the cultural paradox of attentive care for institutionalized people with intellectual disabilities.

This study contributes to the under-researched area of culture in institutional care for people with intellectual disabilities in an East Asian context. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 20 women frontline care workers for institutionalized people with intellectual disabilities in Taiwan, we examined culture-specific caring relations such as the fictive kinships of Confucian care ethics (i.e., respect for elders and affection for the young), the charity paradigm, and religious compassion, which can induce attentive and respectful care in institutional spaces but also relegate residents to stigmatized subordination in a hierarchy of caring relations and legitimatize the voluntary exploitation of women workers. In situating the relational nature of care and the dis-enabling potentials of culture at the disability-care-place intersection, we promote an ethics of engagement that values and dignifies both recipients and providers of care.

Living Well Together Online: Digital Wellbeing from a Confucian Perspective

The impact of social media technologies (SMTs) on digital wellbeing has become an increasingly important puzzle for ethicists of technology. In this article, we explain why individualised theories of digital wellbeing (DWB) can only solve part of this puzzle. While an individualised conception of DWB is useful for understanding online self-regulation, we contend that we must seek greater understanding of how SMTs connect us. To build an account of this, we locate the conceptual resources for our account in Confucian ethics. In contrast to individualised conceptions of human flourishing that are found in the Western tradition, Confucian thinkers strongly emphasise that individuals cannot flourish alone, but need wider social structures (partner, family, society, nation). Not only do strands of Confucian ethics explain how individuals are defined by the roles they take up in relationships, but this perspective also makes practical suggestions for how these roles can be cultivated. We conclude our article by identifying the Confucian notions that seem to have most promise for the future design of SMTs.

Preferences and Consensus in the Philosophy of Xunzi

To understand Confucian ethics as a “hierarchical mode of association” is to think that it is incapable of dealing with a society of strangers or to understand Confucian ethics as “authoritarian” or “collectivist”, and to criticize that it ignores human characteristics and freedoms is to mistake one part of Confucianism for the whole. The Confucian theory of the individual and community actually has a tightly woven structure wherein its recognition of the plurality of diverse individuals and its appeal the unity of a common consensus are combined. From an exploration into the relationship between Xunzi’s concepts of “preference” (teyi 特意) and “consensus” (gongshi 共予) and from the way he uses such concepts as “similarity and difference” (tongyi 同異), “one and ten thousand” (yiwan 一萬), and “unity and division” (tongfen 統分), I show how Xunzi included the diversity of individuals within a pluralist society in a unified community with a collective consensus where this community at the same time guarantees the freedoms and preferences of each individual member that belongs to it.

Learning from exemplars in Confucius’ Analects: The centrality of reflective observation

Exemplarism – the view that exemplary people, whom we admire, are the bearers of our moral concepts – presents considerable challenges to the (widely-assumed) place of moral theory in how we learn to be moral. Exemplarism has been garnered by Amy Olberding to articulate a Confucian approach to moral learning. This paper extends Exemplarism by considering how it may be put into practice, based on a seminal Confucian text, the Analects of Confucius. To date, the majority of discussions on Confucian ethics that have brought Confucian philosophy to the attention of Anglophone scholars tend to focus on conceptually-based matters. There remain questions regarding how these values may be inculcated and embodied in our moral lives. Central to our proposal is the practice of reflective observation (guan 觀), comprised by three integrated components: observation, evaluation, and emulation. Observing, reflectively, is important not only for an individual’s acculturation to existing norms and practices but also for how they may subsequently exercise some latitude over their moral practices. Our reflections offer a practical approach to Confucian moral learning. In doing so, we demystify moral learning in Confucianism and open up avenues for future cross-tradition dialogues on moral education.

The Multiple Dimensions of Confucian Relational Ethics and the “Way of Being With”

To reduce Confucian ethics to a “hierarchy of association” or to say that it is incapable of dealing with the problems of strangers is to only see that Confucian ethics stipulates different treatments for kin relations and the sexes. However, this fails to see the multiple different dimensions of Confucian ethics. In fact, the Confucians established universal relational ethics, rationality of social engagement, and a “way of being with” in the interpersonal relationships that are obtained between the self and others. This kind of ethics was not only effective in ancient society, but it is also effective at dealing with the problems of the modern “society of strangers”: it has a universal applicability. Beginning from two Confucian stories, and drawing on records of Confucius and his disciples in the Analects alongside supporting passages from the Mengzi and the Xunzi, this essay elucidates the notions of how self and other should treat each other, how wise people should know themselves and others, how benevolent people should love themselves and others, to argue that Confucianism possesses a universal relational ethics and a “way of being with”, and that the multiple dimensions of Confucian ethics cannot be reduced to just one.

Confucian culture and accounting conservatism: evidence from China

ABSTRACT This study investigates the influence of Confucian culture on accounting conservatism. Using a sample of Chinese-listed firms during the period of 2001–2017, our findings reveal that Confucian culture, measured as the number of Confucian temples (schools) within a specific radius around a firm, is significantly positively associated with accounting conservatism, suggesting that Confucian ethics and culture promote accounting conservatism. Moreover, litigation risk attenuates the positive effect of Confucian culture on accounting conservatism. The above findings are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests using alternative proxies for Confucian culture and accounting conservatism. Furthermore, our main conclusions still stand after using the instrumental variable (IV) two-stage regression method and the differential model approach to address the endogeneity issue. Lastly, the positive effect of Confucian culture on accounting conservatism is only valid for non-BIG4-audited firms, firms with lower managerial ownership and firms in highly competitive industries.