Confucian Virtue Ethics Research Articles

Applying Aristotelian and Confucian Virtue Ethics to Humane Work in the Business Context

What is humane work? What does such work look like in a business context? This paper articulates two ways of thinking about humane work using an Aristotelian and a Confucian virtue ethics approach. This approach reveals the need to think about (1) work’s connection not merely with autonomy but with self-refinement and self-perfection, with craft, and with the production of genuinely good goods; (2) possible dangers (e.g., the risk of generating envy) of focusing too much on pay issues in connection with humane work; (3) the relation between humane work and political regimes; and (4) the role played by stakeholders other than managers in the humanizing of work.

Gendering Piety, Justice and Violence: On the Aesthetics of Self-Killing in Han-Chinese, Naxi and Lahu Cultures (from the Late-Ming to Mid-20th Century)

Self-killing in late imperial and modern China called into play gender disparities, and secular and religious morals often at odds with each other. Scholarship has long focused on Confucian virtue ethics that led young widows to follow their husband to death, or take a chastity vow and disfigure themselves to avoid rape, but little effort has been made to examine suicide practices cross-culturally. This paper compares such practices among Han women from the southeast coast and indigenous Naxi and Lahu women of upland Yunnan, throwing light on the aesthetics behind their struggles for justice, free-choice marriage and beliefs in posthumous love.

Confucian Virtue Ethics and Ethical Leadership in Modern China

Research on ethical leadership in organizations has been largely based on Western philosophical traditions and has tended to focus on Western corporate experiences. Insights gained from such studies may however not be universally applicable in other cultural contexts. This paper examines the normative grounds for an alternative Confucian virtue-based ethics of leadership in China. As with Western corporations, organizational practices in China are profoundly shaped by their own cultural history and philosophical outlook. The ethical norms guiding both the practice and theory of leadership in China are underpinned by indigenous Chinese wisdoms imbued in their own traditions and China’s collective psyche. Focusing on three fundamental aspects of Confucian virtue ethics: ren (仁 benevolence), yi (义 righteousness) and li(礼 ritual propriety), this paper proposes that an ideal Confucian leader regards self-cultivation as a first priority; status and material gain, whilst important, are not the foremost concern. S/he exemplifies the virtuous role model, exudes moral charisma and influences others by shaping an organization’s ethical culture through the process of ritualization. The paper concludes by claiming that amplifying the explicit discourse around Confucian virtue ethics will help contribute to the development of better ethical leadership in China.

Sungmoon Kim’s Democracy After Virtue

Sungmoon Kim’s <i>Democracy After Virtue</i>

The Prospect of Pragmatic Confucian Democracy: Reply to Dryzek, Macedo, Ackerly, and Li

The Prospect of Pragmatic Confucian Democracy: Reply to Dryzek, Macedo, Ackerly, and Li

Four challenges to Confucian virtue ethics in technology

PurposeAs interest in technology ethics is increasing, so is the interest in bringing schools of ethics from non-Western philosophical traditions to the field, particularly when it comes to information and communication technology. In light of this development and recent publications that result from it, this paper aims to present responds critically to recent work on Confucian virtue ethics (CVE) and technology.Design/methodology/approachFour critiques are presented as theoretical challenges to CVE in technology, claiming that current literature insufficiently addresses: overall applicability, collective ethics issues, epistemic overconfidence within technology corporations and amplification of epistemic overconfidence by the implementation of CVE. These challenges make use of general CVE literature and work on technology critique, political philosophy, epistemology and business ethics.FindingsImplementing CVE in technology may yield some benefits, but these may be outweighed by other outcomes, include strengthening hierarchies, widening inequities, increasing, rather than limiting, predictive activity, personal data collection, misinformation, privacy violations and challenges to the democratic process.Originality/valueThough not directly advocating against CVE, the paper reveals hitherto unidentified and serious issues that should be addressed before CVE are used to inform ethics guidelines or regulatory policies. It also serves as a foundation for further inquiry into how Eastern philosophy more broadly can inform technology ethics in the West.

De and Virtue in Early Confucian Texts: Introduction

Abstract The introduction to this special issue describes the emergence of the virtue ethics approach within the study of Confucian virtues in recent decades. It will first examine scholarly contributions to the discussion of Confucian virtue ethics and then raises questions concerning whether or not de 德 in early Confucian texts is identical with arête or virtue. It will then investigate the meaning and implication of de in Confucian contexts and make an argument for a new type of Confucian de ethics. It will finally come to the project on de and virtue ethics in early Confucian texts and define its purpose and boundaries.

Developing Ethical Leadership in China: The Value of Confucian Virtue Ethics

Developing Ethical Leadership in China: The Value of Confucian Virtue Ethics

敬評范瑞平教授大作＜大疫當前: 訴諸儒家文明的倫理資源＞兼論儒家義理與對新冠肺炎的道德分析

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract in English only.My response to Professor Fan’s essay mainly deals with two issues. Firstly, through a simplified analysis of the history and basic ideas of Confucianism, Fan’s paper did not grasp the basic idea of “Ren” and “empathy of the Heart/mind of ren “as well as the theoretical structure of “ren-li-de” in Confucianism. Hence, his thesis on Familism and Confucian Virtue Ethics was not based on solid Confucian texts and arguments. Secondly, Principlism is nothing as extreme as Fan described and his analysis on the Covid-19 pandemic are fairly rational and reasonable. The management of the pandemic in the West does have serious defects, but it has nothing to do with Principlism and liberalism. It is mainly due to the misunderstanding and misjudgment of the nature of this new pandemic by specialists and common folks. Lastly, I present a brief outline on how Confucianism could join with democracy and liberty in fighting against Covid-19 effectively performed by Taiwan people.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 6 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

An Explorative Study of Virtues in Ethical Consumption from a Confucian Perspective in an Urban-Rural-Fringe in China

The concept of ethical consumption has garnered considerable attention in recent years. Yet, it remains somewhat ‘mystical’ in the existing Western literature. The present unique cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary study offers clarification on the conception of ethical consumption from three aspects: First, this paper reflects on the nature of the concept of ethical consumption and identifies its relatively large common core as an open-textured, ‘naturalistic’ concept; conceptualizing the ideal of ethical consumption in virtue ethical language. Second, this paper secures a firmer grounding for the concept of ‘ethical consumption’ within virtue ethics by linking it theoretically to a Confucian form of virtue ethics. We support this interpretation with empirical evidence, gleaned through focus-group discussions and individual interviews with consumers, undergoing fast-changing dynamics, from an urban-rural fringe from China: a culture already immersed in lay virtue ethical thinking, inspired by Confucius. Third, the paper brings the data back to theory by eliciting from the data a structural framework of the foci of the underlying virtues making up the virtue of ethical consumption, on our respondents’ understanding, and reflecting upon how this new theoretical understanding may advance the academic discourse on ethical consumption and expand the understandings of ethical consumption from a cross-cultural perspective. We explore notions such as virtue patriotism and filial piety that contribute to the diversity of the conception of ethical consumption. We explain how those virtues play a role in Chinese understandings of ethical consumption, contributing to the global diversity of the concept. This study does not claim to represent the complete truth about Chinese consumers’ views on ethical consumption, considering the geographic constraints and the small number of participants. However, it does offer some salient insights into Chinese consumers’ understanding of ethical consumption, which is grounded in their daily practices and reflects their consumer motivations; hence, enriching the global business ethics discourse on ethical consumption. Keywords: Virtues, The Concept of Ethical Consumption, Ethical Theories and Philosophies, Chinese Consumers, Confucian Virtue Ethics.

Some Virtue Ethics Implications from Aristotelian and Confucian Perspectives on Family and Business

Not only individuals and firms, but also families engage in business as a social activity and this is true beyond the case of family businesses. Cultural differences in the way families are construed might influence the way they do business. There are different types of families, and among these are those described by Aristotelian and Confucian traditions, representing the West and the East respectively. The literature on virtue in business has been dominated by a Western—mainly Aristotelian—tradition (Ferrero and Sison in Bus Ethics Eur Rev 30(1): 8–24, 2014), neglecting the role of the family and focusing on the individual. In this paper, we seek to fill this gap by explaining differences and similarities in the normative evaluation of certain family-related business attitudes and practices, in light of Confucian and Aristotelian virtue ethics standards. After comparing the structure, organization and dynamics of Aristotelian and Confucian families, we shall draw some inferences regarding “virtuous” or excellent business practices—such as nepotism, bribery, gift-giving and guanxi and attitudes—on codified rules or written norms. For this analysis we shall make use of Aristotelian and Confucian ethical accounts as well as inputs from Family Science applied to organizations, which provides conceptual categories to compare the two traditions. Thus we hope to contribute not only to the comparative study of Aristotelian and Confucian virtue ethics in business, but also to the understanding of the distinctive role of families, raising cultural awareness for what may be considered virtuous business practices according to the Aristotelian and Confucian traditions.

How Would Confucian Virtue Ethics for Business Differ from Aristotelian Virtue Ethics?

Confucianism is potentially relevant to business ethics and business practice in many ways. Although some scholars have seen Confucian thought as applicable to corporate social responsibility (Wang and Juslin in Journal of Business Ethics 88(3):433–451, 2009) and to corporate governance (Low and Ang in International Journal of Business and Management 8(4):30–43, 2013), only a few business ethicists (Koehn in Local insights, global ethics for business. Amsterdam, Rodopi, 2001a; Business Ethics Quarterly 11(3):415–431, 2001b; Journal of Business Ethics 116(4):703–715, 2013; Romar in Journal of Business Ethics 38(1–2):119–131, 2002; Lam in The Analects, Penguin Classics, London, 2003; Chan in Journal of Business Ethics 77(3):347–360, 2008; Woods and Lamond in Journal of Business Ethics 102(4):669–683, 2011) have taken seriously the possibility that Confucius may have important insights to offer regarding virtue ethics, which has now become the most popular normative theory as evidenced by the number of recent articles published in business ethics journals (Alzola in Business Ethics Quarterly 25(3):287–318, 2017). This paper aims to help rectify this oversight. The paper focuses on several distinctive aspects of Confucian ethics, discussing both how Confucius’ approach differs from Aristotelian virtue ethics in significant ways and how these key differences suggest numerous directions for future research.

Principlism, Pragmatism, or Reconstructionist Confucianism? —Some Comments on Ni Peimin’s English Translation of the Analects

This essay provides a few critical points of view on Ni Peimin’s recent English translation of the Analects . It shows that his translations of ren into “human-heartedness” and of li into “ritual propriety” may indicate a willingness to recast these Confucian concepts in the modern ideology of western subjectivism or individualism, whereas Confucianism is not in the direction of such ideologies. Moreover, while Ni seems to offer a “no-rule” view of Confucian virtue ethics, he cannot deny the existence of moral rules and principles in the Confucian system. It is insufficient for him to emphasize the importance of Confucian “instructions” or “methods” as he does without explicating their relations to Confucian rules. Additionally, Ni’s gongfu Confucianism provides a necessary and healthy step back from the contemporary principlism that has been dominant and popular in contemporary politics, ethics, and applied ethics, but Ni goes too far in denying the importance of the moral rules and principles that are implicit or explicit in the Confucian ritual practices and upheld in Confucius’s Analects .

Fred Dallmayr’s postmodern vision of Confucian democracy: a critical examination

ABSTRACTAs an advocate of ‘comparative political theory,’ Fred Dallmayr has long engaged with Confucianism with a new vision for democracy suitable in East Asia but little attention has been paid to his idea of Confucian democracy, which he presents as a specific mode of ethical or relational democracy. This paper investigates Dallmayr’s ethical vision of Confucian democracy, first, by articulating his postmodern reconceptualization of democracy in terms of post-humanism and, second, by examining his post-humanist reevaluation of Confucian virtue ethics as a critical resource for ethical democracy. It argues that the ethical vision of Confucian democracy, though morally appealing, should not dismiss the important instrumental value of democracy as a political system and, rather, find a way to integrate democracy’s instrumental and intrinsic values in a way that can enhance the qualitative relationality between people, political agents, and the common good.

Three Different Approaches to Virtue in Business―Aristotle, Confucius, and Lao Zi

The proposed paper presents an overview on the matter of virtue from different philosophical angles. It concentrates on three different schools of thought coming from the West and the East and their respective concepts of virtue. These schools of thought and the therewith-associated personalities and works discussed in this paper are Aristotelian virtue ethics, Confucianism and Daoism. The paper focuses specifically on the Nicomachean Ethics (NE) by Aristotle, the Analects belonging to Confucianism, and the Dao De Jing coming from Daoism. The paper is divided into three major parts. First, the concept of virtue of each school is outlined. In the second part, the concrete virtues as such according to each school are explained. In the third part, these virtues are then applied in specific business contexts like business practice, corporate culture and leadership, illuminating each school’s characteristic approach. The paper closes with a summary and conclusion. In the conclusion the paper outlines differences as well as similarities between Aristotelian and Confucian virtue ethics. Yet, the author generally takes a critical stance towards comparisons merely for the sake of finding similarities. Particularly between Aristotelian and Confucian virtue ethics there is a significant difference when it comes to the cultural and historical background of these schools, which should not be ignored. Besides, even within Chinese philosophy there are already significant differences when it comes to concepts and practice.

Confucian Ethics in Modernity: Ontologically Rooted, Internationally Resposive, and Integratively Systematic

This article, from my onto-generative and onto-hermeneutic theories, will explore how Confucian virtue ethics could be modernized and globalized by answering challenges of civic duties, human rights, policy planning and decisionmaking regarding social and communal development with considerations of maximal sustainable goodness or benefits to both individual and groups. In doing so, we come to recognize the multifunctional potency of Confucian virtues in meeting modern and postmodern needs and demands in a complicated global-local environment, and see how this development of civic and other kinds of virtues form a unifying foundation for the justification, discovery and sustainable source of insights and motivations for vital action.

Confucian Ethics in Modernity: Ontologically Rooted, Internationally Resposive, and Integratively Systematic

This article, from my onto-generative and onto-hermeneutic theories, will explore how Confucian virtue ethics could be modernized and globalized by answering challenges of civic duties, human rights, policy planning and decision-making regarding social and communal development with considerations of maximal sustainable goodness or benefits to both individual and groups. In doing so, we come to recognize the multifunctional potency of Confucian virtues in meeting modern and postmodern needs and demands in a complicated global-local environment, and see how this development of civic and other kinds of virtues form a unifying foundation for the justification, discovery and sustainable source of insights and motivations for vital action.

Situationism and Confucian Virtue Ethics

Situationist research in social psychology focuses on the situational factors that influence behavior. Doris and Harman argue that this research has powerful implications for ethics, and virtue ethics in particular. First, they claim that situationist research presents an empirical challenge to the moral psychology presumed within virtue ethics. Second, they argue that situationist research supports a theoretical challenge to virtue ethics as a foundation for ethical behavior and moral development. I offer a response from moral psychology using an interpretation of Xunzi—a Confucian virtue ethicist from the Classical period. This Confucian account serves as a foil to the situationist critique in that it uncovers many problematic ontological and normative assumptions at work in this debate regarding the prediction and explanation of behavior, psychological posits, moral development, and moral education. Xunzi’s account of virtue ethics not only responds to the situationist empirical challenge by uncovering problematic assumptions about moral psychology, but also demonstrates that it is not a separate empirical hypothesis. Further, Xunzi’s virtue ethic responds to the theoretical challenge by offering a new account of moral development and a ground for ethical norms that fully attends to situational features while upholding robust character traits.

Confucius meets cognition: new answers to old questions

Early Chinese Confucian virtue ethics saw effortless harmony with the “Way” as essential for ethical life, but raised the problem of how one can, through effort, reach a state of effortless perfection. We decompose this paradox into three sub-paradoxes and review evidence from cognitive psychology relevant to each of them. First, how can one attain spontaneity by expending effort? Second, how can one come to love what one does not already love? Third, why is a deed considered not virtuous if consciously done for the sake of attaining virtue? We discuss how the cognitive sciences can contribute to potential solutions to an ancient ethical tension, and what the humanities can contribute to problems psychologists have only recently begun to explore.

軍醫生命倫理探析

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.生物技術在軍事領域中的應用構成了軍醫生命倫理生成的實踐基礎，對生命的本體追問和醫學人道反思則是軍醫生命倫理生成與發展的理論依歸。儘管東西方異質文化的道德差異使得中外軍醫倫理研究各有側重，但在論及軍醫生命倫理時並無本質差異。本文認為，國內軍醫倫理學不能只局限於研究內在品德的培育，而必須要探討不同境遇的倫理抉擇以及倫理困境的道德剖析。注重德性修養的中國傳統倫理與深入考察具體案例的當代西方倫理或許可以在方法論上互相借鑒、互相補充。當下軍醫生命倫理研究的視域主要涵蓋戰地安樂死、戰場器官移植、軍事醫學科研、疫苗使用、突發公共衞生事件、生態倫理等倫理問題。The modern world faces various military bioethical problems. A series of prominent issues – such as battlefield euthanasia, battlefield organ transplants, military medical research, the use of vaccines, emergent public health crises, and ecological ethical problems – challenge our moral conscience and our cultural commitments, both in the West and in China. Chinese bioethical scholars need to turn their attention to these important but thorny issues and provide ethically appropriate solutions by drawing on their intellectual and ethical resources.The recent history of military bioethical research in China shows that the character of such research is culture-laden. Influenced by the long-standing Confucian tradition that emphasizes virtue-cultivation, Chinese military bioethical studies have focused on issues such as to how to educate and promote the moral character of military physicians. However, they have overlooked – or at least have not given sufficient attention to – analyses of military bioethical dilemmas and contexts that are needed to develop adequate and feasible ethical solutions to the new problems facing today’s military. This academic situation should be improved to ensure that Chinese military bioethical research moves forward.It is true that Confucianism is a central moral tradition in China. It is also true that theoretical Confucian morality can be taken as virtue ethics, which emphasizes moral cultivation. However, it is not true that Confucian virtue ethics only focuses on issues of character development, ignoring specific ethical problems or conflicts. This essay takes the perspective that traditional Chinese Confucian ethics (which emphasizes moral cultivation) and modern Western ethics (which focuses on the application of general principles to particular contexts) should learn from each other and offer more comprehensive arguments and appropriate solutions to military bioethical issues. Indeed, Confucian moral practices – rituals (li) – are embedded in the everyday lives of people in general and the activities of military physicians in particular. These rituals provide concrete guidance in particular contexts, but they are not absolute moral rules. Confucianism calls for moral deliberation by exercising the virtues achieved through observing rituals. However, a principle of the middle way is that we should function according to the Confucian way of life. These intellectual and moral resources could be drawn upon to explore Chinese military bioethics.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 139 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.