Building an Environmental Ethics from the Confucian Concepts of Zhengming and Datong

From the ‘DuPont factory’ case in China, one can see that contemporary ecology is faced with two underlying problems: A lack of responsibility toward the environment beyond being economically profitable, and a lack of care for what is outside of one’s immediate environment. For the purpose of confronting these two problems, I suggest two Confucian concepts: 1. zhengming 正名 (Rectification of names) and 2. datong 大同 (Great Harmony). These two concepts can be used to develop an environmental ethics and thus play a crucial role in solving the two above-mentioned problems. Zhengming is originally a political concept that was put forward by Confucius. According to this concept, everyone should fulfill their duty to the utmost in accordance with their individual roles. Datong is Confucius’ political ideal and emphasizes gong 公 (public) as a spirit for caring for tian xia 天下 (all under Heaven). A Confucian-style harmonious society is achieved by ‘letting every being manifest its mandate to the full’ (ge jin xing fen 各盡性分). When we turn toward the natural environment instead of political affairs, these concepts of zhengming and datong can become a proactive view of environmental ethics. From this view, zhengming emphasizes that ‘humans fulfill their responsibility of being humans’ (ren ren 人人). This means that humans should take responsibility toward the natural world, and one might say that ren ren implies an impetus for protecting the environment. Similarly, datong emphasizes caring for tian xia, by not limiting oneself to certain races, species, national boundaries, or geographical regions. Because of this, I believe that zhengming and datong can certainly resolve the above-mentioned problems: A lack of a sense of responsibility toward the environment, and a lack of a sense of care for what is outside of the confines of one’s immediate environment.     

Virtue Ethics and Confucian Ethics

This essay focuses on the unity of several virtues in pre-Qin Confucians. Confucius maintains the proper application and coherence of such virtues as benevolence, wisdom, trustworthiness, straightforwardness, courage, and firmness. Further, Confucius takes benevolence and nobility as characteristic of human being. Particular attention is paid to the distinction and relationship between virtuous characters and virtuous actions.     

Confucian Ethics and Impartiality: On the Confucian View about Brotherhood

This essay reviews Confucian ethics with regard to impartiality and Confucian notion of brotherhood. It focuses on the comments by Song Neo- Confucians, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi, about a famous case involving brotherhood. In this case Diwu Lun of the Han dynasty treated his diseased son and his diseased nephew in different ways. The author argues that Confucianism, starting from a naturalist standpoint, affirms the partiality in the relations between brothers, and judges deliberate impartiality negatively. On this point, one cannot simply view Confucianism as analogous to the Kantian ethics which promises impartiality or the virtue ethics which opposes impartiality.     

Confucian Co-creative Ethics: Self and Family

A general account of the Confucian self as either collectivist or relational requires careful examination. This article begins with the major textual resources of the Confucian tradition and then compares this idea of moral expansion with Deweyan ideas of the self and community. By parsing key Confucian terms that comprise the meaning of “being together” and “mutual association,” the author argues that Confucian selves and individuals are fundamentally contextually creative. By comparing the Confucian idea of family with the Deweyan notion of community, the author further supports his argument that the Confucian self is always co-creative with others. Despite the fact that Confucian ethics has long been considered either a kind of virtue ethics or a kind of role ethics, the author argues that Confucian ethics is better viewed as a kind of co-creative ethics, which stems from an ethical theory concerning the co-creative self and other.     

儒家、康德与德行伦理学

<正>近年来英语世界出现了一股藉西方的"德行伦理学"(Virtue Ethics)①诠释儒家伦理学之风潮,例如万百安的《早期中国哲学中的德行伦理学与结果论》(见Van Norden)、余纪元的《孔子与亚里士多德的伦理学》(见Yu;另见余纪元,2009年),以及沈美华的《藉亚里士多德与孔子来重探道德》(见Sim)。最近,"德行伦理学"的提倡者之一斯洛特(M.Slote)也涉入了此项主题。2008年10月他在台湾政治大学"人文价值讲座"针对"德行伦理学"所发表的系列演讲,便属于这类尝试。不过,他所主张的并非亚里士多德式的"德行伦理学",而是所谓的"情感主义的德行伦理学"(sentimentalist virtue ethics),其主要代表是休谟。     

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.     

儒家伦理与政治文明

我们遵循取其精华,去其糟粕,古为今用的原则,对于儒家政治伦理及其治国思想进行新的开发,转化,创新和利用,可以为建设当代中国政治明提供服务。     

儒家伦理与市场经济

日本、韩国、新加坡、香港、台湾的市场经济发展,客观上表明了儒家伦理与市场经济存在着内在的相关性.这一内在的相关性主要是什么,学者们的见解见仁见智.有些学者从否定的角度探讨了儒家伦理对于市场经济的消极作用,例如"君子无所争"、"和为贵"与市场经济竞争意识的相互矛盾;有些学者则从肯定的角度探讨了儒家伦理对于市场经济的积极作用,例如"节用爱人"、"言而有信"与市场经济秩序的相互和谐.这些探讨具有重要意义,因为儒家伦理的具体内容(范畴和命题)与市场经济确实存在着相互关联;但也有局限,因为它们总是纠缠于对立命题的争论,并且也难以体现出儒家伦理与市场经济的"特有"关联(例如儒家伦理重视"诚信",新教伦理同样重视"信用").因此,从新的角度探讨儒家伦理与市场经济的内在相关性就非常必要.本文试图超越儒家伦理的具体内容,立足于整体结构,从其内在张力出发,阐述儒家伦理与市场经济的相互关系.     

The Ethics of Self: Another Version of Confucian Ethics

My basic contention in this essay is that the proper characterization of Confucian ethics is not role-based ethics, rule-based ethics, or virtue ethics, but an ethics of the self or a self-based ethics. In essence, Confucian ethics is about how to realize a self in line with inner sagehood and outer kinghood (内圣外王); it is about how to realize a self as fully self-conscious being-for-itself of definite character, substance, and personality. Confucian ethics does not start with the assumption that there is a given self that should be made virtuous, rule-abiding, or dutiful, but starts from the assumption that a self needs to be created, developed, and realized in the ethical life while the potentiality of building a self is given.     

Confucian Ethics, Public Policy, and the Nurse-Family Partnership

The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), a thirty-year program of research in the United States focused on early childhood preventive intervention, offers a powerful example of the kinds of programs and public policies that Confucian understandings of parent?Cchild relationships and moral cultivation might recommend in contemporary societies today. NFP findings, as well as its theoretical foundations, lend empirical support to early Confucian views of the role of parent?Cchild relationships in human moral development, the nature and possibility of moral self-cultivation, and the task of creating and sustaining a good society, which gives philosophers who are interested in ethical claims that reflect and inform actual practice good reasons to take Confucian ethics seriously. Additionally, the evidence provided by the NFP and early Confucian accounts can both be used to promote social change, which highlights how the sciences and the humanities can work together in complementary ways to address societal problems.     

关于儒家伦理与我们观点的再澄清

<中国哲学史>于2003年第3期刊发了黄裕生先生的<普遍伦理学的出发点:自由个体还是关系角色>(以下简称"黄文").在该文中,黄先生除了对儒家伦理提出了系统的批评外,同时还不点名地批评了郭齐勇对儒家伦理的诠释,故郭齐勇、丁为祥也就以<也谈本相与角色--论儒家伦理的特殊性与普遍性兼答黄裕生先生>(<中国哲学史>2004年第1期,以下简称"郭文")与"黄文"商榷.     

制度伦理之我见

“制度伦理”概念的不确定性和理论的分歧 ,在一定程度上妨碍了制度伦理理论的深入发展和社会应用。目前关于制度伦理的歧义 ,均与论者所依据的理论背景和所强调的侧重点不同有关 ,并无本质的不同。根据制度伦理与社会发展的关系来理解和规定制度伦理 ,它主要应包括制度中所蕴涵的伦理目标即制度中的伦理 ,以及一定道德要求的制度化这两个方面     

儒家经济伦理与社会发展

儒家经济伦理是在中国自然经济基础上形成的,由儒家学派提炼并理论化的调整人们利益关系,评价人们经济活动的基本态度、价值观念和规范体系.儒家经济伦理体系是围绕着义利关系展开的,以"见利思义"为核心,以"仁"、"义"、"诚"、"信"为根本.我们无论着眼于儒家经济伦理的发源地还是着眼于"儒教文化圈",无论着眼于中国传统社会还是当代中国,儒家经济伦理对于社会发展都发挥着重大的作用.     

《易经》:早期儒家的形上学与意识进化学

相关资料初步表明,在中国古代,客观地把握人性及人与宇宙交互作用的自觉与努力业已发生。本文试图阐明《易经》的思维理路,借此思维理路,《易经》不仅塑造和影响了早期儒家形上学,而且也塑造和影响了诸如意识研究,尤其是意识学之类的当代研究领域。《易经》的发展及其在西方的传播,正说明了这一点。意识学研究人性,思考存在的其他领域。在这些方面,意识学与《周易》是相通的。将意识学同中国古代思想相比较可以看出,我们现在所研究的意识学在中国古代思想中早已有之。基于这一历史事实,我们有必要在意识学的起始处研究意识学。在意识学研究中,意识进化学是一个不可或缺的、必须进行研究的内容。我们可以通过《易经》来探索意识的进化。     

和合经济与儒家伦理

21世纪是一个经济全球化、科技一体化、网络普及化、政治多极化、文化多元化的时代,世界的一些政治家、思想家、谋略家自觉与不自觉地都在思考人类怎样才能活得幸福、安全和美好;探索人与自然、人与社会、人与人,以及民族与民族、国与国、地区与地区之间的关系,应以什么新理念、新原则、新方式来建构新关系、新秩序,使人人都能安身立命.