How Should We Treat Animals? A Confucian Reflection

Contrary to the views proposed by modern animal rights scholars, this essay reconstructs the Confucian argument for the moral defensibility of the Confucian ritual use of animals by providing an expository analysis of classical Confucian literature. The argument is developed by focusing on the issue of the sacrificial use of animals in the Confucian tradition. While animals are treated according to certain regulations and restrictions, they are not spared from being offered as sacrifices. An essential component of Confucian virtues, reverence, requires showing deep respect to Heaven, gods, spirits, and humans but not to animals. If Confucians change the rituals in ways that spare animals, they would fail to show the depth of reverence to gods, spirits, and humans that they should.     

Characteristics of Confucian Rituals (Li)—A Critique of Fan Ruiping’s Interpretation

In this paper I argue that Fan Ruiping’s explication of the Confucian notion of li 禮 (ritual propriety) is problematic in several ways. First, his division of human activities into “social” and “natural” is less than illuminating, as human “natural” activities (such as hunting) are already inescapably social. Second, I question the appropriateness for him to characterize li in terms of “closed activities,” as some rituals are evidently open-ended. Third, he seems to have overemphasized the constitutive function of li and understated its regulative function. Fourth, contrary to Fan’s claim, Confucian li accomplishes “external goals” in human life as well as “internal goals.” Finally, Fan’s requirement for being a Confucian with respect to the observance of li is unrealistically high and makes it difficult for people to qualify as Confucian.     

Will the young support the old? An individual‐ and family‐level study of filial obligations in two New Zealand cultures

Do people feel that they are obliged to look after older parents and grandparents, support them financially, respect, obey, and maintain contact with them, as well as please them and make them happy? Two surveys of filial obligations were conducted in New Zealand involving 100 Chinese and 103 European families respectively. Across the 587 individuals from two generations, a widely shared obligation hierarchy emerged with social contact and respect on top of all others. Chinese were higher than Europeans on obedience and financial support as predicted, but also on most other obligations. Gender differences, contrary to prediction, were generally absent; but children were significantly higher than their parents on obedience. Obligations were moderately intercorrelated, and also correlated with corresponding expectations. K‐means cluster analysis was used in a novel way to discover three European and four Chinese family obligation types. Further family‐level analysis showed that parental income, grandparents’ residence, and motivations in communicating with elders differentiated the family types.     

从曹氏三代人对儒学的态度看魏晋儒学的衰落

曹魏统治者对儒学不重视的态度,是魏晋儒学走向衰落的重要因素之一。分而言之,操、丕、睿三人的这种态度又各有其原因：曹操是出于完成统一大业的急迫心情,无暇顾及,而且所下“唯才是举”令对儒家核心价值观起了严重的破坏作用;曹丕为了稳固地位,取悦儒士派,虽采取了一些重儒的措施,但一则在位时间太短,二则并非因内心悦服而为之,其结果不免流于形式化;曹睿对法家兴趣特浓,所下“尊儒贵学”的诏令无一真正落实,最终儒学不仅没有“尊贵”起来,反而日呈凋敝之势。     

王廷相道寓于“六经”的思想

王廷相提出道寓于“六经”的思想,以“六经”为载道之文,强调求道于“六经”,而不讲“四书”;并尊孔非孟,批评宋儒之学。以维护孔子及“六经”的权威来降低孟子、朱熹及“四书”的权威和重要性,修正朱学的流弊,这在经学史和理学史上均具有重要意义,体现了王延相经学与理学思想的独特性。     

“以人为本”不是“以政为本”——《关于深化医药卫生体制改革的意见》的儒家意见

试从儒家的观点出发评价《深化医药卫生体制改革的意见（征求意见稿）》,论证其建议没有真正遵循“以人为本”的原则。具体说来,其建议未能贯彻“藏富于民”的精神,没有实行“家庭决策”的方式,未能充分致力于建设一个人性化的公立医院制度和医疗保健市场。     

The contemporary development of a Neo‐Confucian epistemology

Until recently epistemology in the Western sense was never a central issue in Chinese philosophy. Contemporary Chinese neo‐Confucian philosophers, however, realize that in order to reconstruct some of the important traditional philosophical insights and make them meaningful in the present time, certain methodological and epistemological considerations are indispensable. The present paper undertakes to examine some of these efforts. Since most neo‐Confucian philosophers today have been influenced by Hsiung Shih‐li, in one way or another, his epistemological theory is presented first. Then the further development of a neo‐Confucian epistemological system in Mou Tsung‐san's thought is discussed. Hsiung Shih‐li has made an important distinction between what he calls the hsing‐ehih and the liang‐chih. The former may be translated as the original wisdom and is what we rely upon to grasp ontological reality; the latter may be translated as the measuring wisdom and includes both our commonsensical and scientific ways of understanding which postulate a real, external world. A dialectical relation holds between the two. Mou Tsung‐san further develops a comprehensive epistemological system which confirms the basic insights of Hsiung Shih‐li. He has attempted a synthesis of the philosophical insights which he learns from Kant in the West and the Confucian tradition in China.     

The phenomenology of respect: with special attention to Kant,Scheler, and Confucianism

In this paper, I focus on analyzing the manifestation and significance of respect. I first illustrate the two (or three) meanings of jing 敬 and their connection in Confucian classical texts, which is helpful to understand the Confucian phenomenology of respect. The two (or three) meanings are (1) seriousness as a mind-state and (2) respect (and attention) as an intentional feeling. After clarifying this point, I undertake a phenomenological analysis of respect, in order to show that respect helps one to achieve moral pursuit. This analysis takes the Kantian notion of respect as a starting point but further is accomplished by the phenomenology of value and feeling. The respect for duties and affairs, the respect for personhood and dignity, and the respect for the worthy with merit motivate one to take moral actions. For example, respect contributes in taking one’s duties seriously, appreciating human beings’ spiritual values and good tendencies even when they have not been actualized, supporting the worthy to play a role (offering them important positions), and emulating the worthy to make a contribution and serve others. In Subsequently, I clarify how respect helps one to achieve religious pursuit in one form of Christianity, in light of Max Scheler’s discussion on humility and reverence. Through revering God one respects others; through serving God and participating in God’s humble spirit one serves others. I elucidate the Confucian classics’ discussions on religious experience, in order to show how respect helps one to achieve religious pursuit in one form of Confucianism, and how it is similar and different from Max Scheler’s clarification. The concrete relation between respect and li 禮 in the Confucian tradition will be treated in another work.     

Third‐Party Dispute Resolution in India and the United States1

This study investigates the dispute‐resolution approaches of 50 Indian panchayats (a team of 5 male elders), 50 Indian elders, and 50 U.S. informal mediators. A literature review as well as preliminary interviews with Indian students in the United States (n = 90) and with villagers in India (n = 60) established that Indian villagers rely principally on a panchayat or male elder to handle their disputes. Our subsequent study of panchayats and elders in India indicated that they do manage disputes and that their approaches differ in several distinctive ways. Subsequent qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the Indian elders' techniques with those of the U.S. mediators indicated that Indian elders were more assertive in their approaches.     

Are early confucians consequentialists?

Various attempts have been made to interpret Confucian ethics in the framework of consequentialist ethics. Such interpretations either treat Mencius theory of moral choice as a kind of act-utilitarianism or attribute to Mencius a rather sophisticated consequentialist moral view. In this paper I challenge such interpretations and try to clarify the nature of the Confucian conception of the good. In order to show that the Confucian good is teleological but non-consequentialist, I will discuss different ways (especially those of John Rawls and Alasdair MacIntyre) of classifying ethical theories and show their bearing on my interpretation of Confucian ethics. I will then discuss the consequentialist (utilitarian) understanding of early Confucians, arguing that without a proper understanding of the overall character of Confucian ethics and its primary concern, no interpretation of the Confucian conception of the good may claim to be adequate.     

大学生物质主义与儒家传统价值观的冲突研究

以价值观冲突理论为依据,探讨中国社会转型时期物质主义与儒家传统价值观的并存给当代大学生带来的心理冲突。采用测谎仪记录被试回答价值观选择两难情境问题时的皮电值,结果发现：对于高儒家传统价值观的大学生而言,物质主义水平的上升会引起其皮电值的显著增加,而对于低儒家传统价值观的大学生则没有这种效应。表明同时拥有高水平的物质主义和儒家传统价值观的大学生会体验到大量的心理冲突。     

Promoting Sikhi among Malaysian youth: A case study of the Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia (SNSM)

ABSTRACT

The Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia (SNSM) has been an important vehicle in keeping the tenets of the Sikh faith alive for the Malaysian Sikh community. It is primarily a Sikh youth organization, initiated with the blessings of the Malaysian Sikh community elders in the 1960s, who decided that starting the activity of prayer and contemplation on Sikhi was crucial from a young age. Over the decades, the SNSM has been adept in evolving its activities and organization to cater to the altering needs and self-conceptions of the various generations of Sikh youth. This paper documents the trajectory of SNSM activities and reinvention to cater to the generations of Sikhs post-Independence.     

成就与不足——浅议郭沫若的《周易》研究

郭沫若的《周易》研究以“新兴科学的观点”来审视《周易》,在古史辩派的基础上,深入到了古代的思想及制度,使传统的经学研究一变而为社会的、文化的和哲学的研究,他不仅开辟了《周易》研究的新领域,而且也成为用《周易》打开认识“古代真实”大门的第一人。这也正是郭沫若《周易》研究的价值所在。但同时郭沫若的《周易》研究也存在不足,如对材料的时代性未能划分清楚,得出了错误的结论;以传解经的错误;疏于考证,有臆测成分及趋时、片面的批评,这也是评价郭沫若的《周易）研究时不可回避的部分。     

PHILOSOPHY AS EMPIRICAL EXPLORATION OF LIVING

This essay describes an approach to designing a course in philosophy as a way of life (PWOL) around a set of immersive “spiritual exercises” through which students might examine their desires, engaging students in a process of testing their own experience against philosophical theories and theories against their own experience. These are used to tie together the units of a course covering classical Western and Eastern philosophical traditions, and to supplement traditional philosophical analysis of texts and arguments with ways of exploring what it might be like to live as a Platonist, Stoic, or Confucian. The essay details several exercises, engages perspectives on PWOL from Pierre Hadot and John Cooper, and addresses the question of how to assess immersive exercises.     

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.     

A Confucian Interpretation of Creativity

This article explores a Confucian interpretation of creativity with reference to two classics—Analects and Mencius. A Confucian understanding of creativity centers on yi (appropriateness) and is motivated by shu (empathy) for the purpose of broadening dao (Way). Confucian creativity is manifested in two main ways: novelty through original interpretations of the objective world; and appropriateness through flexible responses to concrete circumstances synchronically and diachronically. Two major implications for research on creativity are highlighted. The first is that a Confucian approach to creativity extends the existing research on personal creativity by foregrounding the moral and interpersonal elements. Secondly, Confucian creativity synthesizes novelty and appropriateness, thereby challenging the essentialization of creativity and creative abilities of East Asians. A Confucian conception of creativity transcends a narrow focus on specific creative acts to a broader consideration of the agents, relationships, socio-cultural contexts and related moral issues.     

Who is a Confucian Today? A Critical Reflection on the Issues Concerning Confucian Identity in Modern Times

Along with the revival of Confucian values among East Asian intellectuals since the 1980s, the question of Confucian identity has been repeatedly raised. The traditional identities of Confucianism and Confucians are being challenged. A new inquiry into Confucian identity is necessary because how to define Confucianism is now taken not only as a question of how to read history, but also as an issue of how to understand current and future reality. The central concern of this paper is with the question of how the modern transformation of the tradition has fundamentally changed the parameters that used to be of importance to defining Confucian identity and with the dilemma which modern Confucians face in searching for a new identity. The paper is intended to promote a critical examination of various directions taken to re-establish Confucian identity in modern times.     

Confucianism,Rule‐Consequentialism,and the Demands of Filial Obligations

Why should I take care of my aging parents? How far will morality require me to sacrifice for this cause? I will study these questions from the perspectives of Confucianism and rule‐consequentialism. Confucians believe that the continuity of families and the interactions between members of different generations can enhance the integrity of society in the long run. However, since Confucianism may impose extreme demands on its followers, this theory may be problematic. In this paper, I argue that despite its demands, the Confucian doctrines are defensible and are worth upholding. To explain my view, I draw upon rule‐consequentialism and explain how the rule‐consequentialist analysis complements and enhances the Confucian claims. I believe that the consequentialist conception of Confucianism can provide a useful resource for responding to the moral challenge of population aging in the current state of the world.     

Confucian Social Media: An Oxymoron?

International observers and critics often attack China's Internet policy on the basis of liberal values. If China's Internet is designed and built on Confucian values that are distinct from, and sometimes incompatible to, liberal values, then the liberalist critique ought to be reconsidered. In this respect, Mary Bockover's “Confucian Values and the Internet: A Potential Conflict” appears to be the most direct attempt to address this issue. Yet, in light of developments since its publication in 2003, it is time to re-examine this issue. In this paper, I revisit Bockover’s argument and show why it fails. Using social media as an example, I offer an alternative argument to show why the Internet remains largely incompatible with Confucian values. I end this paper by suggesting how to recontextualise the Confucian way of life and to redesign social media in accordance to Confucian values in the information society.     

儒家伦理思想与当代中国道德体系建设

儒家伦理思想作为中华民族道德传统的主干,一直深深地、普遍地影响着人们的思想观念和行为选择,对中华民族的道德追求、行为方式和人格塑造都产生了重大影响。儒家“仁爱”的道德原则及其道德规范体系,以及关于职业道德、家庭道德和社会公德的思想和要求,都是社会主义道德建设的宝贵资源。我们应当坚持批判继承其原则和方法,摒弃其消极因素,吸取、弘扬其积极因素,这对于当今中国道德体系的建设是十分重要的。