Write a short paper of not more than 900 words (not more than 3 pages, double spaced) on one of the following topics. Conduct your discussion in a way that shows understanding of the relevant materials, including both the Analects and the assigned readings for each topic. Conduct a close reading of these materials, and make reference to the readings whenever appropriate. But minimize actually quoting from them as far as possible in the main text of your paper; instead, references to the readings can be placed in footnotes, using page or passage references.
The paper should provide a reflective discussion of the topic, and not just a summary of materials in the readings or from lectures. It should include ideas based on your own reflections on the subject matter and on the reading materials. Make sure that the paper is well organized, and the writing clear, focused, and concise. Keep in mind that the thought process and the communication process cannot be fully separated, and the ability to present your ideas with lucidity, conciseness and clear organization is a reflection of fully- and well-formed ideas. Imagine that your audience is someone who is less, rather than more, informed about the subject matter than yourself, and try to make your ideas fully intelligible to such an audience. (Read section V, pp. 24-25, of the report “Reinventing Undergraduate Education”, posted in the folder “Readings” under “Resources”.)
1. Ming and Fate
In his “On Fate and Fatalism,” Robert Solomon mentions the Chinese conception of ming in relation to fate. What are the differences, if any, between what is conveyed by the use of ming in the Analects and the Mencius and the way Solomon understands fate?
2. Village Worthy and the Moral Hypocrite
Suppose we call a moral hypocrite someone whose character and motivations are morally problematic, but who put on the appearance of having good character and motivations so as to deceive others into thinking that she is morally good. What are the differences between the moral hypocrite and the village worthy presented in the Analects and elaborated on in the Mencius? Discuss the differences in the nature of these two individuals as well as the differences (if any) between the ways in which each is morally criticizable.
Resources
1.book Filial Morality by David Archard
2.From Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Routledge, 2003)
Xiao (Filial Piety)
Kwong-loi Shun
Xiao, or filial piety, describes a relation to parents that the Confucians regard as the basis
for both self-cultivation and the political order. It is highlighted in the three major pre-Qin
Confucian texts: the Lunyu (Analects, recording Confucius’s teachings), the Mengzi (Mencius),
and the Xunzi. Two collections of essays probably dating to the early Han, the Xiaojing (Treatise
on Filial Piety) and the Liji (Record of Rites), as well as the Zhongyong (Centrality and
Commonality), which was originally a chapter in the Liji, also contain detailed discussions of xiao.
As presented in these texts, xiao is based on a sense of continuity with one’s parents and ancestors
and a devotion to furthering such continuity. It involves a heightened awareness that one not only
owes one’s existence to parents and ancestors, but has also been shaped by them to become the
kind of person one is. It involves a devotion to further the continuity by looking after one’s body
and by having offsprings, as well as by carrying out the wishes and projects of parents and
ancestors.
The attitudes toward parents (qin) involved in xiao are characterized in terms of love (ai)
(Mengzi 7A:15) and seriousness or reverence (jing) (Lunyu 2.7; cf. Mengzi 4A:19). The former
involves a concern to promote the well-being of parents as well as affective responses to their
conditions, and the latter involves constantly treating them with attention, caution and reverence.
While such attitudes should also be directed to other human beings, they take a special form when
directed to one’s parents. This special form of the attitudes is sometimes characterized as “qinqin”,
literally “treating as parents one’s parents” (Mengzi 7A:15, 7A:45). It involves constantly bearing
one’s parents in mind in one’s daily life. For example, one keeps in mind the parents’ ages, both
taking joy in their living to an old age and being concerned about their deteriorating health (Lunyu
4.21). One does not act in any way that endangers them (Mengzi 4B:30), and one avoids traveling 2
far and keeps them informed of one’s whereabouts so as to avoid causing them unnecessary
concern (Lunyu 4.19; Liji 1/4a-5a). One provides for their daily necessities with respect (Lunyu
2.7; Mengzi 4A:19) and devotes oneself to serving them in other ways (Lunyu 1.7), such as taking
up chores for them so that they do not exhaust themselves (Lunyu 2.8). One seeks to please them
(Mengzi 4A:12, 4A:28, 5A:1), and to ensure that they are contented in their daily life (Liji
8/23a-23b).
The special obligations one has toward one’s parents are defined by li (rites), rules that
regulate conduct between people in different social positions. The rules of li also extend to the way
children treat their parents after their death, including burying them properly and mourning them
with sorrow shortly after their death, and subsequently continuing to offer regular sacrifices to
them with reverence (Lunyu 2.5; Mengzi 3A:2; Liji 14/18b). One’s obligations to parents also
extend to the way one conducts oneself throughout one’s life. One should care for one’s own
physical body which one has received from parents and ancestors (Xiaojing 1/2a, Liji 14/14b-15a),
and should have offsprings to ensure continuation of the family line (Mengzi 4A:26, 5A:2). One
should also seek to continue the way of one’s parents (Lunyu 1.11, 4.20). One should love and
respect those whom one’s parents love and respect (Liji 8/23a-b); in the case of a ruler who has
succeeded his father, xiao involves continuing the past policies of his father as well as employing
the officials that his father employed when appropriate (Lunyu 19.18; cf. Zhongyong chaps. 18,
19). One should cultivate oneself and conduct oneself properly to avoid causing disgrace to one’s
parents and ancestors (Liji 1/5a, 14/6a, 14/13b, 14/14b-15a; Xiaojing 8/1b). More positively, one
should conduct oneself in a way that brings honor to them, such as through achievements that will
be remembered by later generations (Xiaojing 1/1b-2b); the greatest honor one can bring to one’s
parents is to establish oneself as a true king, bringing peace and order to the empire (Mengzi 5A:4;
cf. Zhongyong chap. 17).
While emphasizing serving and obeying parents, the Confucians also stress that one’s
relation to parents should be regulated by a sense of what is proper (yi). One should remonstrate
with parents when they are in the wrong, although one should also do so gently and without 3
offending them (Lunyu 4.18; Liji 14/14ab, 15/17a; Xiaojing 7/2b). So, genuine xiao is not a matter
of blind obedience, but involves being ready to dissent when obedience involves improper
behaviour, especially behaviour that endangers or disgraces one’s parents (Xunzi 29/2-6). One may
even violate a rule of li in exigencies. The legendary sage king Shun, for example, did not observe
the li of informing his parents before marrying because, if he had done so, he would not have
received permission to marry and so would not have been able to have offsprings, this being itself
a serious violation of xiao (Mengzi 4A:26, 5A:2). In this regard, one’s relation to parents is like an
official’s relation to the ruler — while the Confucians advocate devotion (zhong) to the ruler, the
devotion is regulated by a sense of what is proper (yi) in that one should be ready to remonstrate
with and even disobey the ruler when the ruler is in the wrong. A difference, though, is that while
one may quit office when the ruler does not heed one’s remonstrations, the parent-child relation is
inescapable. If one’s parents are not responsive to one’s remonstrations, one should continue to be
respectful to them although one will at the same time be moved by sorrow and may even be
reduced to tears (Liji 1/27a).
The importance the Confucians attach to xiao can be partly explained by their belief that
special affection for parents is a natural response to the care and nourishment one has received
from them. In response to a question about the prolonged mourning of deceased parents,
Confucius explained that one naturally has affection for one’s parents from whom one has received
care and nourishment, and that one just cannot enjoy good food or clothing for a certain period
after the death of one’s parents (Lunyu 17.21). Mencius also referred to the natural affection young
children have for their parents (Mengzi 7A:15), and even Xunzi, who emphasized the
self-regarding desires of human beings, acknowledged that human beings share love for those of
their own kind as well as remembrance of and longing for the deceased (Xunzi 19/93-127). Such
affection for parents is deeply rooted and difficult to alter; they are also a respectable part of the
human psychology that the ideal life for human beings should accommodate.
Another reason for the Confucians’ emphasis on xiao is that they regard it as a basis for
both self-cultivation and the political order. Given the actual social setup, the family is the place in 4
which one first acquires love and respect for others; self-cultivation involves nurturing such
attitudes toward parents and other family members and then extending them to others outside the
family. Thus, Confucius described xiao and ti (obedience to elder brothers) as the basis of
humaneness (ren) (Lunyu 1.2), while Mencius described affection for parents and respect for elder
brothers as the basis of humaneness (ren) and propriety (yi) (Mengzi 7A:15). The Xiaojing also
describes xiao and ti as not confined to the family but is manifested in one’s daily interactions with
others, because their natural extension leads to respect for others’ parents and elder brothers
(Xiaojing 7/1a).
Xiao is also the starting point for developing the proper attitudes in government, such as
devotion to the ruler (Xiaojing 7/1b) and not being arrogant when in a high position or disorderly
when in a low position (Xiaojing 6/1a-b). Furthermore, Confucius and Mencius believed that the
proper purpose of government is to rectify people in the sense of transforming their character, and
this purpose is achieved through the transformative power that pertains to a good character (Lunyu
2.1, 2.3, 12.17, 12.19, 13.4, 13.13; Mengzi 4A:20; cf. Mengzi 4A:4, 7A:19). By being the starting
point for cultivating one’s own good character, xiao also serves as the basis for the political order.
The intimate link between proper attitudes toward parents and the political order is emphasized by
both Confucius and Mencius (Lunyu 1.2, 8.2; Mengzi 4A:11, 4A:28; cf. Mengzi 4A:5, 4A:12), and
is reflected in the remark by Zengzi, a disciple of Confucius’s, that the people will be transformed
as long as those in power attend cautiously and properly to the burial of parents and sacrifices to
ancestors (Lunyu 1.9). The link is also reflected in Confucius’s own observation that participation
in government need not involve one’s actually taking office, but can be a matter of one’s exerting
one’s influence through xiao (Lunyu 2.21). See also, ren, li, and yi.
Bibliography
Zhongyong (Centrality and Commonality, or Doctrine of the Mean). All references are by chapter
numbers (following Zhu Xi’s division of the text) to James Legge, trans., Confucius:
Confucian Lun Yü, The Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean, 2nd ed. (Oxford: 5
Clarendon Press, 1893).
Xiaojing (Treatise on Filial Piety). All references are by volume and page numbers to Xiaojing
Zhushu in the Sibu Beiyao series.
Xunzi. All references are by chapter and line numbers to the text in the Harvard-Yenching Institute
Sinological Index Series. See also John Knoblock, trans., Xunzi: A Translation and Study
of the Complete Works, 3 vols. (Stanford, Ca: Stanford University Press, 1988-94).
Liji (Record of Rites). All references are by volume and page numbers to the text in Zheng Xuan’s
commentary in the Sibu Beiyao series.
Lunyu (Analects). All references are by book and passage numbers to Yang Bojun, trans. (modern
Chinese), Lunyu Yizhu (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1980). See also D. C. Lau, trans.,
Confucius: The Lun Yü (London: Penguin Books, 1979).
Mengzi (Mencius). All references are by book and passage numbers (with book numbers 1A to 7B
substituted for 1 to 14) to Yang Bojun, trans. (modern Chinese), Mengzi Yizhu (Beijing:
Zhonghua Shuju, 1984). See also D. C. Lau, trans., Mencius (London: Penguin Books,
1970).
3.REINVENTING
UNDERGRADUATE
EDUCATION:
A Blueprint for
America’s Research
Universities
4.Confucius The Analects
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