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Overview
In Early Confucian Ethics, Kim-chong Chong re-examines the thinking of the three classical Confucians-Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi-keeping each of them distinct, and not falling into the common trap of reading Confucius and Xunzi in Mencian terms. While clearly explaining the main ethical ideas of the three sages, Chong confronts controversial scholarly issues and resolves such puzzles as why it is that Confucius declares that he rarely discourses on ren ('humanity') when in fact he repeatedly refers to it. Although Confucius's Analects is now thought to consist of different accretions over successive periods, Chong shows that the work has a coherent theme, which can be brought out by considering the interconnections between ren and other ethical concepts. Confucius's ethics is a 'character ethics', emphasizing the importance of character and motivation instead of guidance by general principles.Though it is usually assumed that in their discourses on human nature, Mencius was rhetorical while Xunzi merely stipulated definitions, Chong shows that both Mencius and Xunzi could argue cogently, and he displays the nature, logic, and force of their arguments. Contrary to a mistaken traditional view, Confucius does not advance a theory of human nature. Chong analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of Mencius's and Xunzi's different theories of humanity. In the end, despite these theories, both Mencius and Xunzi rely upon what is fundamental in Confucius's ethics-the human expressions of ren.
About the Author:
Kim-chong Chong is now Professor, Division of Humanities, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Synopsis
In this book internationally renowned scholar Kim-chong Chong offers new views of early Confucian thought by exploring — and in some case debunking — conventional wisdom on the subject. He begins by showing how The Analects contradicts the notion that Confucius rarely addressed the issue of humanity. Next, he challenges the concepts that Mencius discussed human nature only rhetorically and Xunzi merely repeated definitions. Finally, he examines the strengths, weaknesses, differences, and similarities of Mencius’s and Xunzi’s theories of what it means to be human — and their surprising relation to Confucius’s ethical system.