Self-Realization through Confucian Learning

Siufu Tang

Description

Self-Realization through Confucian Learning reconstructs Confucian thinker Xunzi's moral philosophy in response to the modern focus on self-realization. Xunzi (born around 310 BCE) claims that human xing ("nature" or "native conditions") is without an ethical framework and has a tendency to dominate, leading to bad judgments and bad behavior. Confucian ritual propriety (li) is needed to transform these human native conditions. Through li, people become self-directing: in control of feelings and desires and in command of their own lives. Siufu Tang explicates Xunzi's understanding of the hierarchical structure of human agency to articulate why and how li is essential to self-realization. Ritual propriety also structures relationships to make a harmonious communal life possible. Tang's focus on self-realization highlights how Confucianism can address the individual as well as the communal and serve as a philosophy for contemporary times.
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. Xing and Native Conditions

Xunzi’s definitions of xing
“People’s xing is bad”
Natural desires and moral neutrality
Goodness and human agency

2. Wei and Human Agency

Definitions of wei
From xing to wei
Human agency: Actions and happenings
Xunzi’s worldview

3. Xing, Wei, and the Origin of Ritual Propriety

Creation of ritual propriety from wei
People’s xing at the two stages of wei
Ritual propriety and the satisfaction of desires
The heart-mind’s approval and second-order evaluation
Desires and their form of expression

4. Ritual Propriety and the Good Life

The self and the good
The petty man and the noble man
Understanding the Way
Community and the self
Ritual propriety as self-interpretation

Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Éthique et morale
• Confucianism
• Ethique et morale

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 29 juillet 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438461502
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

Self-Realization
through
Confucian Learning
SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture

Roger T. Ames, editor
Self-Realization
through
Confucian Learning
A Contemporary Reconstruction of Xunzi’s Ethics
Siufu Tang
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2016 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Ryan Morris
Marketing, Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Tang, Siu-Fu, 1974– author.
Title: Self-Realization through Confucian learning : a contemporary reconstruction of Xunzi’s ethics / Siufu Tang.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2016. | Series: SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015036580 | ISBN 9781438461496 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438461502 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Xunzi, 340 B.C.–245 B.C. | Confucian ethics. | Philosophy, Chinese—To 221 B.C. | Philosophy, Confucian—China.
Classification: LCC B128.H7 T365 2016 | DDC 181/.112—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015036580
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Xing and Native Conditions
Xunzi’s definitions of xing
“People’s xing is bad”
Natural desires and moral neutrality
Goodness and human agency
Chapter 2. Wei and Human Agency
Definitions of wei
From xing to wei
Human agency: Actions and happenings
Xunzi’s worldview
Chapter 3. Xing , Wei , and the Origin of Ritual Propriety
Creation of ritual propriety from wei
People’s xing at the two stages of wei
Ritual propriety and the satisfaction of desires
The heart-mind’s approval and second-order evaluation
Desires and their form of expression
Chapter 4. Ritual Propriety and the Good Life
The self and the good
The petty man and the noble man
Understanding the Way
Community and the self
Ritual propriety as self-interpretation
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
I have received much help and encouragement in the process of writing this book. First, I acknowledge the kind permission of the publishers to incorporate materials from the following two publications: chapter 1, “ Xing and Native Conditions ,” is based on “ Xing and Xunzi’s Understanding of Our Nature,” in Dao Companion to Xunzi’s Philosophy , ed. Eric Hutton (Dordrecht: Springer, forthcoming); part of chapter 4, “ Ritual Propriety and the Good Life ,” is based on “Self and Community in the Xunzi,” Frontiers of Philosophy in China 7.3 (2012): 455–470.
This book originates from a D.Phil. dissertation I wrote under the supervision of Nicholas Bunnin and Robert Chard at Oxford University. I thank Nick and Robert for their unfailing support and help during and after my studies at Oxford. Further research and writing of the book mainly took place at the University of Hong Kong. I was able to take a sabbatical to concentrate on writing because of a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (HKU 753112). I thank RGC Hong Kong for this generous support. Colleagues and friends at the School of Chinese, HKU, gave me a warm welcome as well as a stimulating environment in which to do my research and writing. Exchanges with members of the larger HKU community, in particular, Joseph Chan, Chris Fraser, and Dan Robins, have helped me to formulate many of the ideas in this book. I thank also Stephen Angle, Chung-yi Cheng, Yiu-ming Fung, Kurtis Hagen, Yong Huang, Eric Hutton, Philip J. Ivanhoe, Doil Kim, Karyn Lai, Chenyang Li, Msayuki Sato, Yuan-kang Shih, Kwong-loi Shun, Aaron Stalnaker, Winnie Sung, Sor-hoon Tan, and Yang Xiao for discussions and exchange of ideas.
Jiwei Ci and Shu-mei Shih have been instrumental in the preparation and publication of the book. Roger T. Ames has read through the whole manuscript and given many valuable comments, though I have not been able to incorporate all of his suggestions fully. I also thank the anonymous readers for their constructive comments. The remaining limitations and errors are, of course, mine. The staff at SUNY Press have been extremely helpful and friendly during the production of this book. It has been a delight to work with them.
Last but not least, I owe special gratitude to my parents and my wife for their support and forbearance over the years when this book was in preparation. It is through their love and nurturance that I am convinced that self-realization is a mutual project of discovery and accomplishment.
Introduction
This book is concerned with a reconstruction of Xunzi’s ( 荀子 , born around 310 BCE) moral philosophy in a response to the modern belief of self-realization and a concern for oneself. 1 Such a modern belief is used as a perspective as well as the background for an understanding of Xunzi’s moral philosophy in the modern world.
I suggest that we should take seriously Xunzi’s claim that “people’s xing ( 性 , nature/native conditions) is bad.” 2 By such a claim Xunzi highlights that our xing is originally without an ethical framework and that it has a natural tendency to dominate us, leading us to make bad judgments and consequently behave badly. Thus it is necessary that our xing be transformed by Confucian learning, the center of which is ritual propriety ( li 禮 ). 3 However, ritual propriety represents not external constraints on our xing . Rather, ritual propriety is derived from our self-interpretation of our xing and refers to norms that allow us to realize ourselves fully. Ritual propriety represents the Confucian understanding of human goodness, the components of which are the best nourishment of desires and a harmonious communal life. Ritual propriety represents also constitutive norms of human agency and selfhood. Through ritual propriety people achieve an integral self and are in command of their own lives. They are then in control of their desires and feelings and can satisfy desires in such a way that is best for them. Moreover, ritual propriety structures human relationships and makes possible a harmonious communal life. Goods internal to such human relationships and such a communal life constitute to a large extent the overall good of the person. Ritual propriety is normative for a person because only through such a normative framework can the person become a self-directing agent and enjoy a good life. Through such arguments, I suggest that Confucianism has the resources to provide a plausible response to the modern conviction of self-realization and a concern for oneself, a response that is both reasonable for a modern person and yet remains true to Confucianism.
Confucianism is clearly the dominant school within Chinese culture. In the Han dynasty, under the reign of Wudi ( 武帝 ), Confucianism gained a privileged position at court. 4 Since then, Confucianism generally enjoyed imperial support and affirmation. That is not to say that the “Confucianism” espoused by the elite class of society, including the emperor, officials, and gentry, was a faithful representation and implementation of the ideas of the Confucian school, especially the ideas of Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi. Neither can we deny that there had been powerful challenges to Confucianism from other streams of thought, especially those from Daoism and Buddhism. Nonetheless, it is generally accepted that “Confucianism” as it was believed and practiced had been the founding ideology of imperial China, providing legitimacy to the various political institutions of that time.
However, starting from the nineteenth century, when imperial China faced the challenge of the West to open up China, a crisis for the long-established political institutions and Confucianism began. Initially, when China was defeated in the two Opium Wars, it was thought that the West was superior only in their employment of technology and that China still excelled in cultural values. Gradually, however, after the project of borrowing only Western technology failed, intellectuals in China started to realize that Western excellence in technology was supported by and made possible only because of Western culture and the corresponding social and political institutions. During the May Fourth Movement, after the monarchy had been overthrown, there was a call for the learning of science and democracy from the West. Confucianism, which was deeply integrated in the social and political institutions of imperial China, was blamed as the culprit responsible for China’s backwardness. It was also regarded as an obstacle to the modernization of China, which was thought to be the only way to establish a strong and prosperous China. Nearly one hundred years after the May Fourth Movement, Confucianism today is no longer regarded as a decaying tradition that is more or less irrelevant to modern China. 5 On the contrary, with the China’s rise in power, more and more people believe that Confucianism in particular and Chinese culture in general can make distinctive and valuable contributions to the modern world. While there have been continuing efforts to argue for the modern relevance of Confucianism, 6 the project of a rearticulation and reconstruction of Confucianism for the modern world is far from finished. The present work aims to be a part of this extensive project.
Before we proceed, it might be helpful to give a brief survey of the present work’s background understanding of the modern world. There are of