Mencius on Becoming Human

Jim Behuniak

Description

Using current research from traditional sources and newly unearthed documents dating from the Warring States period (403–221 B.C.E.), Mencius on Becoming Human offers a timely interpretation of a central text in the Confucian canon. The author carefully reconstructs the philosophical assumptions that underwrite the teachings of the Mencius, returning the text to its native intellectual world. The result is a compelling new reading of an ancient classic, one that is both sensitive to the details of historical context and contemporary in its philosophical implications.

James Behuniak Jr. argues that the notion of an essential, ahistorical "human nature" is not part of the process of "becoming human" outlined in the Mencius. Rather, becoming human is described as a process of developing a qualitatively "human" disposition within specific cultural and historical conditions as these are understood within a Warring States cosmology. The central themes of the Menciusthe importance of family, moral development, and human advancementare each discussed within this reconstructed framework.
Acknowledgments

Introduction

Sketch of the Argument
Methodology and Key Terms

1. The Cosmological Background

Energy and Propensity
Shape and Spontaneity
Disposition and Spontaneity
Zhuangzi and Shape
Characteristics of Chinese Cosmology

2. The Role of Feeling

Feeling, Doctrine, and Dao
Feeling as Transactional
Aspiration and Courage
Internal/External and the Botanical Model
Desire, Coherence, and Integration

3. Family and Moral Development

Spontaneous vs. Technical Approaches
The Mohist Challenge
Recovering the Confucian Measure
Family as the Root
Family and Extension

4. The Human Disposition

Relationships and the Human Disposition
The Human Disposition as Good
The Four Sprouts and the Family
The Satisfaction of Becoming Human
The Value of the Person

5. Advancing the Human Way

The Constraints on Aspiration
The Conditions for Political Legitimacy
The Conditions for Human Achievement
Human Virtue in the Sacrifices
Aspiration and the Human Way

Afterword

Notes

References

Index

Sujets

• East Asian religions
• Confucianism

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 11 novembre 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791484388
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

mencius on becoming human

james behuniak jr.

Mencius on Becoming Human

SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture

Roger T. Ames, editor

Mencius on Becoming Human

James Behuniak Jr.

State University of New York Press

For My Family

Acknowledgments

Contents

Introduction Sketch of the Argument Methodology and Key Terms

Chapter 1 The Cosmological Background Energy and Propensity Shape and Spontaneity Disposition and Spontaneity Zhuangzi and Shape Characteristics of Chinese Cosmology

Chapter 2 The Role of Feeling Feeling, Doctrine, andDao Feeling as Transactional Aspiration and Courage Internal/External and the Botanical Model Desire, Coherence, and Integration

Chapter 3 Family and Moral Development Spontaneousvs.Technical Approaches The Mohist Challenge Recovering the Confucian Measure Family as the Root Family and Extension

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1 1 6 10 14 17

23 23 26 32 37 41

47 47 50 53 59 64

Shen Zhou,Three Catalpa Trees(hanging scroll), about 1481, ink on paper. Used with the kind permission of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Lilly.

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Contents

Chapter 4 The Human Disposition Relationships and the Human Disposition The Human Disposition as Good The Four Sprouts and the Family The Satisfaction of Becoming Human The Value of the Person

Chapter 5 Advancing the Human Way The Constraints on Aspiration The Conditions for Political Legitimacy The Conditions for Human Achievement Human Virtue in the Sacrifices Aspiration and the Human Way

Afterword Notes References Index

73 73 80 87 90 95

101 101 109 111 114 121

129 133 173 179

Acknowledgments

The present work was completed as a Visiting Research Scholar at Peking University over the academic year 2001/2002. Beijing was an ideal place to work and I am grateful to the following institutions for their support: the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Hawaii, the Harvard-Yenching Institute at Harvard University, and the Office of International Relations at Peking University. This work began as a dissertation in the Department of Philoso- phy at the University of Hawaii. I thank Roger Ames for several years of instruction, endless encouragement, deep generosity, and real friend- ship while in Hawaii, as well as for many hours of conversation during our year in Beijing. I also thank members of the Ames family, Roger, Bonnie, and Austin, for their hospitality. I thank Geir Sigurdsson for being a great friend in Beijing and for keeping me relatively sane as I worked on this project. I also owe a lot to Jim Tiles who, from a quarter of the world away, prompted me to think through my argument at every turn. I also thank Eliot Deutsch, Steve Odin, and Edward Davis for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this work. Any weaknesses that carry over into the present draft are my own. I wish to thank Joseph Grange, who has been a professor, mentor, and friend to me for many years. If I had not wandered into Joe’s course in Metaphysics at the University of Southern Maine many years ago, many things including this book would never have materialized. I will never forget that Joe Grange made me a philosopher. I would like to thank and credit my classmates and instructors from the University of Hawaii, as well as my students and colleagues from Southern Maine, Kalamazoo College, and Sonoma State University, for helping me do philosophy. I thank all of my friends, and I especially

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