Why Be Moral?: Learning from the Neo-Confucian Cheng Brothers

360 Pages·2014·5.609 MB·English

by  Yong Huang

Why Be Moral?
SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture
—————
Roger T. Ames, editor
Why Be Moral?
Learning from the
Neo-Confucian Cheng Brothers
YONG HUANG
Cover Calligraphy: Peimin Ni
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2014 State University of New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Huang, Yong.
Why be moral? : learning from the neo-Confucian Cheng Brothers / Yong Huang.
pages cm. — (SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5291-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Ethics—China. 2. Neo-Confucianism. 3. Cheng, Yi, 1033–1107. 4. Cheng,
Hao, 1032–1085. I. Title.
BJ1185.C5H828 2014
170.951—dc23 2013040988
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Qinfang

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Introduction 1
2. Possibility of Comparative Philosophy 2
3. How to Do Comparative Philosophy 7
4. The Neo-Confucian Cheng Brothers 13
5. Looking Ahead 18
6. Conclusion 25
Chapter 1
Joy (le 樂): “Why Be Moral?” 27
1. Introduction 27
2. The Question of “Why Be Moral?” 28
3. Representative Answers in Western Philosophy and
Their Inadequacies 34
4. The Chengs’ Neo-Confucian Answer: Joy in Being Moral 43
5. Joy and Knowledge 49
6. To Be Moral and to Be Human 54
7. Conclusion 61
Chapter 2
Virtue (de 德): Is a Virtuous Person Self-Centered? 63
1. Introduction 63
2. Virtue Ethics and Confucian Ethics 64
3. The Self-Centeredness Objection: The First Level 68
4. Virtue and Human Nature 73
5. The Self-Centeredness Objection: The Second Level 81
6. The Self-Centeredness Objection: The Foundational Level 92
7. Conclusion 98
viii Contents
Chapter 3
Knowledge (zhi 知): How Is Weakness of the Will (akrasia)
Not Possible? 99
1. Introduction 99
2. The Problem of Weakness of the Will in Western Philosophy 101
3. Knowledge and Action: Why Is Weakness of the Will
Not Possible? 105
4. Knowledge of/as Virtue versus Knowledge from Hearing
and Seeing: How Is Weakness of the Will Not Possible? 112
5. Cheng Brothers versus Socrates and Aristotle 115
6. Absence of Weakness of the Will and the Presence of
Moral Responsibility 121
7. Conclusion 128
Chapter 4
Love (ai 愛): Ethics between Theory and Antitheory 131
1. Introduction 131
2. The Ethics of Commonality and Its Problem 132
3. Love with Distinction 136
4. Extension of Love 144
5. Training of Emotions 152
6. Conclusion 159
Chapter 5
Propriety (li 禮): Why the Political Is Also Personal 161
1. Introduction 161
2. The Political/Personal Division in the Liberal Tradition
and Its Problems 162
3. The Possibility of a Confucian Political Philosophy 168
4. Propriety as External Rules 171
5. Propriety as Inner Feelings 176
6. Propriety as Human Nature 181
7. Defending the Neo-Confucian Conception of Propriety
as a Political Philosophy 187
8. Conclusion 194
Chapter 6
Creativity (li 理): The Metaphysic of Morals or Moral Metaphysics? 195
1. Introduction 195
2. Metaphysic of Morals, Moral Theology, and Moral Metaphysics 196
Contents ix
3. Li: Ontological Articulation of Confucian Morality 200
4. Sheng 生 (Life-Giving Activity): Dereification of the
Ultimate Reality 208
5. Shen 神 (Divinity or God): Toward a Confucian Theology 214
6. Conclusion 221
Chapter 7
Classics (Jing 經): Hermeneutics as a Practical Learning 223
1. Introduction 223
2. Classics as Carriers of Dao (Jing Yi Zai Dao 經以載道) 224
3. To Grasp Dao through Classics (You Jing
Qiong Li 由經窮理) 227
4. Multiple Ways to Dao (Qiong Li Duo Duan 窮理多端) 231
5. Hermeneutics as a Practical Learning (Jingxue Shixue
Ye 經學實學也) 236
6. Hermeneutic Circles (Jiao Xiang Yang Ye 交相養也) 239
7. Conclusion 241
Appendix
Neo-Confucian Hermeneutics at Work: Cheng Yi’s Philosophical
Interpretation of Analects 8.9 and 17.3 243
1. Introduction 243
2. Conventional Interpretations of Analects 8.9 244
3. Cheng Yi’s Interpretation of Analects 8.9 249
4. Conventional Interpretation of Analects 17.3 254
5. Cheng Yi’s Interpretation of Analects 17.3 259
6. The Role of Sages: Education 263
7. Conclusion 267
Notes 269
Bibliography 309
Index 327