Orientalism andAntivoluntarism in the History of Ethics
On Christian Wolff's Oratio de Sinarum philosophia practica
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14760656 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mark Larrimore (Princeton University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 189-219 |
| Publication date | 2000-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/0384-9694.00044 |
| OpenAlex | W2171225167 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
Christian Wolff's 1721 Discourse on the Practical Philosophy of the Chinese is generally read as championing the autonomy of ethics from religion. This is too simple: Wolff's ethics was an antivoluntarist religious ethics. The example of the Chinese confirmed for Wolff that revelation is not necessary for knowledge or practice of genuine virtue, though he held that the Chinese achieve only the first of three “degrees of virtue.” (Most Christians, including the Pietists who drove Wolff from Halle shortly after he delivered the Discourse , did not, in his judgment, achieve even that.) China's being perceived as outside of Western (and sacred) history made it a congenial example for the ethics and moral anthropology that, in Wolff's time, were struggling against the voluntarism of a Christian ethics premised on original sin
China · Epistemology · Political science · Revelation · Theology · Virtue · Virtue ethics · Voluntarism (philosophy · Chinese history and philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious studies
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.21 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2026 (15) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |