Naturalistic Ethics in a Chinese Context
Chang Tsai's Contribution
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9214465 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christian Jochim (University of Southern California, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1981 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 165 |
| Publication date | 1981-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy East and West (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8221 • E-ISSN: 1529-1898 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1399138 |
| OpenAlex | W1983517916 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 5 |
Aiming to breathe new life into naturalistic ethics, this essay considers what is, for the West, a new way of grasping the moral significance of "following nature."In doing so, it explores certain unique features in the development of Chinese naturalistic ethics and avoids interpreting this as corresponding to an early stage in the evolution of Western philosophy.The two most important features of Chinese naturalistic ethics that it explores are: (1) the idea that the naturalness of some form of human behavior is a valid criterion of its moral goodness, and (2) the view that harmony with the natural order is characteristic of a high degree of moral cultivation.Each of these corresponds to a trend in Chinese thought lasting from its "formative period" (circa 500-200 B.C.E.) up to Sung times (960-1279 C.E.).Their synthesis in the thought of Sung philosopher Chang Tsaia (1020-1077) is below shown to mark a watershed in the course of Chinese moral philosophy.The article is divided into three sections: the first deals with general problems in the area of comparative East-West studies; the second treats the two previously mentioned trends which emerged during the formative period of Chinese philosophy; and the third deals, specifically, with Chang Tsai.ON THE PRIMITIVITY OF NATURALISTIC ETHICS One form of reductionism that can plague comparative studies occurs when some foreign way of thinking is taken to correspond to an early stage in the development of one's own intellectual tradition.A case of this is evident in Donald Munro's otherwise excellent work The Concept of Man in Early China.' Commenting on the "natural basis of the social" in the thought of late Chou Confucians, he makes the remark: "When philosophical thought is just about to emerge in a society there is a tendency to read the human social order into the structure of the universe."2In the West, Munro indicates, this occurred when the pre-Socratics assigned each of their four basic elements (earth, air, fire, and water) a sphere of natural influence analogous to one of the inviolate social divisions specified by Greek tribal customs.3The Chinese, he argues, had an even stronger penchant for reading human social and moral values into nature.Not only was the social idea of proper spheres of influence read into the universe (also as part of a theory of the elements), but so were such important moral concepts as sincerity (ch'engb), humanity (jenc), and propriety (lid).In essence, the idea of cosmic order was itself abstracted from human social experience.4Munro's assessment of the role given nature in the socioethical views of late Chou philosophers has been challenged, but not due to any heightened sensitivity toward the idea that moral knowledge can be derived from, not
Archaeology · Context (archaeology) · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Geography · Naturalism · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · Philosophy · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,06 |
| Citation span | 1995 - 2025 (31) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |