When Socrates meets Confucius
When Socrates meets Confucius
Emotionales versus Rationales:
A Comparison between Confucius and Socrates
ABSTRACT Socrates regards rational knowledge as the decisive factor of human life and even ascribes all virtues and moral actions to it, thereby stressing the ‘rationales’ of ethics. In contrast, Confucius regards kinship love as the decisive factor of human life and even grounds all virtues and moral actions on it, thereby stressing the ‘emotionales’ of ethics. Therefore, we should not lump them by conceiving Confucius’ ethics also as the so-called ‘moral reason’.
KEY WORDS emotionale, rationale, Confucius, Socrates, ethic
As the founders, respectively, of the Chinese and Greek ethical traditions, Confucius and Socrates are always an attractive theme of comparative studies, and a quite popular belief in these studies is that they display a similar tendency towards ‘moral reason’ or even ‘rationalism’.[2] Through a close reading of the Lunyu (Analects) and the Memorabilia of Xenophon as well as some of Plato’s early dialogues,[3] this article tries to argue that, in striking contrast to the ‘rationales’ stressed by Socrates’ ethics, Confucius’ ethics presents a characteristic spirit of ‘moral emotion’ and takes ‘emotionales’ as the governing principles of moral life.
1. Affection versus Knowledge
As is well known, Socrates’ philosophy shows a very marked and even radical tendency to emphasize rational knowledge. He is usually thought to be the first Greek philosopher who not only discusses human affairs through rational inquiry but also establishes the dominant position of moral reason in the tradition of Western ethics.
On Socrates’ conception, the rational soul is the most distinct character of the human being from other animals. He argues that the gods have implanted in human beings the noblest type of soul with the faculty of reasoning, whereby human beings are able to apprehend the existence of gods, to acquire knowledge by toil, and to
Emotionales versus Rationales:
A Comparison between Confucius and Socrates
ABSTRACT Socrates regards rational knowledge as the decisive factor of human life and even ascribes all virtues and moral actions to it, thereby stressing the ‘rationales’ of ethics. In contrast, Confucius regards kinship love as the decisive factor of human life and even grounds all virtues and moral actions on it, thereby stressing the ‘emotionales’ of ethics. Therefore, we should not lump them by conceiving Confucius’ ethics also as the so-called ‘moral reason’.
KEY WORDS emotionale, rationale, Confucius, Socrates, ethic
As the founders, respectively, of the Chinese and Greek ethical traditions, Confucius and Socrates are always an attractive theme of comparative studies, and a quite popular belief in these studies is that they display a similar tendency towards ‘moral reason’ or even ‘rationalism’.[2] Through a close reading of the Lunyu (Analects) and the Memorabilia of Xenophon as well as some of Plato’s early dialogues,[3] this article tries to argue that, in striking contrast to the ‘rationales’ stressed by Socrates’ ethics, Confucius’ ethics presents a characteristic spirit of ‘moral emotion’ and takes ‘emotionales’ as the governing principles of moral life.
1. Affection versus Knowledge
As is well known, Socrates’ philosophy shows a very marked and even radical tendency to emphasize rational knowledge. He is usually thought to be the first Greek philosopher who not only discusses human affairs through rational inquiry but also establishes the dominant position of moral reason in the tradition of Western ethics.
On Socrates’ conception, the rational soul is the most distinct character of the human being from other animals. He argues that the gods have implanted in human beings the noblest type of soul with the faculty of reasoning, whereby human beings are able to apprehend the existence of gods, to acquire knowledge by toil, and to