Abstract
It is sometimes assumed that the best people—those whom it would be appropriate to admire and emulate—ought to be free of all moral defects. Numerous contemporary scholars have attributed this assumption to the early Confucian philosophers with moral perfection said to be a necessary condition for sagehood. Drawing upon the early Confucian literature I will argue in support of two claims. The first is that the early Confucians did not insist on the moral perfection of the sage; on the contrary, the sage was explicitly understood to be morally fallible. The second claim is that the early Confucians were right to reject moral perfection as a suitable ideal. I conclude with a discussion of the relative merits of taking “love of learning” (haoxue 好學)—rather than moral perfection—as one’s ideal.
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Acknowledgments
I presented earlier drafts of this essay at the 4th Northeast Conference on Chinese Thought at Southern Connecticut State University, as well as department colloquia at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Wofford College; and the University of California, Davis. I would like to express my gratitude to those who provided feedback on these occasions—especially, Steve Angle, Ari Borrell, Bruce Brooks, Matt Foust, Jim Griesemer, Asia Guzowska, Manyul Im, Ellen Neskar, Alyssa Ney, Hagop Sarkissian, and Bin Song. For their extensive comments on multiple drafts I would like to thank Andy Lambert and Jeremy Henkel. Thanks are also due to two anonymous reviewers.
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Harris, T.R. Moral Perfection as the Counterfeit of Virtue. Dao 22, 43–61 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-022-09866-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-022-09866-4