Abstract
This article investigates Michael Slote’s call for rebalancing Western moral philosophy by using Chinese philosophy, especially Confucianism, as a form of moral sentimentalism. I agree with the need for a correction of the over reliance on reason in Western moral philosophy, but I reject the rational/sentimental dichotomy and focus on the importance of the will. I make use of the important contribution made by Daoism and the conduct concept of wu-wei 無為. I explain the use of wu-wei in Daoist texts as a nominative to denote a type of conduct, as a verb in moral imperatives, and as an aspiration for human moral behavior. I consider how appropriating this concept into Western moral thought offers significant solutions to three seemingly intractable problems: weakness of will, universalization of moral duties, and the conception of life as plagued by moral dilemmas. I conclude that wu-wei is not the result of some experience of alternative consciousness. It is an alternative consciousness that is shown in behavior, but not able to be said in language.
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Acknowledgment
This essay was originally prepared for the International Conference on Slote Encountering Chinese Philosophy, March 15–17, 2018, sponsored by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Kaifeng Foundation of China.
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Littlejohn, R. Which Button Do I Push? More Thoughts on Resetting Moral Philosophy in the Western Tradition. Dao 20, 49–67 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-020-09761-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-020-09761-w