Abstract
It is a notable phenomenon in recent East-West comparative philosophy that Confucian communitarianism is proposed as an alternative to Western liberal individualism in a forward- rather than backward-looking spirit.2 What proponents of Confucianism often single out as particularly worthy of endorsement in an age chastened by antifoundationalism and historicism is the Confucian relational concept of the person. They claim that this concept is both epistemically more cogent and ethically more attractive than the liberal individualistic concept of the person. They see in this concept no just a better alternative regarding specific problems but a superior framework for dealing with a whole range of social and ethical issues, from the environment to human rights to bioethics, in which liberal individualism is often handicapped by its epistemic and moral biases.
Reprinted with permission: 1999 Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 9 (4), 325-346.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ames, R.T. (1988) Rites as Rights: The Confucian Alternative, in Rouner, L.S. (ed.) Human Rights and the World’s Religions, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, 199–216.
Chan, W.T. (1963) A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Dong, Z. (1989) Chungiufanlu, Shanghai guji Chubanshe, Shanghai.
Feng, E., et al. (1994) Zhongguo zongzu shehui, Jejiang renmin chubanshe, Hangzhou.
Habermas, J. (1990) Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, trans. C. Lenhardt and S. Weber Nicholsen, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Habermas, J. (1995) Reconciliation through the Public Use of Reason: Remarks on John Rawl’s Political Liberalism, Journal of Philosophy 92, 109–31.
Hall, D.L. and Ames, R.T. (1987) Thinking Through Confucius, State University of New York Press, Albany.
Hansen, C. (1985) Individualism in Chinese Thought, in Munro, D. (ed.) Individualism and Holism: Studies in Confucian and Taoist Values, Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Hui E.C. (1998) Jen and Perichoresis: The Confucian and Christian Bases of the Relational Person, in Becker, G.K. (ed.) The Moral Status of Persons: Perspectives on Bioethics, Rodopi, Amsterdam, Atlanta.
Jiang, Q. (1989) Zhongguo dalu fuzing ruxue de xianshi yiyi jigi mianlin de wenti (1), Ehu yuekan 15, 29–38.
King, A.Y.C. (1985) The Individual and Group in Confucianism: A Relational Perspective, in Munro D. (ed.) Individualism and Holism: Studies in Confucian and Taoist Values, Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 57–70.
Lee, K.S. (1994) Some Confucian Reflections on the Concept of Autonomous Individual, Journal of Chinese Philosophy 21, 49–59.
Lee, S.H. (1992) Was There a Concept of Rights in Confucian Virtue-Based Morality? Journal of Chinese Philosophy 19, 241–61.
Liao, S. and Sun, C. (eds) (1997) Lunli xinshidian: zhuanxing shiqi de shehui lunli yu daode, Zhongguo shehui kexue chabanshe, Beijing.
Marx, K. (1964) The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, trans. M. Milligan, International Publishers, New York.
Rosemont, H. (1991) Rights-Bearing Individuals and Role-Bearing Persons, in Bockover, M.I. (ed.) Rules, Rituals, and Responsibility: Essays Dedicated to Herbert Fingarette, Open Court, LaSalle, IL.
Ruan, J. (1996) Rujia wenhua chuantong yu dangdai daode jiangou, Zhexue yanjiu 4, 38–45.
Tao, J. (1990) The Chinese Moral Ethos and the Concept of Individual Rights, Journal of Applied Philosophy 7, 119–27
Tao, J. 1998, `Confucianism, in Chadwick R. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, Vol. 1, Academic Press, San Diego, 597–608.
Yang, S. (1991) Zhongxi renlun de chongtu, Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe, Beijing.
Zhang, D. (1989) Zhongguo lunli sixiang yianjiu, Shanghai renmin chubanshe, Shanghai.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ci, J. (1999). The Confucian Relation Concept of the Person and Its Modern Predicament. In: Personhood and Health Care. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2572-9_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2572-9_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5858-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2572-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive