Wk 6 R1 Notes PDF

Qingjuan Sun Relationship between Confucian and care ethics  Rejects two approaches: i) Confucian and Mencius ethics as care; ii) Confucian ethics and care ethics as virtue ethics Old view: Confucian ethics embraces care and justice Li: different ethics may embrace single value but have dif...

Qingjuan Sun Relationship between Confucian and care ethics  Rejects two approaches: i) Confucian and Mencius ethics as care; ii) Confucian ethics and care ethics as virtue ethics Old view: Confucian ethics embraces care and justice Li: different ethics may embrace single value but have different ways of constituting it The two contradict each other, can’t be configured into a single value system  Differs with Li: ren (benevolence) is not the uppermost in Confucianism, but at times, li (ritual propriety) is uppermost The other two virtues are yi (righteousness) and zhi (wisdom) No priority is placed on any All four are indistinct An agent cannot act on the basis of one virtue only, eg Mencius uses ren and yi together This is meant to show different emphasis in different roles of agents  Equal importance of these four virtues is reason why Mencius promotes virtue of ren(benevolence) and yi(righteousness) simultaneously Yi (by virtue of its rootedness in disdain) restricts ren Disdain has two components: feeling of shame and of dislike Former refers to feelings one has of the self when not morally good, and the latter refers to feelings one has of others when they are not morally good People must apply both feelings without abusing them Specific relationships determine the virtue to emphasise eg father and son = ren; ruler-minister relationship is guided by yi  On the other hand care ethics is about the other, not the carer Care can lead to the carer doing the absurd (moved by feelings for the other) – eg of mother who hides son’s killing of her mother-in-law’s best friend as well as hiding her unmarried daughter’s pregnancy (pretending to be her own (mother)); example of lawyer torn between doing what is right for her client as well as not harming her opponents Mencius’s ren (benevolence) or caring is not the most important consideration In Mencius, personal/subjective feelings are not even wanted (empathy and compassion must be put aside) – yet these are central to care ethics  Rejection II: Confucius Ethics is Care Ethics 1. Caring cannot be reduced to jen (which is also ren), it is only a part of it 2. jen and caring do not pursue universal principles 3. both promote their ideals with gradations There is no alignment between jen and care in care ethics  Holds that care is particular while Confucianism holds general principles Also, li serves as a general principle guiding ren Ren is internalization of li Though li is not ultimate, it is indispensable for realization of ren  Rejection III: Care ethics is merely a virtue ethics While gradation is true for both, that of ren is different from caring Confucian love begins and prefers those familiar Confucian Golden Rule: “Do not impose on others what you, yourself, do not desire” Give others what you want – limitation: do others want what you want In contrast, care ethics is other-concerned No other concern for the carer, except the needs of the cared for