Sagehood The Contemporary Significance of Neo-Confucian Philosophy

by Angle, Stephen C.

• ISBN13: 9780195385144
• ISBN10: 0195385144
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-10-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Neo-Confucianism is the sophisticated revival of Confucian theorizing, responding to challenges from Buddhism and Daoism, which began around 1000 C.E. and came to dominate the Chinese intellectual scene for centuries thereafter. What would happen if we took Neo-Confucianism and its central ideal of sagehood seriously as contemporary philosophy? Sagehood represents supreme human virtue: a flawless, empathetic responsiveness to every situation in which one finds oneself. How could this be possible? How might one work toward such a state? According to Neo-Confucians, we should all strive to become sages, whether or not we ultimately achieve it. Taking neo-Confucianism seriously means to explore the ways that its theories of psychology, ethics, education, and politics engage with the views of contemporary philosophers. Angle's book is therefore both an exposition of Neo-Confucian philosophy and a sustained dialogue with many leading Western thinkers--and especially with those philosophers leading the current renewal of interest in virtue ethics. The book's significance is two-fold: it argues for a new stage in the development of contemporary Confucian philosophy, and it demonstrates the value to Western philosophers of engaging with the Neo-Confucian tradition.

Author Biography

Stephen C. Angle is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Preface

Chronology and Dramatis Personae

Keywords

Sheng/Sage

""Sage"" in the Confucian Tradition

Historical Survey

Neo-Confucianism

Shengren versus Junzi

Western Ideals

Greece

Contemporary Saints and Heroes

Concerns About Sagehood

Is Sagehood Realistic?

Is Sagehood Desirable?

Li/Coherence

First Steps

Subjective and Objective

Nature and Subjectivity

Settled Coherence and Objectivity

Li and Qi

One and Many

Normativity and Creativity

De/Virtue

Virtue as a Bridge Concept

Early ""De""

Neo-Confucian ""De""

Final Thoughts

He/Harmony

Early Classical Sources

Complementary Differences

Natural Patterns and Creativity

The Zhongyong (""Doctrine of the Mean"")

Song Neo-Confucianism

Wang Yangming: Summary and Initial Engagement

Harmony, Coherence and One Body

A Contemporary Example

Politics

Ethics and Psychology

The Scope of Ethics: Dialogue with Slote and Murdoch

Balance and Harmony in Slote's Agent-Based Ethics

Caring, Humaneness (Ren), and Empathy

Two Kinds of Balance

The Motivation for Overall Balance

Agent-Basing

Reverence

Murdoch on the Importance of a Transcendent Good

Unity, Mystery, and Faith

Selflessness

Conclusion: The Scope of Ethics

Challenging Harmony: Consistency, Conflicts, and the Status Quo

Nussbaum and Stohr Against ""Harmony""

Imagination

Maximization

Residue

Complicating the Picture

Grief versus Regret

Dimensions of Dilemmas

Emotional Vanilla?

Myers's Challenge

Neo-Confucians on Anger

Conclusions

Sagely Ease and Ethical Perception

Wang Yangming on Analects 2:4 the Centrality of ""Commitment""

Commitment in Classical Texts

Commitment in Wang Yangming

Deepening Our Commitment

Connecting ""Commitment"" to ""Unity of Knowledge and Action""

Cua on commitment to realizing a harmonious world

Active Moral Perception

Creativity Revisited

A Fuller Picture

Murdoch on M and D

Intrusions of the Self

""True Vision Occasions Right Conduct""

Education and Politics

Learning to Look for Harmony

Stages of Ethical Education

Lesser Learning

Establishing a Commitment

Matur(ing) Commitment

Practices of self-improvement

Spiritual Exercises

Ritual

Reading

Attention - First Steps

Reverence

Further Implications

Reverence and Coherence

Self-Restraint and Quiet Sitting

Conclusion

Engaging Practices

The Nature of Commitments

Stages and the Accessibility of Sagely Ideals

Attention Revisited

Imagination and Fantasy

Dialogue

Faith and Belief

The Political Problem

Introduction: The Trouble with Sagehood

Sage and Politics in Song-Qing Neo-Confucianism

Sage-King ideal

Limits and Guidance

Ritual

Institutions

Vaulting Ambition: Rulers Who Think They are Sages

Confucian Soft Authoritarianism

Separating the Moral from the Political?

Yu Yingshi and Xu Fuguan

Mou Zongsan

Sages and Politics: A Way Forward

Perfection and Fallibility

Reverence and Ritual

Perfectionism and Institutions

Moderate Perfectionism

Confucian State Perfectionism

Specificity and Particularism

Participation

Three Arguments

Implications and Objections

Laws and Rights as a System of Second Resort

Rule by Law

Law and Morality

A Confucian Approach

Conclusion: The Future of Contemporary Confucianisms

Bibliography

Index Locorum

General Index

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