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Full-Text Articles in Ethics and Political Philosophy

The Analects And Moral Theory, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2012

The Analects And Moral Theory, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Over the last century, scholars both within China and without have considered how the Analects relates to modern, Western philosophy. Should we think of the Analects—or the early Confucian tradition more broadly—as “philosophy,” and if so, should we seek to analyze its contents in terms of Western philosophical categories? With regard to the ethical teachings in the text, a more specific concern has also been raised: does it make sense to think of the Analects as engaging in “moral” theory, or is its framework adequately different from modern Western moral philosophy that a different set of categories are necessary?1 …


The Analects And Moral Theory, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2012

The Analects And Moral Theory, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Over the last century, scholars both within China and without have considered how the Analects relates to modern, Western philosophy. Should we think of the Analects—or the early Confucian tradition more broadly—as “philosophy,” and if so, should we seek to analyze its contents in terms of Western philosophical categories? With regard to the ethical teachings in the text, a more specific concern has also been raised: does it make sense to think of the Analects as engaging in “moral” theory, or is its framework adequately different from modern Western moral philosophy that a different set of categories are necessary?1 …


Is Conscientiousness A Virtue? Confucian Responses, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2012

Is Conscientiousness A Virtue? Confucian Responses, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Among contemporary philosophers sympathetic to the theoretical centrality of virtue, there is little agreement on the status of conscientiousness. Indeed, there is little agreement even on what the word “conscientiousness” means; for the time being, let us take it to mean consciously ensuring that one does one’s duty. Adams and Wallace both take conscientiousness to be a virtue, whereas Roberts calls it a “quasi-virtue” and Slote argues that it is both different from and inferior to virtue.The landscape becomes still more complicated when we add in the vexed concept of “continence,” which we can initially gloss as forcing oneself to …


Review Of Dallmayr And Zhao :Contemporary Chinese Political Thought, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2012

Review Of Dallmayr And Zhao :Contemporary Chinese Political Thought, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Judging by its contents, Contemporary Chinese Political Thought has two, somewhat different goals. On the one hand, it seeks to offer a broad, accessible introduction to the diversity of current Chinese political thinking. On the other hand, it also wants to give readers the opportunity to delve more deeply into some of the contested issues; in this way, the volume aims to display examples of the most innovative current thinking. The result is a somewhat uneven collection that succeeds partially at each goal. There is certainly much to recommend here, as I will explain, and even the volume’s shortcomings are …


Review Of Jiang: A Confucian Constitutional Order - How China’S Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Future, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2012

Review Of Jiang: A Confucian Constitutional Order - How China’S Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Future, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

How important is Jiang Qing, whose extraordinary proposals for political change make up the core of the new book A Confucian Constitutional Order: How China’s Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Future? In his Introduction to the volume, co- editor Daniel Bell maintains that Jiang’s views are “intensely controversial” and that conversations about political reform in China rarely fail to turn to Jiang’s pro- posals. At least in my experience, this is something of an exaggeration. Chinese pol- itical thinking today is highly pluralistic, and for many participants Jiang is simply a curiosity—if indeed they are aware of him. …


Reply To Critics [Of Sagehood], Stephen C. Angle Dec 2012

Reply To Critics [Of Sagehood], Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

One could ask for no more generous yet stimulating a set of critics than Professors Swanton, Tiwald, and Marchal.1 In this short reply, I will take up each in turn. 


A Response To Thorian Harris, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2011

A Response To Thorian Harris, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Philosophy is best conducted face-to-face, because it is in the continual back-and- forth of learning and teaching that takes place in conversation that we make the most progress. The opportunity to reply to a charitable and yet challenging review of one’s book, I have now discovered, is a surprisingly close approximation to face-to-face philosophy. This is all the more true when I have already learned from the reviewer’s teachers, was responding (in part) to them in my book, and now Thorian Harris offers his own perspective. I hope that my replies here, and Harris’s subsequent rejoinder, can help make the …


Review Of Zhang, Kleinman, And Tu: Governance In Life In Chinese Moral Experience, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2011

Review Of Zhang, Kleinman, And Tu: Governance In Life In Chinese Moral Experience, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

The goal of the volume under review is to articulate the ways in which the governance of life in China has transformed over the last three decades. Under Mao, power was deployed toward the twin goals of maintaining “sovereignty” (i.e., Mao as ruler) and achieving utopian revolution; in the subsequent reform era, power has been increasingly exercised as “governmentality,” whereby the regime seeks to control and enhance the state’s population. The volume’s authors tend to agree that under the new configuration of power, citizens’ achievements of “adequate lives” has come to be valued as it was not under Mao. The …


人权与中国思想的中文版序 [Preface To The Chinese Edition Of Human Rights And Chinese Thought], Stephen C. Angle Dec 2011

人权与中国思想的中文版序 [Preface To The Chinese Edition Of Human Rights And Chinese Thought], Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

自本书首次出版以来的这些年中,东西方的学者和普通公民仍在继续探讨人权的普遍性 与历史和文化特殊性之间的关系问题。中国在经济和政治实力方面的不断崛起无疑也增加了 中国人希望看到中国价值观崛起的渴望:一个拥有五千年文明历史的国家当然可以给当代世 界的贡献很多东西。近几年来,中国在“普适价值观”的倡导者与“中国模式”的支持者之 间掀起了一场广泛的争论。当然,人权并非是此场争论的唯一主题,争论也涵盖了经济和政 治组织、自由和福利之类的一般价值观,以及全世界是否或应否趋向一套单一的价值观等问 题。也许从此争论中可以得到的一个启示是,无论是对“普适价值观”还是对单纯“中国模 式”的单一理解而言,没有一个答案会适用于所有这些不同领域。 


牟宗三论自我坎陷: 诠释与辩护, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2011

牟宗三论自我坎陷: 诠释与辩护, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

No abstract


A Productive Dialogue: Contemporary Moral Education And Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian Ethics, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2011

A Productive Dialogue: Contemporary Moral Education And Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian Ethics, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

The essay asks whether contemporary Western empirical studies of moral education, as exemplified in the distinctive research programs of Lawrence Kohlberg and Martin Hoffman, can enter into productive dialogue with the Neo-Confucian theories of Zhu Xi (1130-1200). The proposed dialogue proceeds in two stages. I begin with Zhu’s notion of “lesser learning” and the role therein of ritual, and consider their relations to Kohlberg’s ideas about the construction of moral rules and Hoffman’s findings concerning parental discipline (and particularly “induction”). The second stage turns to Zhu’s “greater learning” and its central concept of reverence, which I explain is best understood …


Review Of Zhang, Kleinman, And Tu: Governance In Life In Chinese Moral Experience, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2011

Review Of Zhang, Kleinman, And Tu: Governance In Life In Chinese Moral Experience, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

The goal of the volume under review is to articulate the ways in which the governance of life in China has transformed over the last three decades. Under Mao, power was deployed toward the twin goals of maintaining “sovereignty” (i.e., Mao as ruler) and achieving utopian revolution; in the subsequent reform era, power has been increasingly exercised as “governmentality,” whereby the regime seeks to control and enhance the state’s population. The volume’s authors tend to agree that under the new configuration of power, citizens’ achievements of “adequate lives” has come to be valued as it was not under Mao. The …


Review Of Zhang, Kleinman, And Tu: Governance In Life In Chinese Moral Experience, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2011

Review Of Zhang, Kleinman, And Tu: Governance In Life In Chinese Moral Experience, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

The goal of the volume under review is to articulate the ways in which the governance of life in China has transformed over the last three decades. Under Mao, power was deployed toward the twin goals of maintaining “sovereignty” (i.e., Mao as ruler) and achieving utopian revolution; in the subsequent reform era, power has been increasingly exercised as “governmentality,” whereby the regime seeks to control and enhance the state’s population. The volume’s authors tend to agree that under the new configuration of power, citizens’ achievements of “adequate lives” has come to be valued as it was not under Mao. The …


A Productive Dialogue: Contemporary Moral Education And Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian Ethics, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2011

A Productive Dialogue: Contemporary Moral Education And Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian Ethics, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

The essay asks whether contemporary Western empirical studies of moral education, as exemplified in the distinctive research programs of Lawrence Kohlberg and Martin Hoffman, can enter into productive dialogue with the Neo-Confucian theories of Zhu Xi (1130-1200). The proposed dialogue proceeds in two stages. I begin with Zhu’s notion of “lesser learning” and the role therein of ritual, and consider their relations to Kohlberg’s ideas about the construction of moral rules and Hoffman’s findings concerning parental discipline (and particularly “induction”). The second stage turns to Zhu’s “greater learning” and its central concept of reverence, which I explain is best understood …


Review Of Zhang, Kleinman, And Tu: Governance In Life In Chinese Moral Experience, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2011

Review Of Zhang, Kleinman, And Tu: Governance In Life In Chinese Moral Experience, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

The goal of the volume under review is to articulate the ways in which the governance of life in China has transformed over the last three decades. Under Mao, power was deployed toward the twin goals of maintaining “sovereignty” (i.e., Mao as ruler) and achieving utopian revolution; in the subsequent reform era, power has been increasingly exercised as “governmentality,” whereby the regime seeks to control and enhance the state’s population. The volume’s authors tend to agree that under the new configuration of power, citizens’ achievements of “adequate lives” has come to be valued as it was not under Mao. The …


Piecemeal Progress, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2010

Piecemeal Progress, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

What relevance do alternative moral traditions, such as early Chinese ethical thinking, have for people in the contemporary world? For example, suppose that we can find in early Confucian ethics particular values that are distinctively different from Western notions. How important would such a finding be today? According to three influential accounts of comparative ethics, the presence (or absence) of any given concept is not, on its own, of much significance. Chad Hansen, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Thomas Metzger all emphasize the importance of holistic units of analysis like “traditions” and “discourses” rather than focusing on individual ideas; all would suggest …


Neither Morality Nor Law: Ritual Propriety As Confucian Civility, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2010

Neither Morality Nor Law: Ritual Propriety As Confucian Civility, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

It is common for recent authors on the topic of “civility” to spend some time sketching
the history of their subject.1 One narrative goes like this: civility emerges in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and is part of a larger trend toward disciplining bodily appetites that enables a new kind of cooperation among individuals. Civility interweaves politeness and political respect; it undergirds modern notions of republicanism, civil society, and the public good. In more recent decades—some writers point to World War I as a turning point, but for others, it is the 1960s—civility has declined or at least changed …


Neither Morality Nor Law: Ritual Propriety As Confucian Civility, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2010

Neither Morality Nor Law: Ritual Propriety As Confucian Civility, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

It is common for recent authors on the topic of “civility” to spend some time sketching
the history of their subject.1 One narrative goes like this: civility emerges in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and is part of a larger trend toward disciplining bodily appetites that enables a new kind of cooperation among individuals. Civility interweaves politeness and political respect; it undergirds modern notions of republicanism, civil society, and the public good. In more recent decades—some writers point to World War I as a turning point, but for others, it is the 1960s—civility has declined or at least changed …


Translating And Interpreting The Mengzi: Virtue, Obligation, And Discretion, Stephen C. Angle Nov 2010

Translating And Interpreting The Mengzi: Virtue, Obligation, And Discretion, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

The essay focuses on two aspects of the translation and interpretation of Mengzi in Bryan Van Norden’s new translation. First, I argue that Van Norden’s explanation of virtues in terms of obligations is potentially problematic, and show instances in which this unusual understanding of virtue influences the translation itself. Second, I highlight the ways in which Van Norden’s translation and commentary have effectively thematized the role of “discretion (quan )” in Mengzi’s text, and make some suggestions for how we can arrive at an even deeper understanding of this important concept. 


A Reply To Ruiping Fan, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2009

A Reply To Ruiping Fan, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

I have been offered the chance for a brief reply to Professor FAN’s response to my review, and would like to make just two points. In the penultimate paragraph of his response, Professor FAN raises the question of the efficacy of Confucian moral commitments in contemporary China, and suggests that we can get evidence of this efficacy by comparing China with Eastern Europe. I agree that such a comparison may be very helpful, but suggest that it cannot be undertaken in a superficial way. For one thing, the differences between the two regions are more complicated than …


Review Of Ruiping Fan- Reconstructionist Confucianism, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2009

Review Of Ruiping Fan- Reconstructionist Confucianism, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Reconstructionist Confucianism is fascinating, provocative, and in several ways novel. It is the first English-language, full-length effort to re-articulate Confucianism so that it speaks to the specific ethical challenges of the contemporary world. Fan’s background as a bioethicist enables him to enter deeply into a series of moral and political issues. Furthermore, FAN’s methodology is distinctive and his conclusions are quite at odds with much that has been written about contemporary Confucianism. As such, the book deserves broad attention: readers with a wide range of backgrounds and research agendas will find stimulating arguments to engage them. Having found …


Wang Yangming As Virtue Ethicist, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2009

Wang Yangming As Virtue Ethicist, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Three ideas are implicit in the title of this chapter. To begin with, it is constructive to view
WANG Yangming 王陽明 (1472-1529), widely acknowledged as the most influential Confucian
thinker of the Ming dynasty, as a virtue ethicist. Second, because Wang has much in common with many other Neo-Confucian philosophers, the Neo-Confucian approach to ethics quite generally can be fruitfully understood as a type of virtue ethics. If this is true, then a third idea also follows, namely that Western virtue ethicists should pay attention to Wang and to Neo- Confucian philosophy, because here is a new (to the …


Rethinking Confucian Authority And Rejecting Confucian Authoritarianism, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2009

Rethinking Confucian Authority And Rejecting Confucian Authoritarianism, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Early Confucianism saw "Tian" 天 or Heaven as the source of authority, as kings ruled in accord with its "mandate." The clearest communication of Tian's intentions comes through the actions of the "people" (min 民), whose well beingthus forms the bedrock of Confucian politics. The essay begins by rehearsing the strengths and the limitations of such a framework, as well as pointing to a tnesion concerning the status of "the people" that runs throughout traditional Confucianism. Next, I analyze Kang Xiaoguang's 康小光 contemporary Chinese effort to justify an authoritarian state by means of an only modestly revised version of …


Rethinking Confucian Authority And Rejecting Confucian Authoritarianism, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2009

Rethinking Confucian Authority And Rejecting Confucian Authoritarianism, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Early Confucianism saw "Tian" 天 or Heaven as the source of authority, as kings ruled in accord with its "mandate." The clearest communication of Tian's intentions comes through the actions of the "people" (min 民), whose well beingthus forms the bedrock of Confucian politics. The essay begins by rehearsing the strengths and the limitations of such a framework, as well as pointing to a tnesion concerning the status of "the people" that runs throughout traditional Confucianism. Next, I analyze Kang Xiaoguang's 康小光 contemporary Chinese effort to justify an authoritarian state by means of an only modestly revised version of …


Wang Yangming As Virtue Ethicist, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2009

Wang Yangming As Virtue Ethicist, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Three ideas are implicit in the title of this chapter. To begin with, it is constructive to view
WANG Yangming 王陽明 (1472-1529), widely acknowledged as the most influential Confucian
thinker of the Ming dynasty, as a virtue ethicist. Second, because Wang has much in common with many other Neo-Confucian philosophers, the Neo-Confucian approach to ethics quite generally can be fruitfully understood as a type of virtue ethics. If this is true, then a third idea also follows, namely that Western virtue ethicists should pay attention to Wang and to Neo- Confucian philosophy, because here is a new (to the …


Confucianism On The Comeback: Current Trends In Culture, Values, Politics, And Economy, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2009

Confucianism On The Comeback: Current Trends In Culture, Values, Politics, And Economy, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

There is ample evidence that Confucianism is undergoing a multi-faceted revival in contemporary China. We see this in government slogans, in a runaway best-seller on the Analects, in educational experiments, and in academic activities. There are many motivations for the renewed interest in Confucianism and many different ways that self- avowed proponents of Confucianism understand their ultimate goals. As we seek to understand and teach about China, we need to keep these complexities in mind as we convey the multiple sides of a rapidly changing society. 


Review Of Stalnaker: Overcoming Our Evil, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2008

Review Of Stalnaker: Overcoming Our Evil, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

Aaron Stalnaker’s Overcoming Our Evil makes compelling reading for several different audiences. To begin with, it offers a good deal to scholars of Xunzi and of Augustine, thanks both to the many careful evaluations of others’ interpretations and, more importantly, to the new light that Stalnaker is able to shed on each thinker, because of the ways that comparative study reveals previously “overlooked details or themes” [1]. In particular, Stalnaker employs a device he calls the “bridge concept” in order to focus his comparison and reveal previously obscured significance in his authors. He defines bridge concepts as “general ideas, such …


Review Of John Makeham: Lost Soul- “Confucianism” In Contemporary Chinese Academic Discourse, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2008

Review Of John Makeham: Lost Soul- “Confucianism” In Contemporary Chinese Academic Discourse, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

There is little doubt that the wounds inflicted upon the body of traditional Confucianism by the end of China’s civil service exams in 1905, the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, and the New Culture Movement that began in 1915 collectively proved fatal. With its body dead or dying, Confucians since the early twentieth century have been struggling to find a new body of practice that can host what the eminent historian Yu Ying-shih has referred to as Confucianism’s wandering soul. John Makeham’s Lost Soul: “Confucianism” in Contemporary Chinese Academic Discourse is an impressive investigation of these efforts over …


人权与和谐, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2008

人权与和谐, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

人权与和谐似乎难以共存。这两大价值既源自不同的传统,其展开方式也迥异,任何同时实现或同等珍视它们的意图,看来注定会陷入迷乱或矛盾。况且,人权之通往建制保障有其清晰路线,但和谐的价值却难以被建制化,因而政治和谐法律运作上成为一个不受制约的变项。这样说来,”人权“与”和谐“之间有没有严重的张力?二者能否同时被肯定?本文旨在论证:人权与和谐集体建制中应如何体现,是有明显差异的,但这些差异可以通过有力的,非人意的方式来阐明,本文将利用近代西方的道德和政治哲学及现代儒家哲学作论迷,同时也会参考早期的儒家观点(尤其是他们对和谐这个概念本身的看法)。这不仅仅是一个关于中国人权与和谐的论迷:本文之目的在于证明这两种价值能够并且应该得到世界所有人赞同。


参与的必要性, Stephen C. Angle Dec 2008

参与的必要性, Stephen C. Angle

Stephen C. Angle

现代新儒家所面临的一个重要问题是:这一以道德为主要关注点的文化传统如何与现代民主政治 相适应? 与那种认为儒家应局限于道德教育的观点相反,文章认为儒家必须发展出一种参与性的政治,其原 因有三:一是政治参与是个人道德培养的必要手段;二是政治的独立性要求客观的制度结构而不仅仅是道 德教化;三是我们人性中的缺陷只有通过广泛的政治参与才能克服

关键词:现代新儒家;参与;政治