Title

Mastering Oneself and Returning to Propriety is Ren: On the Reconstruction of the Confucian Typology of Practical Reason

Author

Lin , Yuan-tse  

Genre

Article  

Pages

401-442  

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese  

Key words

kejifuli, Ren, filial piety, solidarity, typology of practical reason, ethics of responsibility  

Abstract

        Even today the Han-Song debate over the hermeneutic meaning of the Analects’ passage, “mastering oneself and returning to propriety (kejifuli) is Benevolence (Ren)” remains undecided. In this paper, I place the relation between “mastering oneself” and“returning to propriety” into a framework of dialectical unity in order to demonstrate that “Ren,” as practical subjectivity, must include the actual capacities of both moral autonomy and social integration.
        In order to highlight the one-sided understanding of Han-Song Confucians, who viewed “Ren” either in terms of formal morality or traditional ethics, this paper adopts the viewpoint of the post-conventional ethics of responsibility. In addition to providing a typological analysis of the different interpretations of “mastering oneself and returning to propriety,” it shows that “Ren,” in different stages of moral development, becomes manifest as filial piety, loyalty-forgiveness and the rule of rites. This paper concludes that “Ren” serves as the practical foundation for ethical conduct, generalized moral judgment and social solidarity.