Reconstructionist Confucianism: Rethinking Morality after the West

305 Pages·2010·2.23 MB·English

by  Ruiping Fan (auth.)

RECONSTRUCTIONISTCONFUCIANISM
Philosophical Studies in Contemporary Culture
VOLUME17
SeniorEditor
H.TristramEngelhardt,Jr.,DepartmentofPhilosophy,RiceUniversity,andBaylor
CollegeofMedicine,Houston,Texas
Editor
MarkJ.Cherry,DepartmentofPhilosophy,St.Edward’sUniversity,Austin,Texas
AssistantEditor
LisaRasmussen,DepartmentofPhilosophy,UniversityofNorthCarolina,
Charlotte,NorthCarolina
EditorialBoard
StanleyHauerwas,DivinitySchool,DukeUniversity,Durham,NorthCarolina
MaureenKelley,DepartmentofPediatricBioethics,UniversityofWashington,
Seattle,Washington
TerryPinkard,DepartmentofPhilosophy,GeorgetownUniversity,
Washington,D.C.
C.GriffinTrotter,DepartmentofHealthCareEthics&EmergencyMedicine,Saint
LouisUniversity,St.Louis,Missouri
KevinWm.Wildes,S.J.,President,LoyolaUniversity,NewOrleans,Louisiana
Forfurthervolumes:
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RECONSTRUCTIONIST
CONFUCIANISM
Rethinking Morality after the West
by
Ruiping Fan
CityUniversityofHongKong
Kowloon,HongKong
123
RuipingFan
CityUniversityofHongKong
Dept.Public&SocialAdministration
83TatCheeAvenue
Kowloon
HongKongSAR
[email protected]
ISBN978-90-481-3155-6 e-ISBN978-90-481-3156-3
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-3156-3
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
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Acknowledgements
Ancestralmaterialforthisvolumewasdrawnfromanumberofpastessays.They
provided points of departure and significant substance for the chapters of this
book. Here I must with gratitude acknowledge the journals and books in which
earlier explorations of the ideas found in this book appeared. “Consanguinism,
Corruption, and Humane Love: Remembering Why Confucian Morality is Not
Modern Western Morality,” Dao 7.1 (2008): 21–26; “Rights or Virtues? Towards
a Reconstructionist Confucian Bioethics,” in Renzong Qiu (ed.), Bioethics: Asian
Perspectives (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003), pp. 57–68; “Is a
ConfucianFamily-OrientedCivilSocietyPossible?”inDanielA.BellandChaihark
Hahm (eds.), The Politics of Affective Relations: East Asia and Beyond (Oxford:
LexingtonBooks,2004),pp.75–96;“SocialJustice:RawlsianorConfucian?”inBo
Mou(ed.),ComparativeApproachestoChinesePhilosophy(London,UK:Ashgate
PublishingLtd.,2003),pp.144–168;“AReconstructionistConfucianApproachto
Chinese Health Care: The Ethical Principles, the Market, and Policy Reforms,”
in Julia Tao (ed.), China: Bioethics, Trust and the Challenge of the Market
(New York: Springer, 2008), pp. 117–133; “Which Care? Whose Responsibility?
And Why Family? A Confucian Account of Long Term Care for the Elderly,”
Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 32.5 (October 2007): 495–517; “Rethinking
Medical Morality in Transitional China: Towards a Directed Benevolent Market
Polity,” Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 17.3 (June 2008): 280–292;
“Corrupt Practices in Chinese Medical Care: The Root in Social Policy and a
Call for Confucian-Market Approach,” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 17.2
(June 2007): 111–131; “Excellence through Honor in Management: Towards a
ConfucianBusinessEthics,”withTangjiaWang,FudanJournal4.3(August2007):
125–138;“AReconstructionistConfucianAccountofEnvironmentalism:Towards
a Human, Sage Dominion over Nature,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 32.1
(March 2005): 105–122; “Can We Have a General Conception of Personhood in
Bioethics?”inGerholdK.Becker(ed.),TheMoralStatusofPersons:Perspectives
on Bioethics (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2000), pp. 15–27; “Bioethics: Globalization,
Communization, or Localization?” in H.T. Engelhardt, Jr. (ed.), Global Bioethics:
The Collapse of Consensus (Salem, MA: Scrivener Press, 2006), pp. 271–299;
and “Restoring the Confucian Personality and Filling the Moral Vacuum in
Contemporary China,” in Egorov V. K. (ed.), Intercultural and Interreligious
v
vi Acknowledgements
Dialogue for Sustainable Development (Moscow: Moscow Publishing House
of the RAPA, 2008), pp. 482–486. The appendix to this volume originally
appearedas“AutonomyandInterdependency:ADialoguebetweenLiberalismand
Confucianism,”withAndrewBrennan,inJournalofSocialPhilosophy38.4(Winter
2007):511–535.Republicationiswithpermissionofthepublishers.
Several chapters were revised in the spring of 2008 when I was conducting
FulbrightresearchinNotreDameCenterforEthicsandCultureattheUniversityof
NotreDame. Ibenefited significantly from conversations withAlasdair MacIntyre
andDavidSolomononthenatureofvirtueethicsingeneralandofConfucianvirtue
ethicsinparticular.Duetothetimeconstraintforcompletingthisbook,Ihavefailed
tointegrateeverythingIhavelearnedfromthemintothebook.
Numerousrelatives,friends,colleagues,andstudentshavecontributedtothepro-
ductionofthisbookinonewayoranother.Inparticular,Iamgratefultomyteachers
whotaughtmevaluableknowledgeinvolvedinthisbook:thoseatBaotouCollege
of Medicine who instructed me in medical theories and techniques, those at the
ChineseAcademyofSocialScienceswhobroughtmetotheareasofthephilosophy
ofscienceandphilosophyofmedicine,andthoseatRiceUniversitywhoimparted
tomeWesternphilosophyandcivilization.Mostofall,Iwishtothankmyintellec-
tual mentor, Professor H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., who has offered incessant love
and support to my study, work, and life ever since I came to know him in 1989.
Withouthisinvaluableassistance,thisbookwouldneverhaveappeared.
Finally,anoteofthanksshouldgotomycolleaguesintheDepartmentofPublic
and Social Administration and the Governance in Asia Research Centre of the
City University of Hong Kong. They have provided most generous assistance and
guidance to my reconstructionist Confucian ethical endeavors since I joined the
universityin2000.
ANote onChineseSourcesandCharacters
Unlessotherwiseindicated,thetranslationsfromclassicalConfuciantextsareusu-
allyadaptedfromthetranslationsofJamesLegge.Othertranslations,especiallythe
AnalectsandMenciusbyD.C.LauandXunzibyJohnKnoblock,wereconsulted.I
haveusedpinyinromanizationandstandardChinesecharacterstoindicateChinese
keywordsandconceptsineachchapter.ButIdonotattempttomaintainthesame
EnglishwordsforConfuciankeyconcepts,especiallyren( ),indifferentchapters.
Rather,Iselectdifferentwordstosuitparticularcontexts.
Contents
PartI Beyond Individualism: Familism as the Key to
VirtuousSocialStructure
1 Confucian Morality: Why It Is in Tension
withContemporaryWesternMoralCommitments. . . . . . . . . 3
2 Virtue,Ren,andFamilialRoles:DeflatingConcernswith
IndividualRightsandEquality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 AreRightsPersuasive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 TheConfucianVirtue-BasedPersonhood. . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 ReflectionsonEqualRightsVs.UnequalVirtues . . . . . . . 18
2.5 TowardsaReconstructionistConfucianBioethics . . . . . . . 21
3 AFamily-OrientedCivilSociety:TreatingPeopleasUnequals . . 23
3.1 Introduction: Civil Society, Rule of Law and
ConflictingWorldViews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.2 LiberalDemocraticCivilSociety:TreatingPeopleasEquals . 26
3.3 ConfucianAnti-EgalitarianCivilSociety:Treating
PeopleasRelatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4 TheFamily:StumblingBlockforJusticeorKeystoneofVirtue? 32
3.5 IsaConfucianFamily-OrientedCivilSocietyPossible? . . . . 34
3.6 ConcludingReflections:TowardsaFamilistCivilSociety . . . 39
PartII VirtueasaWayofLife:SocialJusticeReconsidered
4 VirtueastheTrueCharacterofSocialObligations:Why
RawlsianSocialJusticeisVicious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2 The Distribution of Instrumental Goods Vs. The
PursuitofIntrinsicVirtues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.3 EqualityVs.Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.4 LiberalDemocracyVs.ConfucianAristocracy . . . . . . . . . 55
4.5 LiberalRightsVs.ConfucianRights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
vii
viii Contents
4.6 NeutralVs.Non-Neutral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.7 ElectionVs.Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.8 ContractarianNeutralityVs.Private-PropertyEconomy . . . . 64
4.9 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5 GivingPrioritytoVirtueOverJusticeandRebuilding
ChineseHealthCarePrinciples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.1 TheChallengesofHealthCareinToday’sChina . . . . . . . . 69
5.2 TwoMisleadingEthicalViews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.3 ReconstructionistConfucianEthicalPrinciplesforHealthCare 74
5.3.1 ThePrincipleofRen-Yi(Humanity-Righteousness) . . 76
5.3.2 ThePrincipleofCheng-Xin(Sincerity-Fidelity) . . . 77
5.4 HealthCarePolicyReforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.5 ConcludingRemarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6 WhichCare?WhoseResponsibility?AndWhyfamily?
FilialPietyandLongTermCarefortheElderly . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.1 AShockingFact:ContemporaryElderlyPersonsin
EastAsiaTendtoCommitSuicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.2 FamilyCare:ReminiscenceorRenaissance? . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.3 Why has Family Care Become Difficult in
ContemporarySociety? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.4 Children’sResponsibility:TheManifestationofDe
(Virtue, )andXiao(FilialPiety, ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6.5 WhyFamily?AConfucianAccountoftheFamilyfor
ElderlyCare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.6 ConcludingRemarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
PartIII TheMarket,theGoodnessofProfit,andtheProper
CharacterofChinesePublicPolicy
7 TowardsaDirected,BenevolentMarketPolity:Looking
BeyondSocialDemocraticApproachestoHealthCare . . . . . . 105
7.1 An Introduction to Confucian Health Care
PolicyandBioethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7.2 BeyondSocialDemocracyandLimitedDemocracy:
ADirectedBenevolentMarketPolityinthePacificRim . . . . 106
7.3 TheConfucianPerspective:WhyItIsSoDifferent . . . . . . 108
7.4 ChineseHealthCareReforms:TowardsaConfucian
HealthCarePolicy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
7.5 AViewfromAsia:NotBioethicsasUsual . . . . . . . . . . . 116
8 How Egalitarianism Corrupted Chinese Medicine:
RecoveringtheSynergyofthePursuitofVirtueandProfit . . . . 119
8.1 ThreeVarietiesofMedicalCorruptioninContemporaryChina 119
8.2 DistortionsoftheMedicalMarket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
8.3 ProposalsforPolicyReform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Contents ix
8.4 Restructuring Chinese Medical Ethics: Some
ReflectionsonConfucianMoralResources. . . . . . . . . . . 128
8.5 Looking to the Future: Taking Both the Market
andTraditionalMoralitySeriously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
9 Honor,Shame,andthePursuitofExcellence:Towardsa
ConfucianBusinessEthics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
9.1 UnderstandingConfucianManagementConcerns . . . . . . . 135
9.2 RightsAloneAreNotEnough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
9.3 Honor,Shame,andMotivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
9.4 AnHonor-BasedVs.aRights-BasedCorporateEthos . . . . . 141
9.5 WhyRightsLanguageisBlindtotheParticularity
of Culturally-EmbeddedManagementStyles . . . . . . . . . 143
9.6 Conclusion:BeyondRightsandTowardsExcellence . . . . . 144
10 HumanDominionOverNature:FollowingtheSages . . . . . . . 147
10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
10.2 A Weak Anthropocentric and Cosmic-Principle-
OrientedAccountofManandNature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
10.3 NatureasaGarden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
10.4 Placing theNatural OrderWithinaHuman Order
thatReflectsCosmicPrinciples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
10.5 Home,Ritual,andEternity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
10.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
PartIV Rites,NotRights:TowardsaRicherVisionofthe
HumanCondition
11 Rites as the Foundations of Human Civilization:
RethinkingtheRoleoftheConfucianLi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
11.2 LiastheUniversalSocialPracticesoftheConfucianTradition 167
11.3 TwoTypesoftheConfucianRituals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
11.4 TheFunctionofRitualandtheFeelingofShame . . . . . . . 176
11.5 ConcludingRemarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
11.6 Postscript:AThesisonConfucianRitualReform . . . . . . . 181
12 HowShouldWeSolveMoralDissensus?Liberalsand
LibertariansHaveItAllWrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
12.1 Introduction:HowShouldWeDealwithMoralDissensus? . . 189
12.2 BioethicalGlobalization:TheLiberalView . . . . . . . . . . 190
12.3 BioethicalCommunitization:TheLibertarianView . . . . . . 196
12.4 BioethicalLocalization:TheConfucianInsight . . . . . . . . 201
12.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
13 AppealtoRitesandPersonhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215