Cultural crossings against ethnocentric currents: Toward a Confucian ethics of communicative virtues
Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
12-2005
Abstract
Despite contemporary Confucianism's aspirations to be a world philosophy, there is an ethnocentric strand within the Confucian tradition, most glaringly exemplified in Han Yu's attacks on Buddhism. This paper re-assesses Confucian ethnocentrism in the context of contrary practices that indicate a more pragmatic attitude among Confucians toward cross-cultural interactions. It argues that while the ethnocentric tendency serves as constant reminder of the need for vigilance, and recognition of the difficulties of crossing cultural boundaries, there are nevertheless resources within Confucianism for constructing an ethics of communication that is urgently needed to deal with the moral problems of cultural pluralism. The paper analyses the role of various common Confucian virtues such as ren (benevolence, co-humanity), yi (appropriateness), li (ritual), zhi (wisdom) in communication, and argues that a virtue of flexibility is implicit in Confucius's insistence of bugu and could contribute significantly to a Confucian ethics of communicative virtues.
Keywords
Confucian ethnocentrism, Confucian ethics
Discipline
Philosophy
Research Areas
Humanities
Publication
International Philosophical Quarterly
Volume
45
Issue
4
First Page
433
Last Page
445
ISSN
0019-0365
Identifier
10.5840/ipq200545450
Publisher
Philosophy Documentation Center
Citation
TAN, Sor-hoon.(2005). Cultural crossings against ethnocentric currents: Toward a Confucian ethics of communicative virtues. International Philosophical Quarterly, 45(4), 433-445.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2612
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.5840/ipq200545450