Moral Vision and Tradition: Essays in Chinese Ethics (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy)

An illustrative study of Confucian ethics. This volume offers a comprehensive philosophical study of Confucian ethics-its basic insights and its relevance to contemporary Western moral philosophy. Distinguished writer and philosopher A. S. Cua presents fourteen essays which deal with various problems arising in the philosophical explication of the nature of Chinese ethical thought. Offering a unique analytical approach, Cua focuses on the conceptual and dialectical aspects of Confucian ethics. Among the topics discussed are: the nature and significance of the Chinese Confucian moral vision of tao; the complementary insights of Classical Taoism, namely of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu; and the logical and rhetorical aspects of Confucian ethics. Perhaps more relevant to contemporary East-West ethical discourse, several essays present an introduction to a systematic Confucian moral philosophy. Cua explains the idea of a living, Confucian, ethical tradition and highlights the problem of interpreting the cardinal concepts of Confucian ethics as an ethics of virtue. Much of the effort is spent in shaping concepts such as jen (humanity), i (rightness), and li (ritual propriety) in the light of the Confucian ideal or vision of tao. Cua concludes with a discussion of the possibility of reasoned discourse, aiming at a resolution of intercultural, ethical conflict. This book will appeal to a broad spectrum of scholars interested in ethics, Chinese philosophy, comparative Chinese and Western ethical thought, and Confucianism. A. S. Cua, professor emeritus of philosophy at The Catholic University of America, is the author of numerous articles and books, including Ethical Argumentation: A Study in Hsun Tzu's Moral Epistemology (1985), The Unity of Knowledge and Action: A Study in Wang Yang-ming's Moral Psychology (1982), and Dimensions of Moral Creativity (1978). He also serves as coeditor of the Journal of Chinese Philosophy, associate editor of the International Journal of Philosophy of Religion, and editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy. "This is a marvelous book by a very distinguished and well known philosopher, almost unique in his gifts. . . . The book presents a genuine, technically developed, philosophy of life and culture and uses both the Chinese and Western traditions as its resource texts for discussion. I know of no other philosopher who comes even close to Cua in integrating the ideas from both traditions in a continuous discussion."--Professor Robert C. Neville, Boston University