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ESOTERIC CONFUCIANISM, MORAL DILEMMAS, AND FILIAL PIETY
Author(s) -
Sin William
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
metaphilosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1467-9973
pISSN - 0026-1068
DOI - 10.1111/meta.12418
Subject(s) - filial piety , reading (process) , piety , epistemology , rhetorical question , economic justice , sociology , discretion , philosophy , aesthetics , religious studies , law , gender studies , political science , linguistics
Two controversial cases in Confucian literature present the demands of filial piety as conflicting with those of impartial justice. Let us call them the Case of Concealment ( Analects 18.13) and the Case of Evasion ( Mencius 7A53). A dogmatic reading of the texts indicates that both Confucius and Mencius give more weight to filial piety than to justice. This essay, however, provides an alternative reading of the cases: the liberal reading . I argue that the Confucian teachers used the cases as moral dilemmas that force Confucian students to learn how to use a cluster of Confucian virtues, including practical wisdom, discretion, and straight determination, under difficult circumstances. The liberal reading views these moral dilemmas as rhetorical tools; they guide Confucian students in meditative exercises and ultimately transform students’ mode of seeing and being.

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