Premium
Part 1: Moral motivation in Mencius —When a child falls into a well
Author(s) -
Hu Jing Iris
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/phc3.12615
Subject(s) - empathy , compassion , moral disengagement , psychology , analogy , centrality , moral behavior , perspective (graphical) , feeling , moral reasoning , moral psychology , social psychology , construal level theory , epistemology , morality , social cognitive theory of morality , moral injury , moral development , sociology , philosophy , theology , mathematics , combinatorics , artificial intelligence , computer science
As a 4th century BCE Confucian text, Mencius provides a rich reflection on moral emotions, such as empathy and compassion, and moral cultivation, which has drawn attention from scholars around the world. This two‐part discussion dwells on the idea of natural moral motivation expressed through the analogy of the four sprouts—particularly the sprout of ceyin zhixin (the heart of feelings others' distress)—as the starting point, the focus, and the drive of moral cultivation. In this paper, Part 1, I stress the importance of holding an integrated view of the sprouts as consisting of three components: cognitive, affective, and motivational. Through examining scholarly accounts that do not adhere to such a view, I demonstrate why the integrative perspective is necessary for understanding the dynamic nature of human moral potential and the centrality of moral cultivation in Mencian ethics.