Foundations of Confucian Ethics

Virtues, Roles, and Exemplars

Timothy Connolly author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Rowman & Littlefield International

Publishing:2nd Sep '25

£85.00

This title is due to be published on 2nd September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

Foundations of Confucian Ethics cover

Many scholars believe that the early Confucians are best understood as virtue ethicists, who like Aristotle teach that human flourishing is achieved through virtue and its cultivation. Yet early Confucian texts also stress the importance of roles such as being a father, son, ruler, minister, and teacher. Given their focus on our particular roles and relationships, advocates of Confucian Role Ethics argue that thinkers like Confucius and Mencius are unique and cannot be understood in terms of Western philosophical categories. This book looks at the competing attempts of virtue ethics and role ethics to capture the foundations of Confucian ethics. Connecting Confucian Role Ethics with recent developments in exemplarist virtue theory, it argues that role ethics can contribute to our understanding of early Confucian and contemporary accounts of virtue.

ISBN: 9781786600462

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

208 pages