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Frontiers of Philosophy in China

ISSN 1673-3436

ISSN 1673-355X(Online)

CN 11-5743/B

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Front Phil Chin    2013, Vol. 8 Issue (3) : 376-387    https://doi.org/10.3868/s030-002-013-0031-3
research-article
The Role Dilemma in Early Confucianism
John Ramsey()
Department of Philosophy, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
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Abstract

Recently, Sean Cordell has raised a problem for Aristotelians who seriously consider social roles: When the demands of the role conflict with the demands of morality, which norms ought one follow? However, this problem, which I call the role dilemma, is not specific to Aristotelians. Classical Confucians face a similar problem. How do Confucians resolve conflicts between the demands of humaneness (ren 仁) and the demands of social roles and the social norms (li 礼) that govern these roles? Confucians who favor humaneness, maintaining that other demands are defeasible, offer an externalism about roles. This response is similar to the Aristotelian argument that the demands of human excellence trump other demands. Consequently, Confucian externalism collapses into a virtue ethic. Confucians who favor the demands of li offer an internalism about roles. However, internalism is undesirable because it implies relativism and condones oppressive social institutions. The Confucian role ethicist must offer a tenable solution that steers clear of the pitfalls of both externalism and internalism. Although I do not advance a solution here, I believe a tenable alternative exists. The goals of this paper, instead, are to demonstrate that classical Confucians face the role dilemma and to initiate a discussion about the theoretical apparatus required of Confucian role ethics in order to distinguish it from other ethical theories. I conclude with some programmatic remarks about additional questions and problems that ought to be addressed.

Keywords Confucianism      social role      li      ren      role ethics     
Corresponding Author(s): John Ramsey,Email:john.ramsey@email.ucr.edu   
Issue Date: 05 September 2013
 Cite this article:   
John Ramsey. The Role Dilemma in Early Confucianism[J]. Front Phil Chin, 2013, 8(3): 376-387.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fpc/EN/10.3868/s030-002-013-0031-3
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fpc/EN/Y2013/V8/I3/376
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