Confucius and Aristotle on Virtue week 8 assignment.doc

 

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Confucius and Aristotle on Virtue

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Confucius and Aristotle on Virtue

Confucius was a Chinese thinker who has a lot of measurable influence on the East Asia regarding the intellectual and matters of social history.  He is also viewed as symbol of culture that have been idealized, vilified and preserved for long period for both Asian thinkers and those from outside Asia. He has a great impact on the Asian thought.  Aristotle is Greek philosopher basing his work on logic. Virtue is the conformity of a person's life and conduct to moral and ethical pedagogies. Therefore, this paper seeks to compare these two thinkers on their studies regarding human virtue.  This work aims at comparing Aristotle's concept (arête) of virtue with Confucius' critical notion of ren also known as the virtue against the background of the revival of Aristotelian virtue ethics in the West and of Confucianism in the East respectively. It argues that while Aristotle's virtue hinges on practical wisdom, Confucius' ren focuses on filial love, and on this basis interprets the respective theoretical merits and weaknesses of these two philosophers (Sim & Yu, 2009). The study is also aiming to show how Confucius can contribute to contemporary virtue ethics.

Confucius is a thinker who depends on ethics also known as the moral philosophy, therefore with the differences existing between morality and ethics; it is good to identify the sides of these two great thinkers. The term ren has two components and meaning and directs to how people relate, thus through this teaching of Confucius that when an individual learns he or she becomes a person of admirable ren. Confucius' ambition of order unites aesthetic harmony and symmetry (li) with moral power (de) in target of social aims: a well-ordered nation, a well-ordered community, and an ordered world. Such an aesthetic, moral, and social program begins at home, with the cultivation of the person. While in Athenian philosophy, the word arête is related to aristos and refers to the importance of something. According to Aristotle, a virtue of a person is associated to its maximum utility or function, which is a characteristic of an activity peculiar to an individual or the person's distinctive symbol. Aristotle states that the virtue of a human being is also the state making an individual to be good and makes the person perform better in his or her activities. Hence, arête has a relationship with human function, while the ren is related to human relations.

Confucius recorded the analects, which has two remarks that characterize ren and are vital. He sometimes views ren as a certain quality apart from being clever, forthright, courageous, trustworthy, and many other qualities regarding to human morality. There are many passages that describe ren, as a comprehensive virtue, which includes the mentioned qualities and determining their worthiness. While his concept of ren encompasses a tension existing between ren as it returns to li and ren returning to love, there is also a tension in Aristotle's idea of morals. According to Aristotle's ergon argument, individual's virtue is the person's best performance of his or her function, which is just the activity of the human heart that indicates logic or reasoning. Kata logon, which means with reason (rational) and me aneu logon that means not without reasoning area (non-rational), obeys reasoning the two parts of human soul that separates human beings from the rest of the animals (Walsh, 2014). Aristotle divided virtue into two; one corresponds to the part of the soul that has reasoning and has intellectual virtue in itself, and the other one that is non-rational in nature but it also obeys reasoning, this is now the ethical virtue.  Therefore, intellectual virtue is the practicing of reasoning that is excellent in nature, but ethical virtue is then known for the excellence of obeying reasoning, this is according to Aristotle.

                The author of the article (Philosophy of the East and Asia volume 60) suggests that Confucius Dao is similar to Aristotle's eudemonia.   This is because each refers to the greatest benefits, which is, a good life, and that from it the next step on each side is strikingly corresponding: that is, to focus on morals, which is, arête for Aristotle and ren which for Confucius (Harris, 2014).  The author displays Socrates as the opponent of these two thinkers, because Socrates considers virtue as knowledge, but for Aristotle and Confucius virtue is of great importance than just knowledge. Socrates is more critical of tradition, but Aristotle and Confucius uses the past to learn.  Even if we tend to apply the European criterion that smart philosophy should provide arguments, Yu offers some fascinating observations. Regarding to the question of attribute, the Confucian tradition really employs a subtle theoretical discussion complete with debates that Yu summarizes. Yu additionally praises Mencius for his “rich discussion of courage” and hence questions Aristotle’s coverage of virtue as “not straightforward to understand”. Moreover, Aristotle’s belief that rationality is what is distinctive to attribute is not well-justified. Yu reminds people that generally the Nicomachean Ethics “is not a paradigm of rigorous argumentation, logical consistency, and definitional clarity” (Sim & Yu, 2009)

Even if we have a tendency to use the European criterion that sensible philosophy should
offer arguments, Yu offers some fascinating observations. With regard to the question of attribute, the Confucian tradition truly has fairly refined theoretical discussion complete with arguments, which Yu summarizes. Yu conjointly acknowledges Mencius for the wealthy explanation of courage and criticizes Aristotle’s coverage of virtue as not being easy to grasp. Moreover, Aristotle’s belief that rationality is what is distinctive to personal attribute is not well-justified (Sim, 2010).

In conclusion, human beings are a subject to reasoning; the two great thinkers state the components of the virtue, whereby Confucius identifies the ren while Aristotle identifies arête. These are the etymologies of the word virtue in reference to China and Greek. This paper has exposed the various comparisons, which are similarities and some differences between the two philosophers regarding the term virtue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 Harris, T. (2014). Aristotle and Confucius on the Socioeconomics of Shame. Dao, 13(3), 323-342. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11712-014-9382-1

Sim, M. & Yu, J. (2009). The Ethics of Confucius and Aristotle: Mirrors of Virtue. Dao, 8(2), 225-232. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11712-009-9116-y

Sim, M. (2010). Rethinking Virtue Ethics and Social Justice with Aristotle and Confucius. Asian Philosophy, 20(2), 195-213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2010.484954

Walsh, S. (2014). Contemplation and the Moral Life in Confucius and Aristotle. Dao, 14(1), 13-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11712-014-9414-x