Virtue and the Good Life: Ethics in Classical Chinese Philosophy

Catalog description

This course will center on the close, detailed reading of a small number of foundational texts in classical Confucianism and Taoism. Our focus will be to explore how these texts might fit “virtue ethics,” which emphasizes moral character and the pursuit of a worthwhile life. Some attention will be paid to other forms of ethics, including those that stress either the adherence to duties and obligations or the social consequences of ethical action. The primary goal, however, will be to examine the ways in which classical Chinese philosophers regarded personal virtues and “good character” as both a prerequisite to and an explanation of appropriate action and its consequences. Among the more specific topics to be explored include: ideal traits of virtue, the links between moral values and different understandings of human nature, the psychological structures of virtue, practices leading to the cultivation of virtue, the roles of family and friendship in developing moral values, and what constitutes a good life. China’s 20th Century Through Fiction