Confucius

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd i 8/1/2001 8:39:26 PM

 CONTINUUM GUIDES FOR THE PERPLEXED

Continuum’s Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise and acces-
sible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students
and readers can fi nd especially challenging. Concentrating specifi-
cally on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these
books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader
towards a thorough understanding of demanding material.

Bahá’í Faith: A Guide for the Perplexed, Robert H. Stockman

Kabbalah: A Guide for the Perplexed, Pinchas Giller
Mysticism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Paul Oliver
New Religious Movements: A Guide for the Perplexed, Paul Oliver
Zoroastrianism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Jenny Rose

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd ii 8/1/2001 8:39:26 PM

 A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED

Confucius
YONG HUANG

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd iii 8/1/2001 8:39:27 PM

 Continuum International Publishing Group
The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane
11 York Road Suite 704
London New York
SE1 7NX NY 10038

www.continuumbooks.com

© Yong Huang, 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Author has asserted his/her right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: HB: 978-1-4411-1568-3

PB: 978-1-4411-9653-8
ePUB: 978-1-4411-8052-0
ePDF: 978-1-4411-4468-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Huang, Yong.
Confucius : a guide for the perplexed / Yong Huang.
p. cm.—(Guides for the perplexed)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-1-4411-1568-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4411-9653-8
(pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4411-8052-0 (ebook epub : alk. paper)—
ISBN 978-1-4411-4468-3 (ebook pdf : alk. paper) 1. Confucius. I. Title.
B128.C8H88 2012
181’.112—dc23
2012010203

Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India

Printed and bound in India

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd iv 8/1/2001 8:39:28 PM

 For my two children, Yian and Elaine

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd v 8/1/2001 8:39:28 PM

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd vi 8/1/2001 8:39:28 PM
 CONTENTS

Preface ix

1 The life of Confucius: “A homeless dog” 1

1. Introduction 1
2. Shining ancestry and humble childhood 2
3. Confucius establishes himself 7
4. The height of Confucius’s political career 9
5. “A homeless dog” on the way 15
6. Return to home state 28
7. Last years 32
8. Conclusion 35

2 Morality: Why you should not turn the

other cheek 37
1. Introduction 37
2. Repay injury with uprightness 38
3. Why it is not in the interest of a
person to be immoral 45
4. Is a virtuous person supposed to make others
virtuous? 53
5. Conclusion 63

3 Virtue: How to love virtue as you love sex 65

1. Introduction 65
2. Taking delight in being moral 66

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd vii 8/1/2001 8:39:28 PM

 viii CONTENTS

3. Being virtuous as being distinctively human 71

4. Is a virtuous person foundationally egoistic
or self-centered? 78
5. A “dilemma of virtue”? 83
6. Conclusion 90

4 Moral education: How to teach what can only be

learned by oneself 91
1. Introduction 91
2. An apparent paradox in Confucius’s
philosophy of education 92
3. Confucius as a moral educator 96
4. Can virtue be taught and how? 104
5. The role of government in moral education 111
6. Conclusion 117

5 Filial piety: Why an upright son does not

disclose his father stealing a sheep 119
1. Introduction 119
2. Filial piety I: reverence and love 120
3. Filial piety II: self-cultivation 126
4. Filial piety III: remonstration with parents 131
5. Why a filial son does not disclose his father’s
stealing a sheep 139
6. Conclusion 148

Notes 151
References 163
Index 169

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd viii 8/1/2001 8:39:28 PM

 PREFACE

There is no shortage of introductory books in English on Confucius

or Confucianism, and so it seems a bit perplexing to add one, par-
ticularly in a series entitled “Guides for the Perplexed”: When I
teach Chinese philosophy in the United States, students often fi nd
Confucius and Confucianism (in comparison to other schools of
thought such as Daoism and Buddhism, which may sound exotic
and therefore perplexing) too bland to be interesting. What
Confucius says, if not outright wrong, seems to be mostly com-
mon-sense platitudes.
So I decided to write this book in a slightly different way. The
book is not written to satisfy people’s curiosity about some archaic
ideas of Confucius which are merely of historical interest. Instead I
aim to show what Confucius can still teach us about our moral life
in a contemporary (and, given the readership of this book, Western)
world, despite the fact that he lived more than two and half millen-
nia and half the globe apart from us. Thus, I do not follow the quite
familiar practice of providing a systematic overview of Confucius’s
otherwise rather unsystematic concepts, such as humanity and pro-
priety, superior persons and inferior persons, love and the golden
rule, and knowledge and wisdom, as they appear in the Analects.
Instead, with the exception of Chapter 1, which is about Confucius’s
life, in each chapter, I discuss one of his views which, while initially
appearing perplexing, proves to be the most enlightening answer, or
at least more enlightening than those found in Western philosophi-
cal traditions, to a question we have either in our everyday life or in
our moral reflections. Or so I shall argue.
In Chapter 2, thus, I discuss Confucius’s view about what to
do with wrongdoers. In stark contrast to Jesus, who teaches us
to turn the other cheek, or to use a phrase from the Analects, to
return evil with a good turn, Confucius asks: if so, what do we
return good with? Instead, Confucius teaches us to return good

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd ix 8/1/2001 8:39:28 PM

 x PREFACE

with good and return evil with uprightness. From the Christian
viewpoint, the attitude that Jesus recommends is certainly more
ideal and noble than Confucius’s. Defenders of Confucius, in turn,
often argue that Jesus’s teaching is too idealistic to be practical,
while Confucius was a moral realist. In this chapter, I argue that
this is a misunderstanding. The main reason Confucius is against
returning evil with a good turn is that it is not conducive to making
the wrongdoer cease to be a wrongdoer, if it does not encourage
the person to commit further wrongdoings. In Confucius’s view, an
upright person is one who is also inclined to make others upright.
So when he asks us to return evil with uprightness, he is asking us
to do what can make the wrongdoer cease to be a wrongdoer.
In Chapter 3, I discuss Confucius’s answer to the question “why
be moral (or virtuous)?” by exploring his view that one ought to
love virtue as one loves sex. In Confucius’s view, to be virtuous is
a joyful thing. Of course, a person who asks the question “why be
moral?,” normally an egoist, may state that he or she cannot fi nd
joy, but instead can only fi nd pain, in being moral. Confucius’s
response is that this is because they lack the relevant virtuous
knowledge (not knowledge about virtue). Such knowledge requires
not only the intellectual part of what is called xin ㉒ in Chinese
(normally translated as heart-mind) but also its affective part, so
that anyone who possesses such knowledge will be inclined to be
moral and thus can take delight in being moral. The egoist may
further ask: even if I can fi nd joy in being moral, why do I have to
fi nd joy in being moral, as I can also fi nd joy in being immoral?
Confucius’s answer is that being virtuous is a distinguishing mark
of being human, and so anyone who is not virtuous is a defective
human being.
In Chapter 4, I discuss the Socratic problem of whether virtue
can be taught. Confucius’s ethics is often regarded as a virtue eth-
ics. However, one unique feature of Confucian virtue ethics, in
comparison to virtue ethics familiar in the Western philosophical
tradition, is that it avoids what Kantian critics call self-centered-
ness. For example, Aristotle makes it clear that a virtuous person
is a genuine self-lover, a lover for his or her internal character, vir-
tue, which is in contrast to the self-lover in a vulgar sense, a lover
for his or her external well-being. While a virtuous person is con-
cerned with both his or her own well-being and that of others, his
or her own well-being in question is internal, while that of others

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd x 8/1/2001 8:39:28 PM

 PREFACE xi

in question is external. Since for Aristotle internal well-being is

more important than external, a virtuous person is self-centered.
Confucius, however, argues explicitly that a person cannot be
regarded as virtuous unless he or she is inclined to help others be
virtuous. The question then is how, since for Confucius virtue can-
not be taught in the same way as intellectual knowledge or techni-
cal skills are taught. As virtue involves not only the intellectual
aspect but also the affective part of xin (heart-mind), Confucius’s
answer is that the primary way to teach others to be virtuous is to
morally move them by one’s own exemplary virtuous actions.
In Chapter 5, I discuss Confucius’s view about the appropriate
attitude toward parents when they (are about to) commit wrongdo-
ings. Since one of Confucius’s famous, if not notorious, teachings is
filial piety, which is often understood as to take care of and be obe-
dient to one’s parents, it is often understood that, for Confucius,
we should connive at our parents’ wrongdoings. This seems to be
confi rmed by one of the Analects passages, in which Confucius
criticizes a boy with the name of being upright for bearing wit-
ness against his father stealing a sheep, saying that an upright son
ought not to disclose his father’s wrongdoing. However, I argue
that, for Confucius, while a filial son of course ought to take care
of his parents’ well-being, it is more important to take care of their
internal well-being than their external, especially when the two are
in conflict. Since a parent, in committing a wrongdoing, defi nitely
causes harm to his or her internal well-being, though benefitting
externally, a fi lial son ought to remonstrate with his parent against
the wrongdoing if it is not yet done, and for rectifying the wrong-
doer as well as the wrongdoing, if it is already done. However, if
so, why ought an upright son not disclose his parent’s wrongdoing?
Confucius’s answer is that the atmosphere for the son to conduct
effective remonstration will disappear if he discloses his parent’s
wrongdoing to the public or bears witness against his parent for
the wrongdoing.
Thus, while this book is primarily intended for the general
public, I also have in mind not only scholars interested in Chinese
tradition but also moral philosophers in general. Throughout the
book, I provide somewhat unconventional interpretations of sev-
eral aspects of Confucius and make somewhat unfamiliar noises
on a number of philosophical issues. In the former case, I not only
make liberal use of Confucius’s sayings both inside and outside the

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd xi 8/1/2001 8:39:29 PM

 xii PREFACE

Analects but also consult the extremely rich commentary tradition;

in the case of the latter, I do my best to back up my claims by com-
paring them with alternative positions in terms of their respective
strengths and weaknesses. While I do not claim that my interpreta-
tions of Confucius must be correct and my philosophical claims
must be true, I do believe that they shed new light on some old
materials and topics.
In the process of writing this book and developing the ideas pre-
sented therewith, I have accumulated huge debts to many friends
and colleagues either through conversation with them or by read-
ing their published works. While risking inevitable omissions, I do
want to express my specific thanks to the following: Roger Ames,
Yanmin An, Stephen Angle, John Berthrong, Lai Chen, Weigang
Chen, Ted de Bary, Yiu-ming Fung, Paul Goldin, Qiyong Guo,
Zhihong Hu, Thomas Hurka, P. J. Ivanhoe, Tao Jiang, Hwa Yol
Jung, Kim-Chong Chong, Chenyang Li, Qingping Liu, Xiaogan Liu,
On-cho Ng, Peimin Ni, Amy Olberding, Kwong-loi Shun, Jiyuan
Yu, Vincent Shen, Michael Slote, Deborah Sommer, Justin Tiwald,
Qingjie Wang, David Wong, Yang Xiao, and Guorong Yang.
Chapter 3 uses material from my “Confucius and Mencius on
Motivation to Be Moral,” published in Philosophy East and West
60(1) (2010): 65–87; Chapter 4 uses material from my “Can Virtue Be
Taught and How?: Confucius on the Paradox of Moral Education,”
published in Journal of Moral Education 40(2) (2011): 141–59. I
would like to thank their original publishers for their permissions.
I read a paper drawn from materials in Chapter 2 at a conference at
Sungkyungkwan University in Seoul and Nishan Forum in Qufu,
China and a paper drawn from materials in Chapter 5 at a confer-
ence at Huafan University in Taipei, both in May 2012. I would
like to thank Professor Tae-Seung Lim of Sungkyungkwan and
Professor Jen-Kuen Chen of Huafan Univeristy for their invitation
and Professor Myeong-seok Kim of Sungkyungkwan University for
his comments on the paper presented there.
I would like to thank Mrs. Laurel Delaney, who read the whole
manuscript, as she did with almost every other publication of
mine, helping me improve my expressions and avoid many infe-
licities, Mr. Mark McClenithan, who helped in creating a list of
the entries for the index, and Professor John Lizza, the chair of
the Philosophy Department of Kutztown University, who has sup-
ported my research throughout the years in various ways.

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd xii 8/1/2001 8:39:29 PM

 PREFACE xiii

I also would like to thank Kirsty Schaper, the commissioning

editor of Continuum, for inviting me to write this book, Rachel
Eisenhauer, the editorial assistant of Continuum, for her admira-
ble professionalism when I was procrastinating with this project,
Joanne Murphy, the production manager of the book, for oversee-
ing the publication process, and Srikanth Srinivasan, for his effi-
cient copyediting, typesetting, and proofreading.

9781441115683_FM_Rev_txt_prf.indd xiii 8/1/2001 8:39:29 PM