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Hsu, Hsei-Yung (1998) Just State and Just Man : a Dialogue Between Plato and Confucius

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Hsu, Hsei-Yung (1998) Just State and Just Man : a Dialogue Between Plato and Confucius Hsu, Hsei-Yung (1998) Just state and just man : a dialogue between Plato and Confucius. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2609/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Department of Philosophy ýýýý ýýM,: UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW Just State and Just Man A Dialogue Between Plato and Confucius I[sei-Yung Hsu Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the degreeof Doctor of Philosophy September1998 Hsci-Yung Hsu 1998 Just State and Just Man A Dialogue Between Plato and Confucius Hsei-Yung Hsu ýr, ý ýýiae'ýdý. r i yýRe. {1 e} ?L4i Rrýy6d i ýi Contents Summary i Acknowledgements iv Preface v Introduction vi Part I. Just State Chapter 1. Plato's Just State 1 1. The rise of society 1 2. Justice and sophrosune 8 3. The unity of society 18 Chapter 2. Confucius' Humane Society 24 1. The role of propriety in society 24 2. The Golden Rule as the principle of dealing with human relations 29 3. The unity of society 33 Chapter 3. Communitarianism or Individualism 41 1. The priority: society or individual 41 2. A brief discussion of individualism 46 3. Plato and Confucius as communitarians 51 Part II.. Iust Man 4. Plato's Notion 60 Chapter of ,lust Individual 1. The tripartite soul 60 2. The unity of soul 68 3. The virtues in state and individual 73 Chanter 5. Confucius' Notion of The Superior Man 85 1. The meaning of the superior man in the Analc'ct.c 85 2. The comparison between the superior man and the inferior man 91 3. The requisites for being a superior man 96 Chapter 6. Autonomy and Uniqueness 104 1. The different approachesadopted by Plato and Confucius towards human nature 104 2. The different ways of understandingthe self between Plato and Confucius 111 3. The just man should be ruler 113 Part III. Philosopher as Ruler Chapter 7. Philosopher-Kings 118 1. The origins of philosopher-king 118 2. The education of the soul 122 3. The analogy of state and soul 130 Chapter 8. Inner Sage Outer King 133 1. Self-cultivation is the prerequisite for inner sage 134 2. Outer king: the practice of the inner sage 136 3. The notion of authority-as-model 142 Chapter 9. Training and Education 149 1. The differences between training and education 150 2. The principle of' treating unequals unequally ' 157 3. Family education: filial piety 161 Part IV. Role Morality Chapter 10. Roles and Morality 165 1. Doing one's own job: social roles 165 2. Morality and social roles 169 Chapter 11. Role Conflict 176 1. Role conflict: ruling or contemplation 176 2. Morality and law 182 3. Public and private morality 186 Chapter 12. Roles and Communitarianism 191 1. Roles and social control 191 2. The sociological conception of a role 194 3. The liberal and communitarian conception of a role 197 Chapter 13. Roles and Act-Centred Theory 203 1. Role obligation and act-centredtheory 203 2. The differences between Plato and Confucius on family and role obligation 208 Part V. From Act-Centre to Agent-Centre Chapter 14. Plato and Common Morality 215 1. Cephalus' and Polemarchus' accountsof justice 216 2. The relation between the just act andjust soul 221 3. From act-centred theory to agent-centredtheory? 226 Chapter 15. Confucius and Behavioural Morality 232 1. The notion of' to subdueoneself' 232 2. The notion of' returnto ritual' 238 3. The union of act-centredand agent-centredtheory 244 Conclusion 247 Appendix 257 Bibliography 259 Summary In this thesis, I proposeto explore Plato's moral and political thought in the Republic, and comparing it with similar ideas in Confucian thought, and in modern liberal thought. In Part I, 1 deal with Plato's notion of ` doing one's own job' in the just state (ch. 1), and with the Confucian approach to achieving an orderly society (ch. 2). In Chapter 3 the idea that both the Platonic just state and Confucian orderly society are communitarian by nature will be discussed.It is noticeable that although both Plato's and Confucius' accounts of the just state have the colour of communitarianism, yet their accounts are in one way or another different from the modem communitarian's account of the just state. In addition, there are also important differences between Plato and Confucius. Take the relation between personal good and the common good as an example. Both Plato and Confucius hold that in the ideal state one's own good is identical with the good of the state as a whole. But communitarians hold that the common good is prior to personal good. That is, for the communitarians, there is a distinction between personal good and the common good (Section 3). In Part II, 1 shall consider a problem which arises from the discussion of Plato's notion of the tripartite soul that there is a sub-division in each part of the soul, which leads to infinite regress. I argue in Chapter 4 that this problem can be avoided. So long as there is no ` degree of rationality' among the three parts. That is, only reason is capable of calculating, and the other two parts do not have the capacity of reasoning. This account of the tripartite soul makes sense of why Plato puts such strong emphasison education. For through education, spirit and appetite are willing to be under the control of reason. The unity of the soul is not achieved by force but by education. Although in the Analects Confucius never discusses the notion of the human soul, he urges people to cultivate their character. A superior roan is morally superior to the public. The superior man, in Confucius' view, cannot be understood only in terms of his character. His possessionof good character has to be understood within social context. This difference between Plato and Confucius leads them to different waysof understandingthe individual (Chapter6). In Part III, I shall argue that the orderly state depends upon each person doing one job, but that to maintain the order in the state dependsupon education. In Chapter 7I discuss how by education the harmonious soul and state can be achieved. In Section 31 argue that order and harmony can be achieved in both the state and the soul, but it does not mean that there is an exact parallel between the state and the soul. For Plato proposes different kinds of education or training in the state and the soul. Moreover Plato does not see appetite in the soul as exactly correspondentto the third class in the state. Confucius, like Plato, emphasizesthe importance of education, i. e. self-cultivation. Self-cultivation is the processof the realization of human-heartedness. However the realization of human-heartednesscan only be achieved in social context. Thus the notion of ` inner sage ' and of ' outer king ' can never be properly understood separately. The notion of ` authority-as-model ' is central to Confucian moral and political thought. I oppose Weber's account of Confucius' sage-king as having charisma by showing that there are inconsistencies in Weber's argument, and that the sage-king does not gain his authority by having superior power but by being virtuous (Chapter 8, Section 3). Both Plato and Confucius emphasizethe importance of education in the cultivation of character, so the problem whether or not education and training have the same meanings for both of them, and whether they apply the notion of' treat unequalsunequally ' to education in the same way, will be the issues in Chapter 9. In Part IV, several issues concerning social role are discussed. First of all, whether morality can be properly understood merely in terms of role- performance? (Chapter 10) Second, we in society occupy more than one roles, so how do we decide what to do when our roles are in conflict with one another (Chapter 11). Third, in the liberal thought we have our roles by choice. That is, most of roles we have, except, perhaps, for those we have by birth, are contractual roles. We enter into a role by signing the contract (Chapter 12). In-fact, we have come across these questions in previous chapters. However, the purpose of re-introducing them here is to consider whether Plato and Confucius would be troubled by these questions, and discuss how they would give answersto them. Finally, in Part V, two issueswill be discussed.First, it is commonly held that in ii Book I of the Republic Plato shows his interlocutors the inadequaciesof giving an account of justice in terms of the agent's external behaviour, and then from Book II to Book IV Plato sets up an agent-centredmorality, and claims that just man is one who has a balanced soul. I argue that Plato right from the outset of the Republic is interested in an agent-centred view of morality. Secondly throughout the Anulects Confucius seemsto give his readers an impression that he is interested in act-centred morality. For the Confucian emphasis on the fact that one has to act in accordance with rules of proper conduct makes his readers think that Confucius' primarily concern in the Analects is how man should behave.
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