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Chinese Foundations for Moral Education and Character Development Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series II. Asia, Volume 2 Series VI. Foundations of Moral Education, Volume 5 Chinese Foundations for Moral Education and Character Development Edited by Tran Van Doan, Vincent Shen and George F. Mclean The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy 1 Copyright © 1991 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Gibbons Hall B-20 620 Michigan Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Chinese foundations for moral education and the character development / edited by Tran Van Doan, Vincent Shen, George F. McLean. p.cm. — (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series III. Asia ; vol. 2) (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series VI. Foundations of moral education ; vol. 5) Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Moral education—China. 2. Moral education—China—History. 3. Series. I. Tran, Van Doan. II. McLean, George F. III. Shen, Ch’Ch’ing-sung. IV. Series. V. Series: Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series VI. Foundations of moral education ; v. 5) LC315.C5C447 1991 91-58113 370.11’4’0951—dc20 CIP ISBN 1-56518-033-X & 1-56518-032-1 (pbk.) 2 Table of Contents Preface v Introduction 1 Part I. Classical Chinese Resources for the Formation of Character 1. The Metaphysical Foundations of Traditional Chinese Moral Education 7 by Peter Kun-Yu Woo (National Taiwan University, Taiwan) 2. Human Nature and Human Education: On Human Nature as Tending Toward 19 Goodness in Classical Confucianism by Pei-Jung Fu (National Taiwan University, Taiwan) 3. Hsin-Techniques and Hsin-Leadership Psychological Aspects of 29 Confucian Moral Philosophy by Hang Thaddeus T'ui-chieh (National Chengchi University, Taiwan) Part II. Chinese and Western Philosophical Foundations for Contemporary Moral Education 4. Developmental Psychology and Knowledge of Being 45 by John Farrelly (St. Anselm's Abbey, USA) 5. The Person and Moral Growth 67 by George F. McLean (RVP) 6. Anthropological Foundation of Moral Education Responding to 97 Rapid Technological Development by Vincent Shen (National Chengchi University, Taiwan) Part III. Moral Education: Student and Teacher, School and Nation 7. The Ideological Education and Moral Education 113 by Tran Van Doan (National Taiwan University, Taiwan) 8. Higher Moral Education in Taiwan 155 by Arnold Sprenger (Fu Jen University, Taiwan) 9. In Defense of Character Development 185 by Kevin Ryan (Boston University, USA) Acknowledgements 3 Preface This volume, Chinese Foundations for Moral Education and Character Development, is a basic step in a series dealing with "Chinese Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Life." In view of rapid social change which threatens loss of cultural root and systemic self-alienation for the future, this series is designed: 1) to explore the richness and depth of our cultural heritage, 2) to reconstruct it in the light of modern knowledge, 3) to relate it to practical life and, finally 4) to discover a new mode of life that is fully both modern and Chinese. The enterprise is not easy; it demands energy as well as sacrifice. The difficulty consists not merely in communicating what is already known on these topics as if that were sufficient. New forces at work in the 20th century have reduced the person to a mere function, benevolence has been supplanted by system and philosophy by ideology: both God and man have died. In this situation attempt merely to repeat the past will not suffice; rather, the wisdom with which our cultural heritage has spoken through time gives promise that it has much to say, at this transition to the 21st century. There is need then to reach back into our heritage to find there not only what it has done for the past, but even more what it can contribute to the future. Scholars in our day must work to give it new voice and to enable it to speak to the new issues which have emerged from the experience of this century. They must evoke from it the creative inspiration for building the Chinese civilization of the 21th century and for contributing richly to the even more closely interwoven history of mankind. This subject is too comprehensive to be handled in a specific volume, by a limited number of scholars. In order adequately to grasp the problem and elaborate responses there is need of multiple volumes dealing with the whole of Chinese history and Chinese society. The general theme of Chinese Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Life must be studied from such aspects such as morals, religion, politics, education, science, etc. In this series each topic will be worked out by a group of experts, both from China and abroad. After an adequate period for research, a seminar on the topic will be convened in which the scholars share, mutually critique and refine their own ideas, as well as exploring together the ways in which to build the future, prepare the work for systematic and scientific presentation by the editors. This project is supported by the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (Washington, D.C.), the Ministry of Culture and The Asian Journal of Philosophy. The publication of the series on Chinese Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Life and the present volume would not be possible without the generous and tireless help of Professor George F. McLean of The Catholic University of America and Secretary of The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, the support of the Ministry of Culture, and the deep research and generous effort of the many scholars whose work is presented here. To all of these, the editors express their most sincere gratitude. Tran van Doan National Taiwan University 5 Introduction Education in our day appears trapped in its own success. By broadening the base of an educated citizenry through near universal literacy, extended schooling and intensified communications, education in these times has become a mass effort. As such its management and implementation is facilitated by whatever is conducive to "objectification", and hence to abstraction from whatever develops the truly unique and personal, the free and creative. In a fatal cycle increasingly the external and verifiable has become the central goal. As those trained by this approach themselves become teachers, the tendency is to intensify the focus upon the same limited and limiting objectives. In the process the sense of life, the meaning of person and family, the identity of persons and peoples, and the humane basis for public life and social cooperation atrophy. Fortunately, the resulting sense of loss, emptiness and confusion which has increasingly pervaded personal and public life has now begun to generate a renewed awareness of the importance of that which had been forgotten. There is now a broadly shared consensus that the road ahead will be one of disaster and despair unless we are able, not merely to repeat, but to renew the missing dimensions of meaning found in our heritage. Preparation for the XXIst Century must consist in drawing creatively upon our cultural traditions in order: (a) to add over and above the ever more precise infinitesimal measurements the indispensable sense of innovation and freedom which is native to a life lived in terms of infinite truth; and (b) to humanize social, legal and political structures through deep commitment to a life of harmony with nature and with others inspired and empowered by infinite love. The papers in this volume represent the beginnings of one effort in this direction. They were initially prepared for, and intensively discussed at, a symposium on the Chinese Foundations for Moral Education and Character Development. Its goal was to survey the resources available in the Chinese tradition and to lay more solid foundations for future work. In this the Chinese scholars were joined by a few participants in a parallel effort in North America. The resulting papers have been organized in three parts. Part I concerns the resources of the classical Chinese philosophical heritage for moral education. - In Chapter I, Professor Peter Kun-yu Woo surveys the Chinese tradition for a context for this work in the terms in which life is lived. With sophisticated sensibility he traces the pervasive impact and continued transformation of the popular religiosity of the Pre-Chin period through the great importance of harmony and order in later periods. By contrasting this with the limited popularity of the legalist approach he points to the deeper metaphysical dimensions present in Chinese culture and available as foundations for moral education. - Professor Pei-jung Fu in Chapter II illustrates the properly moral implication of this foundation by showing how the resulting sense of human nature focuses upon the tendency toward goodness and implies a high sense of human conduct. This has carried Chinese life through many centuries and gives this people their special cohesion and diligence in facing the challenges of contemporary life. - Professor Thaddeus T'ui-chieh Hang in Chapter III brings out the often forgotten psychological sensitivity of this tradition, concentrating upon Hsin-Techniques and Hsin- 7 Leadership. This makes it possible to integrate the spiritual resources of the Buddhist dimension of the Chinese heritage. It opens the way to concrete approaches to moral training which are integral to the culture and cohesive with the deeper meaning of the pattern of physical exercises practiced daily. Part II turns to the philosophical resources in the Chinese and Western traditions for facing the problems of a technological age in which human life tends to be reduced to functions directed toward pragmatic goals. Meanwhile, the broad human aspirations and the democratic forms of public life call for responsible action by persons conscious of their dignity. There is need then to mobilize the resources of Chinese and Western philosophy in order to provide the foundations upon which to build such a self-understanding and a corresponding project of moral education in our day - In Chapter IV Professor John Farrelly opens a new and properly contemporary route to the sense of the real and hence to metaphysical bases for the meaning of life.
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