Abstract
The sociopolitical significance Aristotle and Confucius attribute to possessing a sense of shame serves to emphasize the importance of its development. Aristotle maintains that social class and wealth are prerequisites for its acquisition, while Confucius is optimistic that it can be developed regardless of socioeconomic considerations. The difference between their positions is largely due to competing views of praiseworthy dispositions. While Aristotle conceives of praiseworthy dispositions as “consistent” traits of character, traits that calcifiy as one reaches adulthood, Confucius offers us an alternative picture, one that affords a greater plasticity to praiseworthy dispositions by treating them as situational character traits. I argue that the Confucian conception of praiseworthy dispositions, combined with several strategies for developing a sense of shame discussed in the Analects, renders Confucius’s optimism defensible.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, Harry. 2001. “Aristotle on ‘the Vulgar’: An Ethical and Social Examination.” Interpretation 29.2: 133–152.
Analects, A Concordance to the 論語逐字索引. 1995. Edited by D. C. Lau. Hong Kong 香港: Shangwu Yinshuguan 商務印書館.
Barnes, Jonathan, ed. 1984. The Complete Works of Aristotle, vol. 2. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Burnyeat, Myles. 1980. “Aristotle on Learning to be Good.” In Essays on Aristotle’s Ethics, edited by Amélie Oksenberg Rorty. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cooper, John M. 1996. “An Aristotelian Theory of the Emotions.” In Essays on Aristotle’s Rhetoric, edited by Amélie Oksenberg Rorty. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cua, Antonio S. 2003. “The Ethical Significance of Shame: Insights of Aristotle and Xunzi.” Philosophy East and West 53.2: 147–202.
Dewey, John. 1922. Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology. New York: The Modern Library.
Dodds, E. R. 1951. The Greeks and the Irrational. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Doris, John M. 2002. Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Grimaldi, William. 1988. Aristotle, Rhetoric II: A Commentary. New York: Fordham University Press.
Hall, David L., and Roger T. Ames. 1987. Thinking through Confucius. Albany: State University of New York Press.
____. 1998. Thinking from the Han. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Hanfeizi, A Concordance to the 韓非子逐字索引. 2000. Edited by D. C. Lau. Hong Kong 香港: Shangwu Yinshuguan 商務印書館.
Holloway, Kenneth. 2005. “‘The Five Aspects of Conduct 五行’: Introduction and Translation.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 15.2: 179–188.
Hutton, Eric L. 2006. “Character, Situationism, and Early Confucian Thought.” Philosophical Studies 127.1: 37–58.
Jullien, François. 2000. Detour and Access: Strategies of Meaning in China and Greece. Trans. by Sophie Hawkes. New York: Zone Books.
Legge, James. 1967. Li Chi, Book of Rites: An Encyclopedia of Ancient Ceremonial Usages, Religious Creed, and Social Institutions. Reprint. New York: University Books.
Liji, A Concordance to the 禮記逐字索引. 1992. Edited by D. C. Lau. Hong Kong 香港: Shangwu Yinshuguan 商務印書館.
MacIntyre, Alasdair. 1981. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Mencius, A Concordance to the 孟子逐字索引. 1995. Edited by D. C. Lau. Hong Kong 香港: Shangwu Yinshuguan 商務印書館.
Nagy, Gregory. 1999. The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Nussbaum, Martha. 1986. The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rowe, Christopher K. 1971. The Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics: A Study in the Development of Aristotle’s Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shangshu, A Concordance to the 尚書逐字索引. 1995. Edited by D. C. Lau. Hong Kong 香港: Shangwu Yinshuguan 商務印書館.
Shun, Kwong-loi. 2000. Mencius and Early Chinese Thought. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Sunzi Bingfa 孫子兵法. 1992. In A Concordance to the Militarists (Sunzi, Yuliaozi, Wuzi, Sima Fa) 兵書四種(孫子,尉繚子,吳子,司馬法)逐字索引. Edited by D. C. Lau. Hong Kong 香港: Shangwu Yinshuguan 商務印書館.
Van Norden, Bryan W. 2002. “The Emotion of Shame and the Virtue of Righteousness in Mencius.” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 2.1: 45–77.
Vasiliou, Iakovos. 1996. “The Role of Good Upbringing in Aristotle’s Ethics.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 56.4: 771–797.
Williams, Bernard. 1993. Shame and Necessity. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Woods, Michael. 1992. Aristotle: Eudemian Ethics, books I, II, and VIII. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Zhu, Xi 朱熹. 1983. Commentary on the Four Classics 四書章句集注. Beijing 北京: Zhunghua Shuju 中華書局.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harris, T.R. Aristotle and Confucius on the Socioeconomics of Shame. Dao 13, 323–342 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-014-9382-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-014-9382-1