Good Confucianism book (pdf) - Department of Physics

Notes 239by a judge who knows the law than by ordinary people who may be veryignorant.8 Analects 12.19.9 Analects 7.16.10 We are encouraged to pamper ourselves. If you want to see this in action,advertisements are the best place to look. Many are based on “ you know youwant it, ” “ you deserve it, ” or “ if you don ’ t reward yourself , who will? ” withno thought for the moral consequences, or financial impact, on life. Others aremore blatant: a recent Christmas ad says, “ How can I give to my friends andfamily, while showing myself how much I care about me? ” Another says that,after you have bought gifts for others, “ You ’ ll have money left over for – dareI say it? – yourself. It won ’ t even matter if you ’ ve been naughty or nice. ”11 Li - hsiang Lisa Rosenlee, Confucianism and Women , 45f., is a good exampleof the latter point of view.12 Novels like the Dream of the Red Chamber imply that women with educationtended to be more unfaithful and meet tragic ends, but in general the idea wasthat education for women helped society, taught morals, and provided betterearly education of children. By the Ming dynasty, women ’ s education was atopic of debate. The Ming saying was, “ In women, lack of talent is a virtue, ”and this was followed by a Qing dynasty saying, “ Ignorance in women is avirtue. ”13 A radical alternative can be found in Ching Hua Yuan , Flowers in the Mirror ,by Li Ru - chen, 1763 – 1800. In this novel, everything is turned around. Thehero is kept as a concubine and has his feet bound and his ears pierced andis covered in makeup. He is in a household ruled by women who also sit forthe civil service exams. There are, however, many Confucian ideas such asfilial piety, chastity, and widows committing suicide, and the villain is thatConfucian arch - enemy, Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty.14 The earliest version of this story dates from about the fifth century CE, butthere are many variations on it. For a modern version of this story, ignoreDisney and see Maxine Hong Kingston ’ s novel, Woman Warrior .15 Joseph Chan, “ Confucian Attitudes toward Ethical Pluralism, ” in ConfucianPolitical Ethics , ed. Daniel A. Bell (Princeton: Princeton University Press,2008), 129. “ I shall argue that this conception of gender [in the Analects andthe Mencius ] is primarily a functional distinction assigning women to inner/domestic duties, and men to outer/public duties. I shall then show how thisconception of gender plays out in the context of the Confucian relationship rolesystem. Finally I shall argue that this conception of gender can neither justifythose forms of subordination of women, nor itself be justified on Confuciangrounds. One can discard this early Confucian conception of gender, withoutrelinquishing one ’ s commitment to the core doctrines of early Confucianism ”(Sin Yee Chan, “ Gender and Relationship Roles in the Analects and theMencius ” in Confucian Political Ethics , 147).16 Discussing imperial China, “ Ru [Confucian] learning was not identical to,nor dependent on, state power. … Ru official - literati did not possess substantialpolitical power which was in the hands of the ruling house, ” Rosenlee,Confucianism and Women 5.