PHL 5 / CHRISTIAN ETHICS For Private Use OnlyTeacher: Susan Ong / College of Science / SY 2010-2011

UNIT I INTRODUCTION

I. Key Concepts/Topics

A. Descriptions / Definitions of Terms

1. Ethics2. Christian Theology3. Systematic Theology4. Moral Theology / Christian Ethics5. Moral Philosophy6. Ethics of Being7. Ethics of Doing

B. MoralityC. Etymological Origins – Greek and LatinD. God – The Center of Value and the Christian Understanding of GoodE. Faith and MoralityF. Faith, Character and ActionG. Other Types of Ethics – Humanism, Consequentialism. Liberalism,

Buddhism, Confucianism

II. Objectives

1. explain the different terms related to the course2. explain the nature of morality, and the relationship between morality

and religion/faith3. explain the Christian notion of “good”4. compare Christian Ethics with other types of ethics (nonchristian) so

as to understand those people embracing such types of ethics

III. Discussion

Descriptions / Definitions of Terms1

Ethics is a systematic, critical study concerned with the evaluation of human conduct; it is concerned with making decisions. To raise the ethical question is to take the past into account. The importance of past conduct is not for the purpose of creating a sense of guilt. It is for the purpose of helping make decisions about the future. The concern is “what am I to do now?” Some evaluations require some standard, some canon by which to measure. The

1 Crook, Roger H. 1990. Introduction to Christian Ethics. New Jersey, Prentice Hall. Gula, Richard M. 1989. Reason Informed by Faith. New York, Paulist Press.

1

beginning point in the study of ethics therefore, must be the choice of some worldview, some philosophy of life. Ethics does not stand on its own feet, but rather is based on a philosophy. The person who decides that something is good must be prepared to answer the question, why? What makes this good and that bad? What makes this value superior to the other? The answer to the question Why? is determined by one’s basic view of life.

Christian Theology is a discipline in which the commitment of faith seeks to understand God’s revelation of divine law in Christ Jesus and through the Spirit.

Systematic Theology is the overall/umbrella discipline of theology which tries to work out a coherent view of the world by integrating the truths of faith with all other truths we can know.

Moral Theology / Christian Ethics is a particular expression of systematic theology which focuses on the implications of faith on the way we live life. As a formal theological discipline, it is concerned with God’s revelation of divine love in Jesus and through the Spirit as an invitation calling for our response. It regards the response to the initiative of God’s offer of love as the very soul of moral life. This response to God’s invitation to love is expressed concretely in our daily decision or choices we make. Thus, Christian ethics is likewise described as the critical evaluation of human conduct from the Christian perspective. The Christian faith defines the motives from which the person act, the generalizations or basic understanding which s/he makes about value and duty, and the conclusions which they reach bout a proposed course of action.

Moral Philosophy / Philosophical Ethics can reflect quite well on the nature of moral life and what constitute right and wrong behavior without any reference whatsoever to God’s revelation and to Christian beliefs.

Ethics of Being. Morality is often associated with behavior guided by rules. But to focus on behavior and rules is not sufficient for understanding the scope of moral reflection. Actions are always expressions of a person. Moral goodness is a quality of the person, constituted not by rule-keeping behavior alone, but by cultivating certain virtues, attitudes, and outlooks. Christian moral life is a way of life guided by the story of Jesus Christ. While we are certainly called to do what is right as Christians, we are first of all called to be loving persons in the imitation of Christ.

Morality then has a great interest in the interiority of the person, or the person’s character. In other words, who we are matters morally. For this reason, moral theology must also pay attention to “character ethics” or the ethics of being which focuses on what is happening to the person performing actins rather than on the actions the person performs. It focuses on patterns of actions, or the habits we acquire, the vision we have of life, the values and convictions or beliefs we live by, the intentions we have, the dispositions which ready us to act as well as the affections which move us to do what we believe to be right. Here is where we locate the classical idea of virtues – those personal qualities disposing us to

2

act in certain ways. The “ethics of being” in a Christian context asks “What sort of person should I become because I believe in Christ?”

Ethics of Doing. Interiority such as good intentions and sensitive dispositions does not cover the whole territory of moral life. Interiority gets expressed in behavior. The biblical metaphor that the good tree bears good fruit and the bad tree bears bad fruit teaches that right actions come from good persons. An “ethics of being” focuses on the good person; an “ethics of doing” focuses on right actions. In a Christian context, it asks, “What sort of action should I perform because I believe in Christ?”

The interest of the ethics of doing is with making a decision to resolve conflicts of moral values so that we might do the right action. From this perspective, moral theological reflection attends not only to the duties and obligations of the person acting but also to the circumstances which make up the moral situation. These are considered in light of moral norms or principles which guide us through the resolution of conflicting values. In some respects, the interest of the ethics of doing has affinity with the interests of canon law and jurisprudence in general.

In sum, moral theology as a whole seeks to relate Christian faith to the complex realities of living in the world. It asks, “ What sort of persons ought we to be, and what sort of actions ought we to perform by virtue of being believers in Christ?” As a discipline of theology, it presupposes a commitment of faith by which we accept we accept the mystery of Christ as full revelation of God and accept the sources of faith as valid sources of coming to the truth about God, being human, and living in the world.

Christian ethics has three elements:

1. an understanding of the good as a goal of moral life and the basic reason for being moral;

2. an understanding of the human person as a moral agent;3. the points of reference which serve as criteria for a moral judgment

Some relevant aspects that can be considered in giving direction to human behavior in the light of what one believes to right or good:

1. fundamental convictions or religious beliefs – these influence the interpretation the person makes of the moral situation and the direction the person takes in life;

2. the character of the moral person who must decide and act – this involves a consideration of the person’s uniqueness as express in capacities, dispositions, intentions, affections, and the like;

3. the situation which the conflict of values arises – this involves a careful gathering of data in order to get the lay of the moral land;

3

4. appropriate norms – this enlightens and guides the person by drawing on the accumulated wisdom of the moral community in order to ensure that significant values are properly respected.

Morality2

Morality is not a series of commands and prohibitions coming from the heavens. Morality arises from the human community’s awareness of the claims and demands of interrelatedness. In other words, morality is all about human co-existence. It is the search for the acts, attitudes, dispositions - and more fundamentally perhaps the virtues and institutions – that make successful being with others. If this is the heart of morality therefore, we can say that deep within us something wants to be moral, to desire goodness and righteousness. We fail in our humanity if we do not recognize this fundamental reality in us as persons because listening to the moral force in us is equal to listening to what is deeply human in us.

Etymological Origins3

Morality comes from the Greek word ethos and the Latin word mos.

Greek Etymology

The Hellenistic world uses the word ethos with two meanings: ethos with epsilon and ethos with eta. The original seems to be ethos with eta (η) which connotes residence, house, and a place where one lives. Later the word evolves from a simple understanding of the word as exterior place (a house or a country) to a more interior understanding as attitude. In the Aristotelian tradition ethos with eta is understood as a mode of being, a character or a style which a person wants to give his/her human existence. This is not in the passive sense as a psychological structure but as a mode of being that is acquired or incorporated in one’s own existence. Thus, the word refers more to personality – the totality of qualities which distinguish a person and which create in him/her a behavior.

The second meaning of ethos with epsilon (ε) means habit or custom. More directly it refers to customs which govern the community. They are principles of co-existence that guide the life of the polis. Possibly it refers to general norms of conduct such as “honor the gods”, “know yourself”, “do good”, etc. Perhaps its setting is a cultural period in which the individual is considered as a member of a social group and consequently he/she must be governed by some maxims which understand a higher educational value for co-existence. Such type of conduct engenders certain uses of social customs which must motivate identical habits of conduct in each individual.

In this understanding, ethics evokes social conduct more than evaluation of actions which originate from one’s own conscience. However, it is evident that

2 From Maryhill School of Theology notes in Fundamental Moral Theology by Fr. Carlos Ronquillo3 ibid

4

in ethics each person is enriched in the way s/he interiorize those moral norms which govern social life while at the same time one’s personal conduct would be reflected immediately in his/her behavior in the social co-existence.

Latin Etymology

In Latin there is only one word which expresses the two meanings of ethos. This word is mos which means custom or the natural inclination to do something; thus moral is defined as the science of custom. It was Cicero, the famous Roman orator, who invented the Latin word moralis because he did not want to use the Greek word. Since the Greeks refer to customs with the word ethos, Cicero proposed to call it de moribus. But later, this was enriched by adopting the word moral; St. Thomas is mainly responsible for this.

God – The Center of Value and The Christian Understanding of Good4

The convictions of philosophers about the good have long influenced moral dispositions and actions. For Aristotle, the good is happiness; for the hedonists it is pleasure; for utilitarians it is what is most useful. The scholastic philosophy of the Roman Catholic tradition has a clear notion of “good” and the “human person’s own perfection” (ST 1 q 5). That is, the nature of the good is the full actualization of any being’s potential, or to achieve perfection. The innate tendency within the human person to seek perfection is the basis for the fundamental moral obligation – to realize one’s potential, or to be all that one can be. Actions are moral which flow out of this innate tendency and contribute to the full actualization of human potential. With faith informing reason on the nature of the good, the believer sees God as the fullness of being and sees God’s actions as good because they flow from the divine nature – which is love.

The Christian conviction about the good is governed by the religious beliefs expressed in the stories of the Bible especially in Jesus, and further expounded in the theological tradition of the church. The basic Christian conviction about what is good and where it can be found is that – God is good. Anything else is good only in relation to God as reflection or mediation of God. The monotheistic faith of Christianity tolerates only one center of value. All other forms of goodness are always a derived goodness arising from the goodness of God.

The goodness of God is disclosed in the scriptures particularly in Jesus. Our knowledge of God’s goodness is given then, in our knowledge of Jesus in scripture, and in the interpretation of human experience in the light of Jesus and scripture. The convictions we have about God form the presuppositions of the moral life. The basic conviction that God is good, the only center of value and the first point of reference for morality, makes Christian morality an 4 Gula, Richard M. 1989. Reason Informed by Faith. New York, Paulist Press.

5

objective(unbiased) morality. It also makes responding to God an unconditional moral obligation.

Moreover, the belief in God as the center of value gives the Christian a reason for being moral. As James Gustafson suggests, the Christian answers the question, “Why be moral?” in terms of his/her experience and belief in the goodness of God. The Christian is moral because God is good and because the goodness of God always and everywhere present to us, enables and requires us to be responsible for the goodness of the world. Human moral striving ought to be responsive to God and to be governed by what we can know of the goodness of God and of God’s own good activity. The basic question this perspective raises for morality is “what is God empowering and requiring me to be and to do?” To answer this question requires on going discernment which must be a necessary feature of the moral life in order to discover the ways which would be most responsive to God.

From the theological perspective, what God “enables and requires” of us becomes the norm of moral life. Whether one experiences God, how one experience God, and what belief one holds about God will have a far-reaching effect on the sort of person one is and what one does. Morality itself means to make “customary” or we might say “to ritualize” in the actions of our lives the experiences which we have of knowing and being loved by God. It is a response to an experience of God. The moral life has a different quality when an awareness of God is lost.

For the Christian believer, morality is closely related to experiences of God and beliefs about God. The Christian cannot do justice to his/her moral experience and moral worldview without seeing all things as being dependent on God and referring to God in some way as a source and goal of it all. God is the horizon within which the believer sees and values all things.

Morality for the religious believer is not authorized merely by social conventions, or merely by desire for self-fulfillment, or merely by the requirements of general rules of conduct which reason demands. Though all of these are legitimate ways to authorize morality, they are not sufficient from the Christian point of view. Moral actions are judged wrong not because of harm they cause to self or others, or because they violate rational rules of conduct. Actions are wrong because they are not properly responsive to what “enables and requires”. However, faith is not the only source of moral knowledge, though it has an essential role to play in morality. The Catholic tradition holds that faith informs reason, but it does not replace it. Faith and reason are the two sources of moral knowledge to which the Catholic tradition appeals.

Faith and Morality

Most people who hold to Christian religious beliefs have a sense that their Christian beliefs ought to make a difference in the way they understand

6

themselves and conduct their lives. The conviction that our religious commitment sanctions certain kind of moral behavior shows itself in a number of ways. For example, in Dostoevsky’s classic “The Brothers Karamazov” Ivan expresses the attitude that if God does not exist, then everything is permissible. This can be taken to mean that if you are a Christian, you believe that some forms/type of behavior are sanctioned by God (the Chinese might call it “mandate from Heaven”). Ordinary experiences also manifest some sort of relationship between faith and morality. How often we hear remarks as “a Christian would never think, feel or act that way” or we are disappointed with Christians who are not moral (parang di siya kristiyano). Such a reaction assumes that practice is the authentic test of the sincerity and depth of a person’s faith.

Commitment to certain kind of religious belief means self-involvement – that is, the person commits/dedicate himself/herself to a certain manner of living and to having certain attitudes and feelings. To say for example that “God is Creator” involves the believer in certain kinds of activity (obedience to God’s will), certain attitude (reverence), and certain feeling (awe). Therefore to commit oneself to certain religious beliefs means that the believer (Christian in this case) commits to intentions, attitude, and future actions which are consistent with what the belief asserts.

Commitment to certain religious beliefs also implies a particular style or spirit, the attitudes expressed in a religious belief are linked with a worldview which, in turn influences the way the believer perceives the situation in which a moral decision has to be made. In other words, it also implies a development of a certain worldview which in turn is a commitment to a certain way of perceiving, thinking, and behaving or acting in relation to a particular situation. For example, in the biblical story of the Good Samaritan (who shared the same religious belief with Jews) looked on the victim (a Jew) as himself and so took care of him in a way he would take care of himself. For this reason, Jesus holds him as a model of what it means to love God and your neighbor as you love yourself.

Scripture and theological tradition provide an abundance of religious worldview through parables, symbols, and creeds. When religious beliefs form a great part of the framework within which the person looks on the experience, they become a powerful influence on moral character and action.

However, one comes to know the self-involving meaning of religious beliefs and symbols by participating in the life of the community, which is formed by those beliefs; this points to the role of the church in the moral life of individuals and of the community. One also comes to know the self-involving meaning of a religious belief by means of developing a personal openness and affinity/relationship with God. In turn, the importance for developing a rapport with God points to the importance of prayer, private and liturgical and other spiritual disciplines as an integral part of the moral life. Through ones participation in the life of the church and exercising a regular discipline of prayer, it expands the person’s capacity to perceive the meaning of religious beliefs by directing one’s sensibilities and imagination to the religious symbol and

7

worldview. What happens in our relationship to God is similar to what happens when we develop a deep personal relationship with others.

The degree of a person’s involvement depends on many factors. The psychological, biological, and socio-cultural conditioning on an individual has a great deal to do with the extent to which one is able to appropriate and live by the values of the religious beliefs. For example, some people are too psychologically crippled or too self-centered to be morally sensitive. The decisive impact of religious beliefs on one’s moral life also depends a great deal on the depth or sincerity of one’s commitment to faith.

Therefore, the Christian faith radically influences the moral life of Filipino Christians through the following:5

1. By giving reasons for acting in a Christian way. Christ in the Gospels provides a new perspective which helps us to interpret the relevant moral aspects of our daily situation. He is the “light that illumines our consciences with the truth, so we can judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect” (Rom 12:2).

2. By developing the attitudes and dispositions of Christ. Christian grows up with the Gospel stories of Christ care for the poor, his fidelity to his Father, his sacrificial love. We honor Mary and the saints for their heroic virtues in following Christ through the power given them by the Holy Spirit. Thus, Christ-like attitudes are built up which test and interpret all things in a truly Christian spirit. (GS 62)

3. By inspiring Christ-like affections. The Christ in the Gospels naturally attracts us Filipinos. Our natural affective nature is formed under the influence of sacramental celebrations especially the weekly Holy Eucharist. But most of all, it is through the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, whom our heavenly Father sends us, that our affections are ever more closely conformed to the image of His Son. (Rom 8:29)

In other words, faith gives rise to and calls for a consistent life commitment. Through moral life, especially our works of charity, our faith becomes a confession, a witness before God, and our neighbors of our gift of self, like that of Jesus, the Source, Model, and Means of our moral life (VS 89).

Faith, Character and Actions

What one perceives in a situation, and the responsibilities one believes to have, depend on one’s character (generally refers to the qualities of a person). Character in turn shapes one’s decisions and actions. Character and vision are important aspects of morality and not just norms and values guiding decisions which lead to actions. However, what shapes the moral character of a person from which decisions and actions arise? The Christian mysteries, symbols, stories which one appropriates through living in the Christian community influence one’s 5 CFC 734-738 (Catechism for Filipino Catholics)

8

moral imagination. They form, in part at least, the perspective from which decisions and actions are made. According to Charles E. Curran (famous American Catholic theologian), the fivefold Christian mysteries of creation, sin incarnation, redemption and resurrection destiny are constitutive elements of a Christian perspective, horizon or position. These provide some enlightenment in which interpretations are made. Because of one’s religious stance, a Christian may make a different choice than a non-believer, or they may make some choice for different reasons (like abortion, euthanasia, premarital sexual relationship, etc.)

Making moral decision is also qualified by faith by helping the believer put order to a plurality of values (hierarchy of values), to remain focused on basic human values, and to rank moral options. In these ways and others, Christian beliefs help one to make a decision.

Christian beliefs also directly influence decision making and actions at the level of specific obligations which arise because one is a Christian. This would include acts directed to God, such as prayer and worship, as well as acts which are proper due to one’s belonging or membership to a certain Christian community like a sense of duty of helping a neighbor or relative. Also included under obligations which arise only within a Christian consciousness would be those that come out of the teachings of Jesus, such as the call to renounce power, to do penance, to seek thee good of others and not only one’s good, and to love your enemies, etc.

In conclusion then, Christian beliefs can and do make a difference at the level of the three substantive concerns of ethics:

1. First, at the level of the good, Christian beliefs offer distinctive reasons for being moral based on one’s experience of the reality of God in Jesus and through the Spirit as the ultimate good.

2. Second, at the level of the person, moral character can be distinguished by the perspectives, dispositions, affections, and intentions which Christian beliefs engender.

3. Third, at the level of criteria of judgment, Christian beliefs offer a distinctive point of reference used to give guidance or to provide criteria for moral actions.

In other words, to be a Christian believer carries a particular commitment to becoming a certain sort of person living a way of life which entails certain reasons for being moral and certain practices which flow from Christian beliefs.

Other types of Ethics

Humanism

9

Morris B. Storer (an excellent representative of secular humanism) describes the humanist as those persons who “have set aside faith in revelation and dogmatic authority and have settled for human experience and reason as grounds for belief and action, putting human good – the good of self and others in their life on earth – as ultimate criterion of right and wrong, with due concern for other living creature”. Humanism, therefore, emphasizes the centrality of humankind in this universe. This means that the human race can control its destiny and other human doings are of supreme value. Humanists do not find any beliefs in a divine power necessary to explain either the origins of the universe or its operation. They see human beings both as part of the natural order and as a unique in that order. They believe that what people do in manipulating that order should be done for the benefit of humankind. Judgments about good and bad, right and wrong must be made in relationship to their impact upon human beings.

Paul Kurtz characterizes humanism as: 1) based primarily on science; 2) committed to the use of critical intelligence and rational inquiry in understanding the world and solving problems; 3) an ethical inquiry where the first two characteristics provide the foundation for the ethical inquiry. The humanists, he says, strive “to lead a good life on his own terms and to take destiny in his own hands”. He is therefore committed to the defense of individual freedom; to the right of the individual to make up his own mind, to develop his own life without undue interference of others. Thus, the moral challenge is: “to actualize one’s talents and satisfy one’s, while also developing moral awareness and a sense of moral responsibility to others.

Consequentialism6

Consequentialist theories are act-based theories; an ethical position that holds that the only morally relevant, and indeed the morally determinative features of actins are the consequences the actions produce. Consequentialism then judges act actions as right or wrong depending on their overall consequences. Though most of us are not strict consequentialists we often do justify actions based solely on their consequences. Think of examples in your own life where the consequences of an action determined for you whether an act was right or wrong. Pay attention to the news reports or read the newspaper and you will see consequentialist arguments behind some business decisions and some government policy. The concept of ethical theory, however, rests on the notion of consistency. One must be consistent in one’s use of moral criteria.

The most prominent form of consequentialism is utilitarianism where its defining characteristic is the principle of utility. The principle of utility holds quite strictly that the moral end to be sought in all we do is the greatest possible balance of good over evil in the world as a whole. The classic figures of utilitarianism are Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). Any argument whether moral, economic, or social rests on the position that a

6 Brady, Bernard V. 1998. The Moral Bond of Community. Washington DC, Georgetown University Press. pp 80-86

10

certain act is appropriate because it produces the “greatest good for the greatest number of people” is utilitarian and thus, consequentialist.

Liberalism7

Liberalism rests on the notion that persons have rights, and those rights, the legitimate moral claims of persons, are the primary categories for moral reflection. Liberalism can be understood as that moral position, expressed in political, economic and social (including morality) ideals, defending individual freedom and autonomy. A consistent liberalism seeks to defend and promote not only rights recognized by law in particular societies, but human rights as well. Human rights are moral claims all persons have simply because they are human. The classic proponent of liberalism is John Locke (1632-1704). Contemporary rights theorists include Ronald Dworkin and Alan Gewirth.

Buddhism8

Buddhism may be considered as another reform movement or reaction against the state of Hindu doctrine and practices at that time. Today Buddhism is regarded as one of the great religions. However, it began originally as a pure ethic which rejected the authority of the Vedas and the Brahmanas, and established a way to human liberation and salvation solely through human effort and discipline which refused any supernatural revelation or intervention.

There are no certain dates regarding the life of Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. One position holds that he lived from 563-483 BCE. Documents on his life were written at least several centuries after his death. Facts and legend were mixed together by the traditional community which transmitted the accounts on his life.

He was named Siddharta; his family name was Gautama. He was born to a warrior caste. He was from the clan of the Shakyas, whose capital was Kapilavastu in north central India in the region which is now Nepal. Later on, he was to be known as the Shakya-muni, the “Sage of the Shakyas”. He married a beautiful princess who bore him a son. However, at age 29, he encountered four significant things in a drive through Lumbini Park. He saw a sick man, an old man, a dead body, and an ascetic monk. Siddharta came to the realization of universal suffering in this world and of the emptiness of life. With this, he renounced his princely life, shaved off his hair, and took on a life of an ascetic seeking the way of deliverance.

His search lasted for about six years. He sought instruction under two masters. Unsatisfied, he went on his own to the forest where he underwent a regime of extreme mortification. Still not attaining any peace or deliverance, he

7 ibid8 Reyes, Ramon Castillo. 1989. Ground and Norm of Morality. Quezon City, Ateneo de Manila University Press. pp. 7-19.

11

continued his search. He moved on to the town of Gaya, a Hindu sanctuary on a tributary of the Ganges. Just outside the town, he sat under a Bo-tree (also known as papal tree or Indian fig tree) and resolved not to move from there until he had attained light and understanding.

After days and nights of meditation, he experienced the enlightenment he had long searched for. He perceived the origin of pain and suffering in the world. Hence, he became Buddha, the “awakened one” or the “enlightened one”. He attained Nirvana, the “blowing out” or cessation of all desires and the liberation from the cycle of transmigration. He was then 34 years.

He proceeded to Benares, an important Hindu religious center and there he preached his first sermon the famous “Turning the Wheel of Doctrine”. With this first sermon, he gained his first five disciples.

For forty-five years thereafter, Buddha went about teaching. With the increase of converts, who were known as arahats or “worthy ones”, he formed a community of monks or Sangha. Later, an order of nuns was also established. It is said that Buddha’s son eventually joined the community of monks and his wife the order of nuns.

Buddha died when he was eighty years old on his way to Kushinara. As he was dying, Ananda his primary disciple asked Buddha what they should do after he was gone. Buddha said that they should follow the law or the doctrine that he taught them. Buddha’s body was cremated according to Hindu custom. Tradition, however, says that before burning the body, some remains were supposed to have been taken as relics to be shared by eight cities. And so the collar-bone and a tooth went to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, and some strands of hair went to Burma. Till the present these relics are held in veneration in these countries.

The whole doctrine of Buddha or the dharma (dhamma in Pali), is essentially found in his sermon in Benares. It contains what is known as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Four Noble Truths

1. The universal fact of pain and suffering2. The origin or cause of suffering3. The cessation of suffering4. The path which leads to the cessation of suffering

The Noble Eightfold Path

1. the right view2. the right aspiration3. the right speech4. the right action

12

5. the right livelihood6. the right effort7. the right concentration8. the right contemplation

Confucianism (551-479 BCE)9

Although Confucius was of noble descent, he was born to a poor family.

His ancestors were originally of the state of Sung, but had to flee due to political reasons and resettle in the state of Lu, now called Shandong.

His family’s name was K’ung. He was given the name Ch”iu, but was later to be known simply as K’ung tzu, “Master Kung”. The Chinese word tzu also has the connotation of “being a scholar” or “philosopher”. For this reason, most Chinese philosophers carry the title tzu, e.g., Chuang-tzu, Meng tzu, Hsun-tzu. Confucius was also sometimes addressed as K’ung fu tzu, “the Master Kung”, which was then Latinized as “Confucius”, the name which he is commonly known in the West.

Confucius was probably born in 551 BCE. His father dies when he was barely three years old. Very early, he manifested a fondness for learning. But since he was of poor background, he had to manage by self-education. He married at the age of nineteen and has a son and a daughter. For a while, he earned living keeping accounts for those who were property owners. Confucius said of himself that he was of humble circumstance when he was young and therefore knew many mental skills. Eventually, he became a private teacher, teaching young pupils for a fee. But he also accepted poor students, provided they were capable, even if they had nothing to offer him in payment except perhaps “a bundle of dried meat”. It was not long before he gathered disciples around him.

At about the age fifty, he was appointed as a kind of minister of justice or police commissioner for the state of Lu. However, after a short while, he resigned from office when he saw that the ruler of the state was not about to follow the reform measures he had proposed.

He went on to travel with his disciples for thirteen years to other states, offering people his counsel and ideas of morality and reform. But the feudal lords were not appreciative of his ideas and advice. Frustrated, he returned to his native state of Lu and decided he would devote the rest of his life teaching and forming disciples. He was then sixty-seven or sixty-eight years old.

Toward the end of his life Confucius was greatly saddened by the death of his son and that of his promising young disciple, Yen Hui. Confucius himself died in 479 BCE., without seeing his moral and social ideas effect any significant influence in the community. However, several centuries later, in 136BCE, in the 9 Ibid. pp. 20-29

13

early part of the Han dynasty, the whole Confucian philosophy and the Confucian Classics were established as the official ideology of the Chinese empire. They were adopted particularly as the core of the educational system and of the civil service examinations. Since then Confucian thought has continued to maintain its influence among the peoples of China and of East Asia. His teachings are basically contained in the Lun Yu, a small book of twenty brief chapters. It is more commonly known as the “Analects of Confucius”.

Confucius lived during the decline of the Chou dynasty. The central government had lost power and had started too break down. The country was divided into warring feudal states ruled by hereditary autocratic lords who were making war at whim, tax their people oppressively, and impose on them heavy forced labor.

Confucius saw the need to reform social and political life and to relieve the suffering of the common people. Fundamentally, his solution was to return to the sources of tradition, with emphasis on moral education and the observance of the traditional rites and ceremonies. Hence, Confucius did not see himself as an innovator, but rather as a reformer advocating a return to the old ways and visions of ancient Chinese tradition.

We can perhaps view the thought of Confucius as essentially a repetition of two old ideas in the Chinese tradition – Tao and Te.

One of the most ancient traditions of China is the belief in the Way (Tao). Tao signifies basically the way, or nature. It is the fundamental principle, the substance of which all things are made, and the standard to which all things must conform. Since it is that of which all things are made, it is a transcendental principle common to all beings. In this sense it is beyond all beings. It is the way and the truth and the being of all things.

Another element of ancient Chinese tradition is the notion of virtue (te), which signifies some human trait or quality considered as a gift or an endowment which the person receives from Heaven. In a sense, when the Tao acts in the person, it becomes te or virtue and constitute the person’s very attitude of mind and character.

The main stress of Confucius is the pursuit of moral character. There is only one worthwhile purpose a person can have in life – it is to be good person, to be complete or total person. Morality presupposes two things. It presupposes a basic natural substance (chih) and a nurturing, patterning, formative process (wen).

The material substance of morality is a basic inclination to do what is right. It is seen by Confucius as that which tradition regarded as “endowment from Heaven”. In this sense moral virtue or moral character, in Confucius’ view is in part a gift from above. It is an innate tendency toward what is right. But, on the other hand, this original substance is like a seed that needs to be nurtured

14

and brought to fullness by the person himself/herself. This is brought about by a long process of education and application.

Education for Confucius consists mainly of the study of ancient Chinese literature, known as the Confucian Classics. These texts are composed of ancient poetic songs, historical documents, rituals and codes of behavior. Confucius considered them as repository of human wisdom and moral insight especially suited to draw out into actuality and expression the original endowment or potential of the human person.

Hand in hand with an education which is rooted in the inheritance of the past, moral formation involves a life-long effort at self-overcoming and application in order to acquire the mental attitude and manner of conducting oneself which are proper for man of right and virtue. The moral man then is fully developed man who has these two elements – the natural endowment and the formative, refining process, combined in a harmonious balance.

The moral man is the gentleman, the complete or superior man. More precisely, s/he has acquired what Confucius considered the three main virtues – humaneness, wisdom, and courage. As Confucius himself said, “There are three things consistently in the lips of the gentleman: A man of humaneness never worries, a man of wisdom is never of two minds, a man of courage is never afraid.” (Analects, XIV. 28)

Humaneness means precisely respect love and good will toward fellowmen. This is the most important moral quality. Fan Ch’ih asked about humaneness, the Master said, “Know your fellowmen.” (Analects 12, 22) Tzu-lu said, “Does the gentleman consider courage a supreme quality?” The Master said, “For the gentleman it is morality that is supreme. Possessed with courage but devoid of morality, a gentleman will make trouble while a small man will be a bandit.” (Analects 17, 23)

There is one rule or “method for humaneness” which Confucius recommends. It is the rule of the shu. It means using oneself as an analogy for arriving at what others like or dislike. Tzu-Kung asked, Is there a single word which can be a guide to conduct throughout one’s life?” The Master said, “It is perhaps the word shu. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.” (Analects 15, 24)

Humaneness also means overcoming oneself. It means overcoming one’s self-interest or one’s desire for gain/one’s benefit. “To return to the observance of the rites through overcoming the self constitutes humaneness. If for a single day a man could return to the observance of the rites through overcoming himself, then whole empire would consider humaneness to be his.” (Analects 12, 1) The rites are traditional body of rules and ceremonies. They have been passed on since antiquity and govern all aspects of life from birth to death. In Confucius’ view, since these rites were heritage of past insights and

15

experiences regarding the person, their respectful observance should produce the proper attitude and behavior toward fellowmen.

The second virtue of a gentleman is intelligence or wisdom. The man/person of wisdom is “never of two minds.” He has the ability to distinguish the right from wrong. He is not deceived by what is spurious. He does not mistake it for what is true or valid. Wisdom is the possession of two combined elements of learning and thinking

Learning is essentially the study of ancient literature of China, which Confucius regarded as the accumulated wisdom of the past regarding man. This consisted of the five Confucian classics:

1. Classic of Poetry – composed of some 300 odes, originally sung to the accompaniment of music and in the case of temple songs, also with the accompaniment of dancing;

2. Classic of Changes (I Ching) – basically a book of fortune-telling with philosophical and folklore accretions;

3. Book of Rituals – which contained ancient traditional rules, customs, and manners of Chinese society covering all aspects and phases of life, including such details as dress, posture, the way of spending the day with a friend;

4. Classic of Documents – composed of diverse kinds of early state papers and official documents and declarations;

5. Ch’un Ch’iu – an annals/history of the state of Lu, consisting of entries of major events from 722-481 BCE.

Together with learning, however, there must also be thought. We must try to improve on what we have learned from the past. This requires reflection on the insights of the past, rethinking them in view of the spirit and ideals at the origin of these traditional insights. On the other hand, thinking itself independent of past learning will bring us nowhere. For it will be thinking in a vacuum, without any substance. The Master said, “If one learns from others but does not think, one will be bewildered. If on the other hand, one thinks but does not learn from others, one will be in peril.” (Analects 2, 15)

The third virtue of the gentleman is courage. Confucius puts it very simply: “Faced what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.”(Analects 2, 24). Courage therefore, signifies the overcoming of fear or indifference in the pursuit of what is right. It is clear however, that courage must be based on something other than itself. It must be based on what is right. Without this, courage would be devoid of purpose or direction.

Rightness is the standard of courage. It is the standard of all human acts. It is the standard too, for learning and the rites. We have already seen that the accumulated wisdom we acquire from the past must be reflected upon and rethought from time to time. Similarly, as a code of rules of conduct passed on by tradition, the rites, which constitute a great part of what must be learned,

16

carry a certain traditional authority. But they must be reexamined from time to time in view of what is right. If necessary, they must be modified, as demanded by the concrete circumstances.

The question then arises what is rightness itself based on? What in the end determines the rightness of man’s act? At this point we may perhaps bring in the Confucian notion of Heaven’s Decree. Actually this is another ancient belief of Chinese tradition. Tradition dictates that the Emperor rules by virtue of Heaven’s Decree and that it is his duty to rule for the good of his people. In case of dereliction of duty, Heaven may withdraw its decree and pass it on to another more worthy of the power and position. In Confucius however, Heaven’s Decree seems to be a duty incumbent not only upon the Emperor but upon all men. It seems to signify a moral command present in all men. It is something like a universal moral imperative to which every person is subject. Furthermore, the person needs time and effort to be able to arrive at some comprehension of such a heavenly decree and even more to align one’s life according to it. The Master said, “At fifteen I set my heart on learning; at thirty I took my stand; at forty I came to be free from doubts; at fifty I understood the Decree of Heaven; at sixty my ear was attuned; at seventy I followed my heart’s desire without overstepping the line.” (Analects, 2, 4)

It must also be pointed out that morality for Confucius does not consist essentially of individual perfection. The moral virtues are at the same time social virtues – humaneness, wisdom, and courage. The gentleman/superior man the, is truly moral and complete insofar as man is at the same time and by the same token a social being contributing to the good of the community.

Human society may be divided into five basic human relations: between husband and wife, father and son, elder and younger brother, friend, ruler and subject. In Confucius’ view, the family is the paradigm for the human community at large. Family relations extend to the broader social relations in such a way that a good son and a good younger brother, by the same token, should be a good subject or citizen. Humankind, in a true sense, is one large family governed by the principles of love, reciprocity and differential functions. However, there must be gradations of love and kindness, starting from within the family and extending to friends and neighbors, fellow townsmen, fellow countrymen and the rest. Otherwise, one runs the risk of being untrue to his word and to his role and function by proclaiming love of humankind when he has not even started to love those who are his closest relations

The human community organized as state is a moral entity. Politics is the extension of ethics. It is the extension of the virtue of humaneness. Hence, the goal of the state and of politics can only be one thing. It cannot be material gain or power. It can be the good and welfare of the people, the community of fellow human beings.

Contrary to the thinking and practice of his time, Confucius held that the right to govern depends, not on divine ancestry or appointment, but on the

17

possession of moral virtue and the ability required to serve the good of the people.

By the same principle, the gentleman or the truly moral person, when required by circumstances, must be prepared to take up public office to serve the common welfare. To be moral is to be humane. It is to love fellowmen both as individuals and as community.

18