Two Rival Interpretations of Xunzi's Views on the Basis of Morality. Issue 2 (June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Slater, Michael R.
• Is Part Of: Journal of religious ethics. Volume 45:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: 363
• Page End: 379
• Publication Date: 2017-06
• Subjects: Xunzi -- ritual -- morality -- Confucianism -- Confucian ethics -- Heaven; Ethics -- Periodicals; Religious ethics -- Periodicals; Morale religieuse; Religion; Théologie; 205
• DOI: 10.1111/jore.12181
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0384-9694

Abstract

Abstract: This essay examines the textual evidence and arguments for two rival ways of interpreting Xunzi's accounts of the origins and normative bases of ritual and the Way: a human‐centered line of interpretation which maintains that the moral order constituted by the Confucian Way and its ritual tradition was the artificial creation of a group of ancient sages, and a Heaven‐centered line of interpretation which maintains, in contrast, that those same sages based the Confucian Way and its ritual tradition on a cosmic moral order that they discovered already existing in the world. It argues that the weight of textual evidence best supports a version of the former view, and shows that three representative versions of the latter view do not withstand critical scrutiny.