Stoics and Confucians on their Way to Sagehood A Westerner’s Further Reading of the Zhongyong

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

While the purpose of the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong) extends far beyond the moral realm and embraces political issues and metaphysical purposes, the present essay focuses on the ethical side of the treatise. It suggests the possibility of a comparison between several issues of the Zhongyong and Western considerations about shaping the moral self, especially within the Stoic tradition in ancient Rome. Although different in purpose and grounded in quite alien worldviews, both traditions can meet through dialogue as they share somewhat similar beliefs about virtue, the essence of wisdom and the moral training of individuals toward virtue. Recent comparative studies have already drawn bridges between Stoicism on the one side, and Daoism or Buddhism on the other side, yet Stoicism and Confucianism have scarcely been studied together until now. After a short summary of that treatise, this paper shall examine the links to be drawn between ancient (mostly) Stoic philosophy and the Confucian teaching of Zisi in several chapters of the Zhongyong (14-15 and 17-19). The present paper wishes but to suggest ways of addressing issues relevant to both traditions, especially 1/ the fact that virtuous people endure hardships (Zhongyong 14); 2/ that virtue is within everyone’s reach, but not effortlessly (Zhongyong 15); 3/ the link between virtue and success (Zhongyong 17); and 4/ the precedence among virtues (Zhongyong 18-19).

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. The Zhongyong in a nutshell
• 2. Hardships and the virtuous (Zhongyong 14)
• 3. Virtue within reach, but not effortlessly (Zhongyong 15)
• 4. Shun and the uneasy connection between virtue and success (Zhongyong 17)
• 5. King Wu, filial piety and precedence amongst virtues (Zhongyong 18-19)
• 6. Further considerations on “weighing” (權) circumstances
• Bibliography
• [Abstract]