Virtue Ethics as Political Philosophy: The Structure of Ethical Theory in Early Chinese Philosophy
The landscape of contemporary ethical theory can be defined and mapped in terms of its “standard typology,” which classifies ethical theories into three types: consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics. Scholars in the field of the study of Chinese philosophy in the English-speaking world have recently tried to classify early Chinese ethical theories according to the standard typology. It has become a dominant view that Confucianism is a type of “virtue ethics” and Mohism a type of “consequentialist ethics.” In this paper I show how the standard typology should be modified in light of our study of Chinese ethical-political theories, and how Mencius’ virtue ethics as political philosophy can shed light on contemporary ethical theory and virtue ethics.
Sample Paper: Xiao – Reading the Analects with Davidson
Presentation date and time: 3:30pm-4:45pm, Sunday May 4th, 2014.
New School Alumni Philosophy Conference 