Hostname: page-component-669899f699-tzmfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-27T05:28:49.872Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Confucian “Humanity” (ren 仁) as a Resource for a Global Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Chun-chieh Huang
Chun-chieh Huang*
Affiliation:
National Taiwan University
*
Chun-chieh Huang, National Taiwan University, 2F-2, No. 88, Sec. 3, Xinsheng S. Rd., Taipei City, 106. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

This article argues that the core value of “humanity” (ren 仁) in the Confucian tradition may serve as a resource for global ethics in the 21st century. After presenting three major questions raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, it proposes a “reconciliation” between Confucian and Western traditions for a solution to the challenges of the pandemic. Confucian “humanity”, based on the idea of interpenetration between what is inside and what is outside, may pave the way to a true “reconciliation” in our era.

Keywords

ConfucianismHumanityglobal ethicspandemicreconciliation
Type
Articles
Information
Diogenes , Volume 64 , Issue 1-2: Global Ethics , February 2017 , pp. 34 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Huang, Chun-chieh (2017) 東亞儒家仁學史論. Taipei: National Taiwan University Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Huang, Chun-chieh (2018) “Human governance” as the moral responsibility of rulers in East Asian Confucian political philosophy. In: Carty, A, Nijman, J (eds) Morality and Responsibility of Rules: European and Chinese Origins of a Rule of Law as Justice for World Order, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 270–291.Google Scholar
Kissinger, H (2020) The coronavirus pandemic will forever alter the world order. Wall Street Journal, 04 Apr 2020, A. 17.Google Scholar
Lau, DC (1984) Mencius. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.Google Scholar
Lau, DC (1992). The Analects. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.Google Scholar
Maçães, B (2020) Coronavirus and the Clash of Civilizations. National Review, March 10, https://www.hudson.org/research/15801-coronavirus-and-the-clash-of-civilizations.Google Scholar
Mittage, A (2010) Reconsidering Ren as a Basic Concept of Chinese Humanism. In: Meinert, C (ed), Traces of Humanism in China, Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 69-82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mou, Zongsan (1973)心體與性體. Vol 2. Taipei: Zhengzhong shuju.Google Scholar
Müller, JW (2020) We must help one another or die. New York Times March 19, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/opinion/coronavirus-politics.html.Google Scholar
Qian, Mu (1994)國學概論. In: Editorial committee of The Complete Works of Mr. Qian Binsi (ed) 錢賓四先生全集, Vol. 1. Taipei: Lianjing chuban gongsi.Google Scholar
Yu, Yingshi (Yü Ying-shih) (2004) “試說儒家的整體規劃”. In 宋明理學與政治文化. Taipei: Yunchen wenhua shiye gufen youxian gongsi, pp. 388–407.Google ScholarPubMed