Straightness as It Is,but does that Mean Truth?——On the Issue of"Covering up for the Family Members"in Confucianism
The text in The Analects and The Mencius about the issue of"covering up for the family members"provides a sample reflecting the idea of emotion-orientation in Confucianism,and it provokes the conflict evaluations whether it containing the element which inclines to a corruptive action.Reading the text closely,both sides seems all ignore that though Confucius and Mencius do agree to the"covering up"action,their stands basically are defensive and limited.From the perspective of Moral Dilemma,there are tensions between the"Straightness"and"Rightness"two meanings of Zhi(直)which represents personal relation and public justice respectively.Morality actually means the transcendence of private consideration,this is the truth with regard to the present case,and only on the ground of public reason a healthy public life is possible.In a further reflection,considering and dealing with ethical issue on the personal emotion and private relation reflects Chinese traditional culture's characteristics of lacking the spiritual transcendence dimension,and this deserves us serious examination and reflection.
straightnesstruthcovering up for the family memberstranscendence
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