Ethics Lecture Seven

Ethics – Lecture Seven 20/11/05

We began by looking at ethics in Western philosophy that are based on making rules. Last week we began to look at the differences between Western and Eastern ideas – and we saw that the main difference between both is the East focus on the constructing of self – a good character – or a second nature.

Today we will look at something is very close to the idea of creating a better ‘self’ or a second nature and that is ethics as a style of life – which is an idea that appears rarely in Western ethics – but is central to much Eastern ethical philosophy.

Ethics can also be concerned – not just with certain choices on certain occasions – but with what kind of style of life should be led.

There are very few philosophers in the Western tradition who worry about this – some though are:

(quote 1)

Nietzsche – ubermensch (superman)

Heidegger - ‘Authenticity’

Sartre – ‘Honesty’

Camus – ‘Lucidity’

Western philosophy thinks of ethics as a kind of choice – and what is at stake is good and evil, right and wrong.

Western ethics considers the choices of whether to kill or not, or whether to lie or not – these are ethical decisions – and these are what ethical philosophy is about.

How I spend my money – or how I speak to my friends, etc – these things are considered not to be important to ethics – ethics – in Western philosophy is about special moments of choice – the rest of life is ignored or thought not to be important to the subject of ethics.

There are some other Western philosophers for whom other things are considered ethical, such as:

(quote 2)

What is the meaning of life?

How can I be honest with myself?

How can I be a ‘real’ or ‘authentic’ person?

These philosophers would point to the man or woman who has done everything right – made all the right ethical decisions, etc. – and yet wakes up one morning – at say the age of fifty and thinks to themselves – what is the meaning of my life? These philosophers, such as Sartre, Nietzsche, Camus, and others – would say that this man or woman has not found what the real philosophical questions are.

These philosophers suggest that good and meaningful style of life is just as important to us – as good ethical choice – in leading a happy and fulfilling life – which is what the aim of an ethical life is.

None of the philosophers that we have mentioned really agree on what that life-style should be – but one idea does seem to repeat itself and that is naturalness.

Natural – produced by nature and not by human beings.

My mother said: “just be your self.”

An important question in ethics, East or West, is: Are human being naturally good or bad?

As we saw last week: much Eastern ethical philosophy is based on the idea that we have to develop a second nature because our first nature is a sense is not good enough.

Today – I want to look at this idea of naturalness and how it relates to on of the most important ethical philosophers: Confucius ­- who thought a lot about what it meant – and for who ‘naturalness’ was central to his ethical philosophy.

Examining ‘naturalness’ in relation to Confucius should help us to understand three things:

(quote 3)

First: Confucius’s philosophy shows the ambiguity of the term ‘naturalness’.

Second: Confucius’s idea of the best kind of ‘naturalness’ shows us clearly what he means by li (propriety).

Third: A discussion of Confucius’s idea of ‘naturalness’ will lets us look at a larger question: “What is most valuable?”

Ambiguity – having more than one meaning.

Propriety – acting correctly ethical and socially.

In the Analects Confucius’s best student Yu explains two different kinds of naturalness:



(quote 4)

“In the usages of decorum it is naturalness that is of value. In the regulations of the ancient kings this was the admirable feature, both the small and great deriving therefrom. But there is naturalness that is not permissible; for to know to be natural and be beyond the restraints of decorum is also not permissible.”

Decorum – socially acceptable behavior.

Everyone has desires and impulses which if expressed would create trouble in society. But it may seem ‘natural’ to express such feelings – why block them or stop them? – yet this kind of ‘naturalness’ – as we can see in the quote is “not permissible” – there is the problem for society if everyone just expressed there feeling – but Confucius says it becomes a problem for the individual – because, he says, it stops them from becoming a “remarkable” or “superior” person.

(quote 5)

Three meanings of “naturalness”:

First: Naturalness as the express of feelings and desires as they happen.

Second: Naturalness as expression of “decorum” or acting in a socially acceptable way.

Third: Naturalness as people’s original tendencies, talents, and capacities.

This second meaning of ‘naturalness’ is the one that Confucius uses – it can be hard to understand how can behavior that is “acting in a socially acceptable way” is natural – remember our definition of natural – something not produced by human beings.

The third meaning of naturalness is hard for someone is hard to believe in for someone who believes in the mind being blank at birth – that we are born without tendencies and have to be taught them – however, for a Confucian philosopher – such as Mencius (probably the most important philosopher in the Chinese tradition) says that jen (goodness and compassion) is our natural state – as in the third meaning of ‘naturalness’.

Confucius holds a view that is in the middle – not a blank at birth – but a nature at birth that needs further training – further development.

(quote 6)

“By nature men nearly resemble each other; in practice they grow wide apart.”

“When nature exceeds training, you have the rustic. When training exceeds nature, you have the clerk.”

Rustic – rough and not refined or sophisticated.

Daoist Ideas of ‘Naturalness’

Another meaning of ‘naturalness’ that is different from the three meanings of ‘naturalness’ that we have talked about so far – comes from Daoism (Taoism).

The two best known philosophers from this philosophical tradition are Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu.

(quote 7)

The idea of ‘naturalness’ in Daoism has three parts:

spontaneity in behavior

simplicity in social life

harmony with the universe


Spontaneity – coming from an impulse from within, not caused by something from outside.

Daoist ethical philosophy is NOT naturalness constrained or limited by decorum (what is acceptable to society) (second meaning) – but it also did not mean to just express you feeling freely – they believe that certain common feeling like anxiety (worrying) should be eliminated rather than expressed (first meaning) – and it is not a return to original nature (third meaning) because everyone can be said to have a tendency toward anxiety (worrying).

It important to see here – that we have seen four different meaning to the word natural – so that it is easy to see that the word “natural” has many meanings – and the ethical idea that “the important thing is to be natural” is not as clear as it seems.

(quote 6 - repeat)

“By nature men nearly resemble each other; in practice they grow wide apart.”

“When nature exceeds training, you have the rustic. When training exceeds nature, you have the clerk.”


If we look at the artist we might be able to understand what Confucius is saying here – if great musician, writer, actor, or painter – many of them were born with a ‘natural’ talent for music, writing, acting, or painting – but had to put in many hours of practice and training to produce their art works and to make them seem ‘natural’ – or easy.

At first what seems difficult and goes against their natural abilities becomes their own “voice” or their own “style” – their music, writing, acting, or painting looks and seems ‘natural’.

For Confucius the ethical was creating a advanced style of life by means of training and effort – to understand how Confucius links this higher style of life we need to understand what Confucius means by li.

Li

(quote 8)

Li involves not only a knowledge of traditional practices of society but also the ability to change them as circumstances and common sense might require.

This creates a problem – if li is changeable – how do we know when to change it?

For this we need to rely on jen – an open heart and compassion – and the naturalness of jen can only be expressed though the right training – this helps one to make the right choices.

This starts to sound like Act Nonconsequentialism – except for the training.

So Confucious could say at 70 years old:

(quote 9)

“At seventy I could follow the desires of my heart without transgressing the right”
In other word, the one who truly has li will naturally make the right choice.