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The lecture for Friday introduces us to a different, though equally ancient philosophical tradition: Confucianism, founded by Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.) and developed by both the “second sage” Mencius (372-289 B.C.E) and the third great classical Confucian, Xunzi (third century B.C.E.). Amy Olberding draws principally from Xunzi in order to explain why and how manners matter morally according to the Confucian tradition.
Olberding uses the example of cutting in line at a coffee shop. She distinguishes two possible reactions to the line-cutter: 1) “Who does he think he is?!” and 2) “What is wrong with people today?!” The first reaction is the more typically Western reaction (she calls it “somewhat Kantian,” referring to the great 19th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, whose moral philosophy emphasized the dignity and equality of the individual). The second reaction is basically Confucian. It suggests that the problem with bad manners is not only that they show disrespect toward other persons, but that they lead us to think badly about human beings in general, including even ourselves, and can poison our common life (that is, the life of a society). The problem there is that, according to the Confucian tradition, we are fundamentally social beings dependent on others, with the upshot that we need a flourishing common life in order to flourish as individuals.
Two questions: 1) Drawing from your own experience, give a different example of someone being rude or ill-mannered. Maybe you witnessed the behavior in question, or maybe it happened to you. What was your reaction? What is more or less Western, was it basically Confucian, or was it different from both those traditions? Explain (in other words, give the reasons why your reaction was, for example, basically Confucian, if it was).
2) What does the Western reaction to rude or ill-manned behavior have going for it, or in its favor? What does the Confucian reaction have going for it, or in its favor? If you were raising a child and had to explain the importance of good manners, would you give a basically Western account (according to which bad manners show disrespect to individuals) or a basically Confucian account (according to which bad manners can lead us to become misanthropic and corrode and coarsen our common life). Explain yourself!
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