Whose Tradition? Which Dao?: Confucius and Wittgenstein on Moral Learning and Reflection (S U N Y Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)

In An Incisive Work Of Comparative Philosophy, James F. Peterman Considers The Similarities Between Early Chinese Ethicist Confucius And Mid-twentieth Century Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Their Enduring Legacies Rest In No Small Part On Projects To Restore Humanity To Healthy Ways Of Living And Thinking. Confucius Offers A Method Of Answering Ethical Questions Designed To Get His Interlocutors Further Along On The Dao, The Path Of Right Living. Struggling With His Own Forms Of Unhealthy Philosophical Confusion, Wittgenstein Provides A Method Of Philosophical Therapy Designed To Help One Come Into Agreement With Norms Embedded In Our Forms Of Life And Speech. Highlighting Similarities Between The Two Philosophers, Peterman Shows How Wittgensteinian Critique Can Benefit From Confucian Inquiry And How Confucian Practice Can Benefit From Wittgensteinian Investigations. Furthermore, In Presenting A Way To Understand Confucius's Dao As Concrete Language Games And Forms Of Life, And Wittgenstein's Therapeutic Interventions As The Most Fitting Philosophical Orientation Toward Early Confucian Ethics, Peterman Offers Western Thinkers A New, Sophisticated Understanding Of Confucius As A Philosopher. Introduction : A Prologue To An Unlikely Project -- Confucius, Wittgenstein And The Problem Of Moral Disagreement -- Confucius, History, And The Problem Of Meaning -- Wittgenstein And The Problem Of Understanding At A Distance -- How To Be A Confucian Pragmatist Without Losing The Truth -- Saving Confucius From The Confucians -- The Dilemmas Of Contemporary Confucianism -- Fingarette On Handshaking -- Acknowledging The Given : Our Complicated Form Of Ritual Life. James F. Peterman. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. In English; With Some Excerpts And Citations In Chinese. Contents Preface Acknowledgments 1 Introduction: A Prologue to an Unlikely Project Introduction Bedrock Practices Bedrock Learning Imponderable Evidence Peaceful Agreement and Harmony Nothing Is Hidden Shared Insights in Different Contexts 2 Confucius, Wittgenstein, and the Problem of Moral Disagreement Introduction Confucius and Disagreement Wittgenstein’s Realistic Spirit The Realistic Spirit Frees Us from Metaphysical Realism The Realistic Spirit Protects the Moral Insights of Common Humanity The Realistic Spirit Examines Established Usages or Words Placed in the Context of Our Complicated Form of Life The Realistic Spirit Rejects the Philosophical Ideal of Complete Moral Agreement The Realistic Spirit Opposes Normative Ethics Confucius’s “Realistic Spirit” Confucian Reflection Is Open-Ended Confucian Reflection Serves Needs for Self-Cultivation Confucian Reflection Avoids Speculation Confucian Study Focuses on Collected Exemplars from History and Literature Confucian Non-Reductionist View of Dao Expressing a Realistic Spirit, Fending off a Kantian Challenge Fending off a “New” Wittgensteinian Challenge 3 Confucius, History, and the Problem of Meaning Overview Indeterminacy of Meaning The Threat of Semantic Nihilism Speaker’s Meaning and the Threat of Semantic Skepticism History and the Chain of Evidence Problem The Character Confucius: Real or Realistic? Makeham’s Solution to the Problem of Limited Historical Knowledge 4 Wittgenstein and the Problem of Understanding at a Distance Introduction Wittgenstein on Understanding and Meaning How to Understand Interpretive Charity Interpreting the “Middle Ground” Conclusion 5 How to Be a Confucian Pragmatist without Losing the Truth Introduction Munro on Plato, Chinese Philosophy, and Truth Hansen on Chinese Philosophy on Truth More on Hansen Hall and Ames and the Pragmatic Reading of Chinese Philosophy Performative Language and Background Beliefs Doing Things with Words Truth in On Certainty Invoking Dao 6 Saving Confucius from the Confucians Introduction Details and the Limits of Reflection The Depth of Confucius’s Philosophical Problems Wittgenstein, Method, and the Depth of Our Quandaries Details and Commentary From He Yan’s Commentary From Zhu Xi’s Commentary 7 The Dilemmas of Contemporary Confucianism Introduction Jiwei Ci’s Dilemmas MacIntyre’s Dilemma Rational Development of Traditions Confucius’s “Small Place” for Theory Limits on the Law of the Excluded Middle: Wittgenstein Limits of the Law of the Excluded Middle: Confucius Acknowledging Local Practices 8 Fingarette on Handshaking Introduction Shaking Hands Diagnosis I Non-Reciprocal Bonds A Wittgensteinian Diagnosis 9 Acknowledging the Given: Our Complicated Form of Ritual Life Introduction Acknowledging the Familiar Examples and Counterexamples Conclusion Afterword: The Way Backward or Forward: Wittgenstein or Confucius? Notes Bibliography Index