Growing Moral: A Confucian Guide to Life
Angle, Stephen C. 2002. Growing Moral: A Confucian Guide to Life. New York: Oxford University Press.
This book explores Confucianism as a way of
life. (chap.9) It “suggest how to live as a
Confucian today.” (chap.1)
Chap 3 Being filial
“filial piety is an attitude of love and
respect for one’s parents, feelings that are natural to have (at least to a
degree, and at least partly in response to loving concern from one’s parents),
and filial piety is expressed both through characteristic actions and in one’s
demeanor.”
The question of bad parents. Kongzi’s
discussion of “remonstrance”.
Chap 6 Reading in the right way
It notes how Kongzi interprets The Odes (Shijing):
“Find inspiration in the Odes.”
“Reading in the right way will lead us to
grow as moral beings, inspired to be closer to the sages, in part because of
seeing the deep similarities between the sages and ourselves.” [这种阅读的解释学也和解释圣人、学习圣人有关]
Chap 10
It talks about Confucian political
engagement.
inner sage, outer king. – “outer” action is
a necessary part of the process of “inner” development.
“Resistance is one type of engagement—and
at least on the surface its rejection of the existing “order” seems to make it
incompatible with Greater Learning-engagement in one or both of two ways. On the
one hand, one might resist the substance of a traditional order; on the other
hand, one might carry out one’s resistance in a “disorderly” (at least in terms
of traditional norms) manner.” [抵抗问题，公民抵抗问题？civil disobedience]
HK 2019 social movement. “In this context,
the Confucian theorist and University of Hong Kong professor Joseph Chan
published an op-ed in a local paper asking what Kongzi means when he says:
“When the Way prevails, show yourself; when the Way is lost, conceal yourself.””
Chap 11
“there are important ideas within
Confucianism that have a religious resonance, most obviously “tian,”… This is
not based on an unreasoned “leap,” like certain versions of “faith,” but has a
basis in one’s own experiences (as well as what one has heard and read about
the experiences of others),…” [舜的研究，可参考]
Chap 12
“some forms of pretending—forcing oneself
to act correctly, which I will call acting “conscientiously”—are valuable.” [可纳入真理问题的讨论：虚假]
“Confucians are also deeply worried about
hypocrisy.”
“Confucians have a technical term that they
use to identify when someone is not faking: “sincerity.””
Chap 14
It refers to the case about Shun and Xiang.
The author’s explanation: “Shun’s response to these seemingly conflicting
demands is exemplary because he both notices all the different dimensions and
is able to arrive at the banishment-and-also-enfeoffment solution that does
justice to all of them. This is what I mean by harmonizing all the relevant dimensions
of value.”
“…even harmonious responses to conflicts
often should include emotional recognition that something unfortunate has
occurred. […] sorrow that is completely sincere, that manifests complete
integrity with one’s situation,…” [Good point!还涉及王阳明的材料。]
Chap 15
Sagehood in Greek philosophy and Christianity.
“The example of sagely behavior that I have
most often referred to is probably Shun’s interactions with his family. […] Shun’s
continued love for them is thus anything but ordinary.”
Chap 16
“The death of anyone you know ruptures the
network of relationships that helps to define who you are. When you share
experiences, values, and even tensions with others this gives significance to
your actions—and so when someone is gone, it is as if part of yourself has been
lost as well.” [Other’s death is the partial loss of myself.]
Chap 17 Progressive Confucianism
“Confucianism is an evolving tradition.”
Chap 18 Gender
Confucianism and feminism.
“…the late-14th-century Empress Renxiaowen
(1362–1407 CE). The empress authored a text called Teachings for the Inner
Court that aims to instruct young women, particularly those aspiring to a
role in the palace, how to cultivate their characters and manage their
behavior.[…] women can be sages.”