Abstract
How is the Confucian moral agent motivated to do what he or she judges to be right or good? In western philosophy, the answer to a question such as this depends on whether one is an internalist or externalist concerning moral motivation. In this article, I will first interpret Confucian ethics as role-based ethics and then argue that we can attribute to Confucianism a position on moral motivation that is neither internalist nor externalist but somewhere in between. I will then illustrate my claim with my reading of Mencius 6A4, showing that it is superior to readings found in the literature, which typically assume that Mencius is an internalist.
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Nuyen, A.T. Moral Obligation and Moral Motivation in Confucian Role-Based Ethics. Dao 8, 1–11 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-008-9104-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-008-9104-7