Abstract

Mencius’s theory of the gongfu (or art) to be human and live a human life is not just a part of his philosophy, but an overall approach of his philosophy. That is, the primary purpose of his philosophy is to guide people along the right path of life rather than to offer a truth-telling account of reality. Understanding this fact has implications on how Mencius should be interpreted. It resolves puzzling purported logical fallacies in the text of Mencius, and makes Mencius more coherent, intelligent, and plausible. It also implies that, although Mencius’s normative theory shares some features with other normative theories familiar to the West, such as utilitarianism, Kantian deontology, and virtue ethics, it should not be forced into any of these frameworks. The theory is distinct enough to be called a “gongfu ethics.”