Sagehood and Supererogation in the Analects

Journal of Chinese Philosophy 40 (2):269-286 (2013)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The Confucian ethical tradition emphasizes unceasing progress toward the goal of sagehood, and so it is generally opposed to the idea of supererogation, as this implies that we may be satisfied with attaining some sub-sagely level of morality. The one possible exception to this anti-supererogationist stance, however, turns out to be Confucius himself, who in the Analects appears to downplay sagehood and instead focus on the goal of junzi. Yet given that Confucius stresses ceaseless cultivation as much as anyone else in the tradition, this leaves us with a puzzle about the sage's status in the Analects. Is sagehood supererogatory?

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Supererogation: its status in ethical theory.David Heyd - 1982 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Word and gesture: On.Robert Ashmore - 2004 - Philosophy East and West 54 (4):458-488.
Is it Bad to Omit an Act of Supererogation?Gregory Mellema - 1996 - Journal of Philosophical Research 21:405-416.
Sounding the analects , engaging confucius.Kirill O. Thompson - 2011 - Philosophy East and West 61 (1):195-215.
Supererogation for utilitarianism.Jean-Paul Vessel - 2010 - American Philosophical Quarterly 47 (4):299 - 319.
God’s moral goodness and supererogation.Elizabeth Drummond Young - 2013 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 73 (2):83-95.
Forced Supererogation.Shlomo Cohen - 2013 - European Journal of Philosophy 23 (4):1006-1024.
Ren_ as a Communal Property in the _Analects.Alexus McLeod - 2012 - Philosophy East and West 62 (4):505-528.
Promising and supererogation.Jason Kawall - 2005 - Philosophia 32 (1-4):389-398.
Supererogation.Douglas W. Portmore - forthcoming - In J. E. Crimmins & D. C. Long (eds.), Encyclopedia of Utilitarianism.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-10-18

Downloads
38 (#363,527)

6 months
3 (#439,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Tim Connolly
East Stroudsburg State University

Citations of this work

Looking for Reasons to be Good: Mengzi as a Moral Advisor.Daniel Young & Thomas Ming - 2023 - Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 22 (4):555-575.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references