Abstract

In this chapter I discuss several important issues in Mencius’s moral psychology. I begin with some methodological thoughts about how to study emotions in Mencius and ancient China in general, and then move on to a discussion of Mencius’s conception of four sprouts (siduan 四端). Specifically, I argue that moral emotions in Mencius are best interpreted as a kind of “concern-based construals,” and show how they are conceptually distinguished from both desire and behavioral dispositions. Next, I delineate the unique character of shifei zhi xin 是非之心, one of the four sprouts, as moral judgment, and I discuss how the other three sprouts as moral emotions are related with shifei zhi xin under the rubric of the relationship between reason and emotion in the Mencius. Finally, I examine previous interpretations of the Mencian notion of emotional extension (tui 推) and conclude the chapter with some ideas and brief suggestions about how to cultivate ethical emotions in the context of the Mencius.