Aaron Stalnaker gave a talk on using ethical theory to understand early Confucian thought at the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan on October 25. Early Confucian ethical and political thought has provoked a remarkable range of readings over the last two decades, especially regarding the fundamental structure of Confucian ethics. This talk attempted to sort through these debates, especially regarding role ethics and virtue ethics, but with some attention to other interpretations, in the service of sketching the outlines of a general and synthetic account of early Confucian ethical theory, which can at the same time account for the areas of debate within and beyond the Ru social group.
The College of Arts