Individual Autonomy and Responsibility in Late Imperial China By ...

the direct reciprocal relationship with the generalized “other” becomes one of the two complementary dimensions of Confucius’s ethics along with the concrete, often hierarchical role orientation defined by li.”²⁹ After the consolidation of the Western Han dynasty (221–207 BC) which elevated this doctrine to state ideology, Confucianism has been turned into an established “tradition.” Nonetheless, the practical and pragmatic attitude and its social orientation, the importance of roles in “externally” describing the individual, and the religious spirit of ritualism do not contrast with the development of a consciousness of an autonomous moral self.³⁰ Neo-Confucian elaborations in the Song dynasty introduced metaphysical elements, influenced by Buddhist and Daoist doctrines, framing the cosmic dimension of the moral and civil rites and ethics in an orthodox tradition. Developments in the Ming Dynasty with the growth of the School of Mind and Wang Yangming’s system added new dimensions that enlarged the perception of self, refusing the main doctrine elaborated at the beginning of Neo-Confucianism. Further changes followed in the Qing dynasty: new trends of concrete learning, the philological and evidential studies, and new readings of the Classics. These changes and variants influenced the representation of the self, and thus ethics as well as the responsibility perception. Generally speaking, nothing makes us question the acceptance of moral responsibility for the agent.

Some scholars have noticed that while in Western ethics a strong structural affinity with the law has long been codified, and prescriptive formulas and procedures for exempting or attenuating circumstances have been widely recognized, we cannot say the same for Confucian morality, which mainly operates through teaching by moral examples and model emulation. In such a system, people are thought to have certain natural (or acquired) tendencies which can regulate their moral performance, and produce desired social outcomes if properly cultivated. Chad Hansen is of the opinion that “for Confucianism, moral action is completely natural and ultimately does not even involve moral rules. No excuse conditions are necessary since, obviously, the mind in intuiting what is right in the concrete situation already considers the total situation, not just an