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

abstraction.”³¹ From this perspective of spontaneous morality, there is no need for a normative code or a theory of extenuating circumstances to establish the conditions of moral responsibility. But this opinion is controversial because the so-called “rites” are nothing but real moral rules and customary prescriptions, and it overlooks important formal elements of classical ethics, such as the Golden Rule.³²

According to Herbert Fingarette, Confucius seems unaware of the inner contradictions inherent in any moral choice and believes that the “state of confusion” (huo 惑) originating from this does not signify doubt and hesitation but simply losing the true way.³³ Henry Rosemont excludes any moral dilemma or conflict in ancient Confucians.³⁴ Unlike the Western concept of responsibility, where a person is entrusted with the role of initiator of their actions, Confucian thought ignores individualistic notions of personhood endowed with a mysterious inner self or with a transcendental soul.³⁵ Thus the sense of responsibility for Confucianism is not so much the decisive power assumed concerning specific actions, but rather the attitude toward the potentiality of human nature: xing is the innate propensity for cultivation and self-perfection. Additionally, in his provocative study on the Analects, Fingarette has observed that Confucian morality is centered on social behavior and social relations and therefore neglects those psychological aspects pertaining to “the ultimate power of the individual to select from genuine alternatives, to create his spiritual destiny, [...] [to experience] guilt, repentance and retribution for such guilt.”³⁶ He opposes the Confucian idea of ritual-propriety (li) based on traditional culture with the liberal idea of autonomous individual’s choice.³⁷ Then, morality would be based on sacralized conventions and tradition, ritual rules, and the pursuit of self-cultivation, not because we find it to be right but by virtue of defining for us what we are to value right.³⁸ But, why did Confucius concern himself with one’s personal responsibility for self-cultivation and inner qualities? Indeed, this contrast is quite excessive but provides an alternative way of conceiving moral responsibility that signals a difference of emphasis either on the individual or on social roles, upon one’s stained and corrupt self or one’s status