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

and men (nobis et brutis communis) who are inclined toward sin (est ad illecebras) but have not sinned yet (in illecebras); it is characterized by the impossibility of control as it is beyond human will (Primus primitivus dicitur ille qui in potestate nostra non est et qui surgit velit nolit homo). Primus motus is the early impulsive movement toward pleasure, anger, or joy. Other theologians, like Petrus Lombardus (1100–1160), regard “primary early movement” as a venial sin, and both delight and consent as mortal sins (primus motus animae qui est venialis culpa, delectationem atque consensum quae sunt mortalia).¹⁵³ Another important effect of this debate pertains to delightful imagination and memory (delectatio morosa). According to historians, these arguments represented a reaction to elaborations of “courtly love” in the poetic field and were understood as a compromise between the indulgence of courtly fantasy and adulterous love, on one hand, and the ascetic tendencies of the Gregorian Reform, on the other.¹⁵⁴ Such trajectories were decisive for the formulation of Christian doctrine on moral responsibility. They also had a special reflection on the interest for emotions because passion, by this time onwards, is no more a temporary condition but a permanent state in which humans have to live, owing to their fall and original sin.¹⁵⁵ The creativity of personal response to the collective ways of reaction and the continuous changes of this social sensibility entailed more attention for the internal forum, deeper reflection for the emotive sphere, and finally influenced the perception of the self.

Can we find in China any reflection on the moment of choice where responsibility is manifested? Is there a “moment” in China when responsibility leads to good or bad ? Although we noticed that Chinese culture pays more attention to the cultivation of the person and focuses on the character formation rather than choice making, we can find a “moment” of this turning point, although it is a rather metaphysical than a temporal term.

Scholars have debated whether responsibility in China is simply a matter of failure to achieve virtue and self-cultivation or implies a violation